Articles : Java Networking :

Writing Servlets

Next Steps

Now that we have a few simple servlets under our belt, the next step is to build on this foundation. Servlets are great for doing simple tasks and filtering information. However, in the real world, true Web applications are rarely limited to a set of standalone programs on a Web Server.

Rather, the Web applications themselves interface with other sources of data. In this context, data can mean anything. It can consist of anything from text files to a complex system of multiple custom network servers distributed all over the world.

Although this article provided an overview of servlets in a nutshell, it is by no means a comprehensive "This is everything you can do with servlets" tutorial. Marty Hall's Introduction To Servlets and JSP Tutorial Series provides an indepth look at Servlets. Throughout the Java Networking series we will refer to Marty's tutorial for more detailed explainations of various Servlet techniques, allowing us to focus on the use of Networking and Distributed programming technologies with Servlets.

Next time, we will focus on the data source API that most people tend to use with Servlets: Java DataBase Connectivity (JDBC). This introduction to JDBC will lead us into writing servlets that can communicate with back-end relational databases such as Oracle, Sybase, or Microsoft SQL Server.

Gunther Birznieks contributes to JavaBoutique's Web/Networking column. Gunther currently works for Barclays Capital in London, one of the leading global investment banks in Europe and has previously worked as a senior computer scientist in the Human Genome Project. Gunther is also known for writing several books on Web Programming (Perl, CGI, Java) as well as for co-creating Extropia with Selena Sol. Extropia is one of the best known public domain web programming archives Email: gunther@extropia.com.

How to Add Java Applets to Your Site

New on the Java Boutique:

New Review:

Time Management Made Easy with the Quartz Enterprise Job Scheduler
Why not just use the Java timer API? This open source scheduling API boasts simplicity, ease-of-integration, a well-rounded feature set, and it's free!

New Applet:

Reverse Complement
Reverse Complement is a simple applet that converts DNA or RNA sequences into three useful formats.

Elsewhere on internet.com:

WebDeveloper Java
Lots of Java information on webdeveloper.com

WDVL Java
Thorough Java resource at the Web Developer's Virtual Library.

ScriptSearch Java
Hundreds of free Java code files to download.

jGuru: Your View of the Java Universe
Customizable portal with online training, FAQs, regular news updates, and tutorials.