most used enterprise java technologies

[tom fredriksen]

Out of curiosity I want to ask what are the most used j2ee technologies
people are used to using in projects? There are so many of them that you
can go crazy, I am wondering if many of them are actually used or if its
just me imagining they are not. Additionally, what other enterprise
technologies do you use the most?

Here is how I see it, in prioritised order:

1: most used
- ejb
- servlet
- jsp
- jdbc
- jndi
- jta
- jms
- jsf
- jca/jce/jaas/jsse
- java deployment api (jsr88)
- ...

2: not much used?
- jmx
- java connector arch
- java management api
- jaxp
- jaxrpc
- saaj
- jaxr
- jacc
- jaf

3: non j2ee technologies
- web services
- spring
- hibernate
- corba
- ..

 

[Daniel Dyer]

Out of curiosity I want to ask what are the most used j2ee technologies
people are used to using in projects? There are so many of them that you
can go crazy, I am wondering if many of them are actually used or if its
just me imagining they are not. Additionally, what other enterprise
technologies do you use the most?

Here is how I see it, in prioritised order:

1: most used
- ejb
- servlet
- jsp
- jdbc
- jndi
- jta
- jms
- jsf
- jca/jce/jaas/jsse
- java deployment api (jsr88)
- ...

There are a lot of people avoiding EJB (at least until EJB 3 is mature),
but pretty much everyone has to use JDBC for enterprise Java apps, either
directly or indirectly, and JNDI is pretty key too. I'd guess that
there's probably more projects using servlets/JSP than EJB as well.

My current project currently uses Spring, Hibernate, JMS, Servlets/JSP,
JNDI, JCE and JSSE from your list. We will probably end up using JMX and
maybe JCA too.

Dan.

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Out of curiosity I want to ask what are the most used j2ee technologies
people are used to using in projects? There are so many of them that you
can go crazy, I am wondering if many of them are actually used or if its
just me imagining they are not. Additionally, what other enterprise
technologies do you use the most?

Here is how I see it, in prioritised order:

1: most used
- ejb
- servlet
- jsp

I'd be very surprised if EJB was number one. Servlets and JSP are likely
candidates for number 1... (or in the very least, they are certainly way
ahead of EJB).
If you're interested in why EJBs are the target of some ire, try looking
at an O'Reilly book called "Better, faster, lighter Java".

 

[Alex Hunsley]

I'd be very surprised if EJB was number one. Servlets and JSP are likely
candidates for number 1... (or in the very least, they are certainly way
ahead of EJB).
If you're interested in why EJBs are the target of some ire, try looking
at an O'Reilly book called "Better, faster, lighter Java".

Just want to add: be aware of what technologies are out there, epecially
the big players, but never use something 'just because': use something
because there is a certain need.
(This goes for design patterns as much as it does the above technologies
too...)

 

[tom fredriksen]

I'd be very surprised if EJB was number one. Servlets and JSP are likely
candidates for number 1... (or in the very least, they are certainly way
ahead of EJB).

Ok, maybe not the first, but its used quite a lot.

But, if EJB is not used as much what is used instead? There is ejb and
spring, both provide much touted enterprise stuff such as transactions,
connection pooling etc. So are 3rd party packages for this stuff used
more than I though they where? I know that they have gained in use the
last couple of years, but something else was before that or was it just
ejb and home grown versions of similar functionality?

/tom

 

[Jacob]

Out of curiosity I want to ask what are the most used j2ee technologies
people are used to using in projects? There are so many of them that you
can go crazy, I am wondering if many of them are actually used or if its
just me imagining they are not. Additionally, what other enterprise
technologies do you use the most?

Actually I find the term "enterprise" pretty silly and
misleading. These are all just a bunch of libraries or
technology frameworks that may be used in enterprise
applications or whatever other applications you plan to
write.

And as I can easily get tons of information on "how" for
each of them, I really miss the "why" (and especially
the "why not") on most. And which ones are exclusive?

 

[Roedy Green]

Here is how I see it, in prioritised order:

my suggested learning order from http://mindprod.com/jgloss/j2ee.html
is : JDK, JavaMail, Servlets, JNDI, JSP, JDBC, JAAS, RMI, JAXP, JMS,
EJB.

 

[Daniel Dyer]

Two very useful books that I'd recommend to you are:
J2EE design and development (Wrox Press)
J2EE development with EJB (Wrox Press)

I think they're tell you quite a lot about what you'd like to know!

Did you mean "J2EE Development without EJB" by Rod Johnson? If not, I'd
like to recommend that one instead.

Dan.

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Ok, maybe not the first, but its used quite a lot.

Yup. EJBs have also been used where they are overkill, and generally
people are becoming more aware of the value of using EJBs in right
place, rather than using them because "J2EE means EJBs" (false) or "I
need an enterprise class app, therfore I need EJBs" (false).

But, if EJB is not used as much what is used instead? There is ejb and
spring, both provide much touted enterprise stuff such as transactions,
connection pooling etc. So are 3rd party packages for this stuff used
more than I though they where?

There are more than plenty!

I know that they have gained in use the
last couple of years, but something else was before that or was it just
ejb and home grown versions of similar functionality?

Some viable alternatives have been round for a fair few years now.
Check out the Jakarta project web site, for starters:
http://jakarta.apache.org/
Check out things like Torque, for example, for an O/R
(object/relational) mapping system (i.e. offers data persistence via
mapping java objects to database). As for connection pooling - well,
even JDBC itself has some support for connection pooling. There's a lot
of choices out there.

Two very useful books that I'd recommend to you are:
J2EE design and development (Wrox Press)
J2EE development with EJB (Wrox Press)

I think they're tell you quite a lot about what you'd like to know!

alex

 

[Roedy Green]

Some viable alternatives have been round for a fair few years now.
Check out the Jakarta project web site, for starters:
http://jakarta.apache.org/

the advantage of EJB over say Torque is the odds of EJB support
software being around is 8 years is a lot higher than Torque software
being around. Look at the distressing number of upturned turtle icons
in the Java glossary. It is enough to make you a roll-your-own
fanatic.

 

[tom fredriksen]

Did you mean "J2EE Development without EJB" by Rod Johnson? If not, I'd
like to recommend that one instead.

I had a look a both of them at amazon and they cover it from different
views. Daniels seem to cover it from a lightweight framework view, while
Alex' covers it from the ejb view. I would probably recommend both
books, to get the entire understanding, but I haven't read any of them
so how do I know

/tom

 

[Tom Fredriksen]

my suggested learning order from http://mindprod.com/jgloss/j2ee.html
is : JDK, JavaMail, Servlets, JNDI, JSP, JDBC, JAAS, RMI, JAXP, JMS,
EJB.

JavaMail? how is it better at messaging than JMS. I am not talking about
email messaging but MOM, such as MQSeries and ActiveMQ etc.
Is JavaMail more used as MOM than JMS?

/tom

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Did you mean "J2EE Development without EJB" by Rod Johnson? If not, I'd
like to recommend that one instead.

D'oh! Yes, a typo on my behalf. I meant the "without EJB" book!
lex

 

[Alex Hunsley]

Actually I find the term "enterprise" pretty silly and
misleading. These are all just a bunch of libraries or
technology frameworks that may be used in enterprise
applications or whatever other applications you plan to
write.

And as I can easily get tons of information on "how" for
each of them, I really miss the "why" (and especially
the "why not") on most.
And which ones are exclusive?

Those sorts of questions - "why" as opposed to "how" - are more covered
by that book I mentioned, "J2EE design and development" (Wrox press),
which is why I think it's a good book. Too much literature on J2EE is
about 'how' and gives a too technology/API-centric view, IMO.

 

[Alex Hunsley]

I had a look a both of them at amazon and they cover it from different
views. Daniels seem to cover it from a lightweight framework view, while
Alex' covers it from the ejb view. I would probably recommend both
books, to get the entire understanding, but I haven't read any of them
so how do I know

/tom

Hi Tom, did you see my other reply just now? I made a booboo and was
actually meaning to recommend "J2EE dev *without* EJB". Of course, the
"with EJB" could be useful to you too!
One thing I forgot to say when recommending these, and which you might
have guessed anyway: neither of those books is an introduction to J2EE.
They assume you already have some familiarity.

Just on a random note, I'm going to be having a look at Ruby on Rails at
some point - I've been hearing good things about it.

 

[Alex Hunsley]

the advantage of EJB over say Torque is the odds of EJB support
software being around is 8 years is a lot higher than Torque software
being around. Look at the distressing number of upturned turtle icons
in the Java glossary. It is enough to make you a roll-your-own
fanatic.

I'm sure EJBs will enjoy much more support than Torque, yes. But torque
isn't closed source either, so that offers options.
All the more reason to design systems well - distinct layers/tiers, and
minimising impact (where possible) of changes in any tier, programming
to technology agnostic interfaces (where possible), and so on.
I think rolling your own offers limited returns when you reach a certain
amount of complexity in the problems you're trying to solve. Although
sometimes it may be a good idea.