Professional Java for Web Applications

Chapter 1Introducing Java Platform, Enterprise Edition

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Java SE and Java EE version timeline
• Introducing Servlets, filters, listeners, and JSPs
• Understanding WAR, and EAR files, and the class loader hierarchy

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A TIMELINE OF JAVA PLATFORMS

The Java language and its platforms have had a long and storied history. From its invention in the mid-‘90s to an evolution drought from 2007 to nearly 2012, Java has gone through many changes and encountered its share of controversy. In the earliest days, Java, known as the Java Development Kit or JDK, was a language tightly coupled to a platform composed of a small set of essential application programming interfaces (APIs). Sun Microsystems unveiled the earliest alpha and beta versions in 1995, and although Java was extremely slow and primitive by today’s standards, it began a revolution in software development.

In the Beginning

Java’s history is summarized in Figure 1-1, a timeline of Java platforms. As of the publication of this book, the Java language and the Java SE platform have always evolved together — new versions of each always release at the same time and are tightly coupled to one another. The platform was called the JDK through version 1.1 in 1997, but by version 1.2 it was clear that the JDK and the platform were not synonymous. Starting ...