JSP -> What is JSP?

Java Server Pages (JSP) are an afterbirth of Java Servlets. When Java Servlets were introduced it opened many avenues to a Java programmer. Java became a full fledged application server programming language. Though Java Servlets were great, it posed one great problem. 

What is the need for JSP?

If you are a programmer or a web designer you will agree with me that not every programmer is a good designer and not every good designer is a good programmer. This is the exact problem posed by Java Servlets. Which means Java Servlets required the Java programmer to know the designing skills because the Java Servlets did not separate the Programming logic from the presentation layer.

Therefore there was a need to separate the design aspects from the Core Java programmers. This was the reason why, JSP was introduced.

How does JSP solve this problem?

Java Server Pages or JSP solved just this issue. It separated the designing issues from the programming logic. Simply put, if a company were to design a JSP based website, it would first design the layout using a professional web designer. This design can then be passed onto the JSP programmer who can then insert Java code (JSP code) inside these HTML pages. Once inserted, this pure HTML pages becomes a JSP page. It is as simple as that. 

To give more re-usability and to further separate the programming logic Java Beans can be used. The 'usebean' property of a JSP page can just use these Java beans which is nothing but a Java class and then use the bean's methods from inside the JSP page making the JSP page very powerful. The Java bean on the other hand handle issues like connecting to the database, or making another HTTP connection etc.

Having understood the basics of a JSP page, it is then necessary to understand how to get started with JSP.

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