Apache JSP refers to the Apache Tomcat Server, which is sometimes called Jakarta Tomcat, which is an open source web server. Although it was developed by the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), it uses Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) specs to provide an efficient Java HTTP web server environment. JavaServerPages(JSP) itself is a technology that is used to create dynamically generated web sites.
What is Apache Tomcat?
Apache Tomcat is a popular open source software that implements everything from Java Servlet to JavaServer Pages to Java Expression Language to Java WebSocket technologies. This software is continually being developed in an openly participatory environment, which means that developers and programmers around the world collaborate to fix bugs, promote new releases and encourage others to support the open development project. Apache Tomcat software powers many significant web applications across a wide of industries and throughout many notable organizations.
Apache Tomcat is popular, because it’s an extremely lightweight application that offers the basic functionality needed to minimally run a server. That means that compared with most of its peers, it provides relatively quick load and redeployment times. Because of its minimalist design approach, Apache Tomcat also enjoys faster development cycles. Apache Tomcat is highly flexible and comes with extensive customization options, so users can tweak it based on their specific needs. It also offers server stability because Tomcat itself is a very stable platform.
JavaServer Pages
JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a server-based programming technology that enables developers to create dynamic Web-based applications that are independent of traditional platforms. Due to the fact that it is Java based, JavaServer Pages can access the entire family of Java technologies, such as standard enterprise databases. From a technical standpoint, JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a technology used for developing web pages that support dynamic content. This is accomplished through enabling developers do strategically insert Java code in HTML pages by using special JSP tags. Using JavaServer Pages, web developers can easily gather input from users through web page forms and create insightful databases of user browsing trends.
Many people prefer to use JavaServer Pages, because it is highly similar to other programs that use the Common Gateway Interface (CGI), but it offers unique advantages. First, the performance is notably better, because JSP allows developers to embed dynamic elements within HTML pages instead of having to rely on separate CGI files. In contrast with CGI/Perl, JSP files are always compiled by the server before processing,. Due to the fact that JavaServer Pages are built with Java Servlets API technology, they can be combined with servlets that handle the model supported by Java servlet template engines, also known as the business logic. Lastly, JavaServer Pages is part of Java EE, which means that it can handle both simple and complex applications.
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In retrospect, Apache JSP combines the best aspects of both Apache Tomcat Server and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technologies that create dynamically enhanced web pages.