Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP)

Written from a programmer's perspective but assuming almost no knowledge (other that HTML and a basic understanding of Java), Marty Hall begins by carefully explaining the basics of Servlets, development environments, and Servlet programming. He does not begin with JSP until the second half of the book. Covers servlets, JSP tag libraries, sessions, beans, and JDBC. Also covers Installation, setup, and configuration of the following servlet containers: Tomcat, JRun, IBM Websphere, Sun's Java Web Server and JavaServer Web Development Kit, BEA Weblogic, New Atlanta ServletExec. Stepwise explanation of server details, including how to register web applications for each.The examples assume a basic understanding of Java and HTML but nothing else. Stepwise instructions for setting up the servlet container, classpath settings, and compiling and using packaged files. Tons of examples from useful utilities to learning tools (ShowCGIVariables.java) Make this book a highly valuable book. How to get the most out of this book:Although all of the examples are online and can be downloaded, you will learn more from typing them in by hand and compiling them yourself, comments and all. When doing this, keep the J2SE API and javax.servlet docs loaded in a browser window so that you may quickly look up classes and methods (*do* look up unfamiliar classes). Do the examples in the first few chapters as prescribed. This will give you a more complete and intimate understanding of how JSP's really work.Also see 'More Servlets and JavaServer Pages,' (same author & publisher). These two books are the best books I have found on this topic.

This book is excellent for those who want to get a firm understanding of servlets and JSP quickly. Don't let the quick part fool you. This book is no overview. It provides detailed coverage of both technologies, but it is so well written that anyone from the professional developer to the hobbyist should find it an easy read.I am new to Java development and was recently given a project to take our current customer service system and convert it from a servlet based system to a servlet/JSP system. I bought this book based on the reviews and it was EXCELLENT.Marty Hall starts you off with an in depth view of servlets and then gradually walks you into JSP. Although he is thorough with his information, he is never boring. I read the book from cover to cover and it provided me with an excellent foundation for learning servlet/JSP programming. It has also motivated to obtain a firmer grasp of the subject by continuing to read up on it. I have begun reading Fields' and Kolb's Web Development With JavaServer Pages (review forthcoming). If you are new to servlets and JSP and want to get up to speed quickly, I would say this is the best book out there.

This book is truly a good buy. If you are new to JSP and servlets then I would definitely recommend this book. Before I bought this book I purchased professional JSP by wrox press and it was badly written and its explinations were unclear. Plus the number of spelling mistakes in that book were rediculous, making the book untrustworthy. Marty Halls's book is organized well and clearly explains the technology so that anyone can understand it. It is also advanced enough to be used as a good reference. If you have ever had trouble staying awake while reading a programming book, don't worry, Core Servlets is actually written well enough to keep you interested and awake. So I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in JSP or Servlets. It is also easy to skip around the chapters if you want to read up on something specific. It tells you in the chapters if it is discussing something from another chapter, which can be very helpful if you don't understand that topic or if you have not read the other chapter yet. He also has a nice web page with notes on JSP and all sample code in an easily downloadable format.

In the jungle of java books, it is very difficult to find a good book. This is one is which is worth each penny of its cost.For rapidly changing java world in my opinion choice of a book should be dependent on following factors: a) timing - should be of latest or close to latest version. b) lots of example code - so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel c) very focused - should not add pages by providing more than required reference to sun's API.Like other developers, I try to read about the book beforehand by going to B & N or local library and then buy it if it is indispensable.For this book I would like to say: a) this is current, covers JSP1.1 b) gives you enough example code to design web pages using technology other than servlets. c) gives a in depth understanding of servlets and jsp which is required in troubleshooting. This is very important because lot of run of the mill books give you toy code, but no core understanding of the subject. For successful project I can't even dare touch a subject without knowing what goes behind the screen. This understanding is essential when deploying applications on server like websphere/weblogic.

This is another excellent web programming book from Hall following Core Web Programming. It explains not only servlets and JSP but also beans, JDBC and the Java Web Server. Must have for any serious web programmers using java technologies.