It's the start of a new year, and time to take stock of the year that has just ended. In the Java world, 2001 saw the development of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) 1.3 and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 2.0 specifications, and the impact of their use with open source Java projects such as Apache's Jakarta Tomcat and Struts. Another important development was the Java API for XML (JAX), aimed squarely at the development of Web services. Here are five milestones of the evolution of Java in 2001, and the ONJava articles and columns that reported on them.
1. Apache's Jakarta Tomcat Web server is a Java-based Web application container created to run Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) in Web applications. It's becoming the industry-accepted standard reference implementation for both the Servlets and JSP API. ONJava's column on Tomcat is written by Servlets and JSP software architect and author James Goodwill, and it features introductory Web application development issues, as well as information on Tomcat installation, configuration, deployment, and security.
2. Next, ONJava.com's JSP and Servlets columnist Sue Spielman contributed the following important and popular series on Apache Jakarta Struts.
Learning Jakarta Struts, Part 3 -- In the last article in her Jakarta Struts series, Sue Spielman shows you how to use Struts tags to access the ApplicationResource file from a JSP.
Learning Jakarta Struts, Part 2 -- In Part 2 of her series on Jakarta Struts, Sue Spielman shows you how to build a simple application from scratch in Struts 1.0.
Introduction to Jakarta Struts Framework -- Sue Spielman shows us how to use Apache's Jakarta Struts framework, which encourages an application architecture based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, useful in building servlet- and JSP-based Web applications.
3. Our column on EJB 2 by Tyler Jewell focuses on the latest API structure, additions, and applications. Specifically, it covers EJB 2 clustering, packaging, session beans, entity beans, transactions, security, and more. Tyler is BEA Systems' principal technology evangelist, and an expert on EJB and its latest 2.0 specification and implementation. He helped define the industry-standard implementation on earlier releases that is widely recognized in use as the primary business logic component architecture in some of today's Web Application Server tools and environments for enterprise Java.
4. Another BEA Systems expert, Al Saganich, focused his series of articles on JAX, the Java API for XML. JAX is important in using Java for Web services, which was a hot topic in 2001 and will continue to be in 2002.
Hangin' with the JAX Pack, Part 3: Registries -- In Part 3 of our JAX Pack series, Al Saganich looks at JAXR, the Java API for XML Registries.
Hangin' with the JAX Pack, Part 2: JAXM -- Al Saganich examines JAXM, the Java API for XML Messaging, and shows how it provides support for accessing various messaging formats.
Hangin' with the JAX Pack, Part 1 -- In this three-part series, BEA Systems' Al Saginach takes a look at the JAX Pack, JAVA APIs for providing XML-based Web services handling XML. This week Al looks at JAXP (for XML processing) and JAXB (for XML binding). Next week: XML messaging with JAXM.
5. And finally for 2001, JXTA was another interesting development in Web services, an open source project under Sun Microsystems blending Java and XML. It's introduced and explained in this XTRA JXTA: The P2P/Web Services Connection package of articles by Richard Koman. Look for project JXTA to continue its evolution in 2002.
Looking ahead to 2002, you'll see more extensive coverage of Java's strategy for Web services as it continues to unfold, including a sneak peek at the possible JAWS (Java API for Web Services) platform, which may include the JAX APIs, JXTA, jUDDI, jSOAP, and more yet to be determined. Additionally, expect to see more on the JAX API, featured in J2EE v.1.4, and the continued integration and application emphasis on J2EE and wireless Java (J2ME). These will be the major trends in Java for 2002, and ONJava.com will be there to cover them.
Steve Anglin is a senior consulting editor and writer specializing in Java.
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