Java Server Pages (JSP):

Java Server Pages, or JSP, were developed in response to Microsoft's Active Server Page technology. In many ways the two technologies are very much the same; however there are several important differences.

As you might expect since both ASP and JSP attempt to achieve the same goal they share many similarities one of these is in the basic objects used.


From WebMonkey.com

ASP Objects
JSP Objects
Function
Request request Access to request information. This includes such items as input/form parameters, HTTP request header information, etc.
Response response Access to response information and construction. This includes output MIME type and other HTTP response headers as well as the output stream itself.
Session session Access to session information.
Application application Access to application information.
Response.Write out Access to the response output stream. JSP provides a convenience object for direct output to this stream, whereas ASP uses a Response object method.

JSP unlike ASP is based on the full Java programming language. As discussed on the ASP page, ASP relies on scripting languages which are limited in capability and cannot be compiled like the full featured programming languages.

JSP contain a mixture of HTML or XML markup and Java code. The first time a JSP page is retrieved from a server it is processed into a Java source file. The resulting source file is then compiled into a Java servlet that will run much faster than interpreted code such as VBScript. A developer may choose to write the servlet directly if the majority of a JSP may be Java code over markup language this provides even better performance.

JSP is based on the fully functional Java language; JSP can take advantage of all of the Java platforms abilities and technologies. Enterprise Java bean are often used with JSP to reduce the amount of code contained in the JSP or Servlet. Enterprise Java Beans or EJB, are reusable components that can be called in multiple pages or programs and provide reusable functionality.

One important feature of JSP is the ability to create Tag Libraries. Tag Libraries allow you to write code for your site that is reusable. For example, if you write a function used on many pages, crate a tag and add it to a tag library. You can just use the tag in all pages that use the function. This allows for increased maintainability as you can change the function in one place and have it used everywhere that tag is placed.

From WebMonkey.com

Java Source Code
HTML Results
<%@ page language="java" %>
< TITLE>Simple Scripting Tricks</TITLE>
Anyone can count like this:<BR>
< %
for (int i = 1; i < 6; i++) {
out.println(i + "<BR>");
}
i = 1000000;
%>
It would take a long time, however, to count to <%= i %>.
 <TITLE>Simple Scripting Tricks</TITLE>
Anyone can count like this:<BR>
1<BR>
2<BR>
3<BR>
4<BR>
5<BR>
It would take a long time, however, to count to 1000000.

Further, Because JSP is based on Java and the language allows much higher levels of hardware and operating system platform independence JSP can be run on many more operating systems and hardware then a proprietary technology such as ASP and ASP.NET that are almost totally restricted to the Microsoft Windows platform. JSP can be found running on UNIX, Windows, Linux, and even Mainframes.

JSP can be run on many servers hear are a few examples:

  • Macromedia JRUN (Also the core server Cold Fusion is build on)
  • Tomcat
  • Sun Java System Application Server
  • IBM Web Sphere

JSP development tools

  • Borland JBuilder
  • Sun One Studio
  • Many open source editors


Additional Information on Java Server Pages (JSP)

  1. Web Monkey JSP overview
  2. Web Developers Journal
  3. Sun Microsystems JSP
  4. Apache Jakarta Project

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Copyright Matthew B. Eason, 2004