Head First Servlets and JSP, 2nd Edition

What you need for this book

Besides your brain and a pencil, you need Java, Tomcat 5, and a computer.

You do not need any other development tool, such as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE). We strongly recommend that you not use anything but a basic editor until you complete this book. A servlet/JSP-aware IDE can protect you from some of the details that really matter (and that you’ll be tested on), so you’re much better off developing the bean code completely by hand. Once you really understand what’s happening, you can move to a tool that automates some of the servlet/JSP creation and deployment steps. If you already know how to use Ant, then after Chapter 3, you can switch to using it to help you deploy, but we don’t recommend using Ant until after you’ve completely memorized the web app deployment structure.

GETTING TOMCAT

• If you don’t already Java SE v1.5 or greater, you’ll need it.

• If you don’t already have Tomcat 5, go get it from: http://tomcat.apache.org/

  Select “Tomcat v5.5” in the Downloads menu on the left side of the home page.

• Scroll down to the “Binary Distributions” section and download the version of your choice. If you do not know, then select the “Core” distribution; ...