Web page in Java

Question

So I am brand new to Java but I have developed in C++. I dont have alot of experience building websites or webpages. I am starting an individual graduate project for my degree. It involves building a web page that will be hosted by my teacher. My question to you is, Can i use java to do this? Basically I would use java instead of html, if it is possible. If it is, how do I get started. If not, what do you recommend? I figured since I know C++ already, its time for me to learn Java. What better way to do it than with a project. All advice is appreciated. Thank You.

Answer 1

Basically I would use java instead of htmlBrowsers only understand html. You need to know html to create web pages. What java can help you do is respond to information that users enter into forms on html pages. You can also use java to create an html page to send back to the browser as a response, which the browser will display to the user.
An html page (HelloWorld.html) is typically a static web page to display a document with no dynamic
abilty such as submitting a textfield (that a user entered information into such as a password) to the
server (although you can probably force it to be). Html pages frequently contain forms which users fill out and then submit. Html pages that contain forms were around long before java servlets + jsp's were invented. If you want the user to enter some info, then you have to send an html page with a form on it to the browser. How you create the html page is up to you. It can be a static file on the server which your java code just relays to the browser, or you can use servlets + jsp to retrieve some data from a database and then create an html page on the fly that contains the data, and then send that "dynamically created" html page back to the browser. But no matter how the page is created, the browser receives an html page, which the browser then displays. And the html page will look exatcly the same to the browser no matter how the page was created.
I am starting an individual graduate project for my degree. It involves building a web page that
will be hosted by my teacher. My question to you is, Can i use java to do this?Yes, but you are a thousand miles away from being able to do that in java. First, you have to learn the java language, just like you learned C++. You could read a short beginners book on java to get a cursory grasp of the basics. But after you learn some basic java, then you have to learn about a software application written in java called "servlets + jsp". The application "servlets + jsp" gives you the means to do web programming. You will speak to that application using the java programming language. But in order to learn how the application "servlets + jsp" works, you will have to read another book, and servlets + jsp is not an easy application to figure out. You might need a couple of months of studying to achieve your goal, which is a big time comittment for a student, so that is pretty unrealistic. You might be able to read a bunch of tutorials and throw something together, but you won't have any idea what's going on, and you'll probably need a lot of help.
If you want to get your project done in a reasonable amount of time, you should probably learn php. A beginning php book will teach you the basics of html and forms, as well as teach you how to use databases to store information that users submit, e.g. login names and passwords. In my experience, some php books get you up to speed very quickly in 3 or 4 chapters and teach you to do some neat stuff immediately.
Another thing you need to consider is: what type of software does your "host" have? If your host doesn't have Tomcat installed, then you can't use servlets + jsp. If you decide to use php as your "server side web programming language", then your host needs to have php installed.