SINCE THE INTRODUCTION of JSP technology, two architectures have emerged for building server-side Web applications in Java. The first involves JSPs only, and the second uses JSPs and Servlets together. Referred to as Model 1 and Model 2 architectures, respectively, each model has its advantages and disadvantages. The Model 2 architecture has become quite popular recently, and has received a great deal of coverage on the Web and in trade magazines. In fact, many developers mistakenly believe this architecture has replaced the Model 1 architecture and is the "right" way to use JSPs.

Over time as I program in both JSP and ASP, I am increasingly finding JSP to be the far more powerful of the two server-side programming solutions. More than any other feature, tag libraries are the one aspect of JSP which has caused me to to choose JSP as my primary server-side web application tool.

Why? It all comes down to two issues: maintenance and development speed. Server-side scripting languages are the melting pot of Internet development. Within a single server page you may easily intermix different scripting methodologies and objects. Like concrete, this mixing of 'materials' is what gives server-side scripting its strength and it enables the server-side programmer to design very dynamic and flexible web pages. The free intermixing of scripting, however, can be very hard to maintain, especially as the size of the project increases. The end product is one that takes an experienced programmer to build and maintain instead of a traditional web designer. As a result server-side applications tend to be weaker in their final graphical design and implementation. Even worse, as the code gets more complicated the development speed decreases. Consequently, many medium- and large-sized server-side web applications are late and over budget. Finally, once implemented, many shops face the problem of finding qualified programmers to maintain what has become known as *spaghetti code.*

JSP: The Short Course is intended to provide you with a basic understanding of JSP - enough to allow you to quickly become a confident builder of content-rich JavaServer Pages. Beyond that, you will have a solid base for further learning.

Will this tutorial make you a JSP expert? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
Will it give you the basic tools? ABSOLUTELY YES!

Interested in building a form mailing utility with JSP? Well, you have come to the right place. In this tutorial find help with writing the HTML page used to gather email data, understanding some important features of the JavaMail API, and incorporating those features into JSP. This primer on JavaMail basics includes a working example of successfully implementing JavaMail in JSP. Once mastered, JavaMail is a powerful API utility for JSP applications.