Java Servlet Programming (Java Series)

A guide for programmers familiar with Java showcases the versatility of the CGI script replacements, including session tracking, developing dynamic Web content, and applet-servlet communication

This book is a superb introduction to Java servlets and their various communications mechanisms. It includes deep and comprehensive coverage of the Java Servlet API, and also of HTTP, non-HTTP socket communications, Remote Method Invocation (RMI), and more. Throughout, the authors present excellent illustrative code and go to much effort to explain why things work the way they do.

The authors (to their credit) do not assume that Java programmers will be familiar with transport protocols or what really goes on when a Web server operates. They begin by showing how to use servlets to generate static pages, then show how to get servlets to generate customized documents in response to requests from the client side. That alone will satisfy many readers' problems. However, the authors go on to tell how to track sessions with servlets, how to carry out secure transactions, how to get servlet threads to communicate with each other, and more. If it can be done with Java servlets, it's discussed in this book. Java Servlet Programming also includes a reference to the Java Servlet API, version 2. --David Wall