But an equally compelling story can be told about the virtues of building the
server-side of a web application in Java as well. This article will outline
the major design issues of creating a server-side Java solution, and though I
promise not to make this an infomercial, a number of examples will be drawn
from one particular implementation, a commercial product called Dynamo which
I played a key role in creating.
Why Server-Side Java?
One of the amazing things about the web is that all of the excitement (and
money) centers around the very thing that a web site was designed not to do,
namely, act as the server side of a client/server application. From web-malls
to search engines to postcard shops, the demand for real functionality on the
server has been skyrocketing, yet the programming model for creating these
client/server applications is appallingly impoverished. ... (more)