Java Enterprise in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Chapter 1. Introduction

This book has arguably unreasonable goals. Its title alone invites raised eyebrows. Enterprise application development, on any platform, involves a wide array of tools to solve an equally wide array of issues and to manage several levels of complexity. How can you possibly hope to cover Java enterprise development tools in a single work, let alone in a nutshell?

Our approach to this lofty goal is simple. We have selected the key tools and APIs that enterprise architects and developers have found invaluable when working in the Java environment. Some of these are part of the core Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) environment; many of them are part of the larger Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE)^[1] environment; many of them fall outside the Java standards but are useful and popular de facto standards within the Java community. For all of the tools covered, we provide a short but effective tutorial while also striving to cover enough critical detail that the material can serve as a quick reference as well. Along the way, in keeping with the “nutshell” concept of this series, we’ve had to edit brutally. Only tools and APIs that are proven in the industry while also being critical to success made the cut. Some things, useful and otherwise, had to be left by the wayside. But we hope that sifting effort alone will benefit you, since the book also serves as a guide through the sometimes confusing swirl of competing APIs, tools, and frameworks that make enterprise development ...