Best way to learn JSP?

Teh Russ

I'm a pretty experienced developer, done a lot of sites with ASP, PHP and some .Net, and it looks like I might have some work coming up where the client would prefer to use JSP for the back end code.

I have no previous Java experience, I've read up a bit on it, and I find it quite unfathomable - there's so much to learn! Loads of new terminology too... beans, etc.

Where would be the best place to start with it, bearing in mind I need to learn it specifically for web development? Should I go all-out and try and learn Java wholesale, or is there an easier way to jump in to just the JSP stuff?

What are the preferred tools? I know about Eclipse, but have never used it before.

I'd like to try and get a grip on it, as there seems to be a lot of JSP development work out there, and it'd be nice to be able to tackle it.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

tammy

I'd recommend Head First JSP and servlets book, it's not to complex and should get you started. This could be worth a go also, http://www.coreservlets.com/Apache-Tomcat-Tutorial/. I wouldn't be too concerned by all the jargon/technologies, just get something basic going and build from there.

DeJaMo

The head first book is a good place to start.

Just one thing on your post...JSP is for presentation logic and not back end code - that would go into a servlet. You'll see that when you read the book.

Also, there is no need to design a J2EE (JSP/servlet) application from scratch, just use a framework like Struts or Spring. Although don't jump straight into these as you may get confused at the start.

Teh Russ

Thanks a lot guys, I'll get a hold of that book and give it a read.

onemorechance

I think it may be useful to learn java first, but I guess you could see how you get on with JSP first if ya want. If you do decide to go with java first, an excellent book I would recommend is Sam's Java 6 in 21 days. I struggled with java for a while until I got that book. There is also a head first java book, same people / publisher as the head first jsp one mentioned. Also a very good book.