Web Technologies - Java

Java

An object-oriented programming language that is platform independent (the same Java program runs on all hardware platforms without modification). Developed by Sun, Java is widely used on the Web for both client and server processing. Modeled after C++, Java added programming enhancements such as "garbage collection," which automatically frees unused memory. It was also designed to run in small amounts of memory. The first Web browsers to run Java were Sun's HotJava and Netscape Navigator 2.0.

EJB

(Enterprise JavaBeans) A software component in Sun's J2EE platform, which provides a pure Java environment for developing and running distributed applications. EJBs are written as software modules that contain the business logic of the application. They reside in and are executed in a runtime engine called an "EJB Container," which provides a host of common interfaces and services to the EJB, including security and transaction support. At the wire level, EJBs look like CORBA components.

RMI

(Remote Method Invocation) A standard from Sun for distributed objects written in Java. RMI is a remote procedure call (RPC), which allows Java objects (software components) stored in the network to be run remotely. Unlike CORBA and DCOM objects, which can be developed in different languages, RMI is designed for objects written only in Java.

SWING

A Java toolkit for developing graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It includes elements such as menus, toolbars and dialog boxes. Swing is written in Java and is thus platform independent, unlike the Java Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), which provides platform-specific code. Swing also has more sophisticated interface capabilities than AWT and offers such features as tabbed panes and the ability to change images on buttons. Swing is included in the Java Foundation Classes (JFC) which are provided in the Java Developers Toolkit (JDK).

COBRA

Common Object Request Broker Architecture) A software-based interface from the Object Management Group (OMG) that allows software modules (objects) to communicate with each other no matter where they are located on a private network or the global Internet. CORBA is a "distributed objects" system designed for multi-tier, client/server applications, where processing data in one computer requires additional processing by some other service in another computer in order to complete the transaction. CORBA is also described as an "object bus" or "software bus."

SERVELETS

A Java application that runs in a Web server or application server and provides server-side processing such as accessing a database and e-commerce transactions. Widely used for Web processing, servlets are designed to handle HTTP requests (get, post, etc.) and are the standard Java replacement for a variety of other methods, including CGI scripts, Active Server Pages (ASPs) and proprietary C/C++ plug-ins for specific Web servers (ISAPI, NSAPI).

JSP

(JavaServer Page) An extension to the Java servlet technology from Sun that allows HTML to be combined with Java on the same page. The Java provides the processing, and the HTML provides the page layout that will be rendered in the Web browser

JDBC

(Java DataBase Connectivity) A programming interface that lets Java applications access a database via the SQL language. Since Java interpreters (Java Virtual Machines) are available for all major client platforms, this allows a platform-independent database application to be written. In 1996, JDBC was the first extension to the Java platform.

STRUTS

A framework for writing Web-based applications in Java that supports the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. Struts is deployed as JSP pages using special tags from the Struts tag library, which includes routines for building forms, HTML rendering, storing and retrieving data and business logic

WEB LOGIC

A software suite from BEA Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA (www.beasys.com) that is used to deploy Web and SOA applications. The core product is BEA WebLogic Server, a J2EE application server. BEA WebLogic Portal is an an enterprise portal that offers advanced searching, and BEA WebLogic Integration provides tools for transforming and routing data from multiple sources. BEA WebLogic Enterprise is the integrated development environment (IDE) for the WebLogic family

HTML

HyperText Markup Language) The document format used on the Web. Web pages are built with HTML tags (codes) embedded in the text. HTML defines the page layout, fonts and graphic elements as well as the hypertext links to other documents on the Web. Each link contains the URL, or address, of a Web page residing on the same server or any server worldwide, hence "World Wide" Web.

XML

(EXtensible Markup Language) An open standard for describing data from the W3C. It is used for defining data elements on a Web page and business-to-business documents. XML uses a similar tag structure as HTML; however, whereas HTML defines how elements are displayed, XML defines what those elements contain. While HTML uses predefined tags, XML allows tags to be defined by the developer of the page. Thus, virtually any data items, such as "product," "sales rep" and "amount due," can be identified, allowing Web pages to function like database records. By providing a common method for identifying data, XML supports business-to-business transactions and has become "the" format for electronic data interchange and Web services

J2EE

(Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition) A platform from Sun for building distributed enterprise applications. J2EE services are performed in the middle tier between the user's machine and the enterprise's databases and legacy information systems. J2EE comprises a specification, reference implementation and set of testing suites. Its core component is Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs), followed by JavaServer Pages (JSPs) and Java servlets and a variety of interfaces for linking to the information resources in the enterprise.

J2ME

(Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition) A version of Java 2 for cellphones, PDAs and consumer appliances. J2ME uses the K Virtual Machine (KVM), a specialized Java interpreter for devices with limited memory. The Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) provides the programming interface for wireless applications. The Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) provides support for a graphical interface, networking and storage.

DOT NET

(.NET) A comprehensive software development platform from Microsoft that was introduced in 2000 as the company's next generation programming environment. Pronounced "dot-net," and widely known as the ".NET Framework," it was designed to compete with the Java J2EE platform

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) A protocol used to access a directory listing. LDAP support is being implemented in Web browsers and e-mail programs, which can query an LDAP-compliant directory. It is expected that LDAP will provide a common method for searching e-mail addresses on the Internet, eventually leading to a global white pages. LDAP is a sibling protocol to HTTP and FTP and uses the ldap:// prefix in its URL.

JVM

A Java interpreter. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is software that converts the Java intermediate language (bytecode) into machine language and executes it. The original JVM came from the JavaSoft division of Sun. Subsequently, other vendors developed their own; for example, the Microsoft Virtual Machine is Microsoft's Java interpreter. A JVM is incorporated into a Web browser in order to execute Java applets. A JVM is also installed in a Web server to execute server-side Java programs. A JVM can also be installed in a client machine to run stand-alone Java applications

PJAVA

A version of Java from Sun intended for PDAs and other handheld devices. EmbeddedJava (EJava) is a counterpart set of technologies that provide support for character-based displays or devices without displays rather than graphical interfaces. PersonalJava (PJava) is intended for open systems that require Web browsing, and PJava includes applet support. EJava is intended for closed systems that have severe restrictions on memory.

MIPS

(Million Instructions Per Second) The execution speed of a computer. For example, .5 MIPS is 500,000 instructions per second; 100 MIPS is a hundred million instructions per second. MIPS was a popular rating before computers reached gigahertz speeds, but MIPS rates were never uniform. Some were best-case mixes while others were averages. In addition, it takes more instructions in one machine to do the same thing as another (RISC vs. CISC, mainframe vs. PC). As a result, MIPS has been called "MisInformation to Promote Sales" as well as "Meaningless Interpretation of Processor Speed."

XSL

(eXtensible Stylesheet Language) A standard from the W3C for describing a style sheet for XML documents. It is the XML counterpart to the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in HTML and is compatible with CSS2. XSL is made up of three components: (1) XSL Transformations (XSLT) is the processing language for XSL. It is used to convert XML documents into HTML or other document types and may be used independently of XSL. (2) XML Path Language (Xpath) is used to identify and select tagged elements within an XML document, and (3) XSL Formatting Objects (XSL FO) provides the format vocabulary

XSLT

(eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) Software that converts an XML document into another format such as HTML, PDF or text. It may also be used to convert one XML document to another XML document with a different set of XML tags (different schema).