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Optimize with a SATA RAID Storage Solution
Range of capacities as low as $1250 per TB. Ideal if you currently rely on servers/disks/JBODs
In September 2004, the JBoss Application Server (AS) 4.0 became J2EE 1.4 certified. For JBoss's core developers and early adopters, the coolest thing about JBoss AS 4.0 is not the J2EE certification, but the new technologies that currently reach beyond the scope of J2EE and aim to greatly simplify Java middleware development. The idea is to replace existing Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) with simpler and more manageable plain old Java objects (POJOs). Simplified applications lead to higher developer productivity, better application performance, and less bugs. Simplicity (a.k.a. lightweight development) is the "next big thing" in the server-side Java community, and JBoss AS 4.0 is the first major J2EE server to take solid steps in that direction.
In this article, I use three example applications to show you the simplicity of the POJO middleware frameworks in JBoss AS 4.0 and how they relate to the current and future J2EE specifications. If you are a JBoss user or a general J2EE developer, this article teaches you portable skills that you can use in both today's JBoss AS 4.0 server and the future JBoss 5.0 or J2EE 1.5 servers.
Let's start with the problems inherent in the current EJB 2.1 middleware frameworks to show the need for a simpler POJO-based framework.
| Open source and J2EE certification |
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| The official J2EE certification for JBoss is a milestone for both the Java and open source communities. Not too long ago, it was believed that without charity from Sun, no open source J2EE project would pass certification due to the high cost and extensive quality assurance efforts required. JBoss achieved J2EE certification by itself and hence proved the validity of the open source development model in delivering enterprise-ready Java solutions. |
Since its inception, J2EE has achieved great success in the marketplace for developing scalable and distributed server-side applications. However, EJB, a core component for middleware in the J2EE stack, has gained the reputation of being too complex and difficult to use, especially for small to midsize business applications. The overhead of EJB infrastructure code and deployment descriptors drains both server resources and, more importantly, developer productivity. Developers often end up writing and maintaining more infrastructure code than business logic code.
To illustrate the above point and provide a comparison for alternative simpler solutions enabled by JBoss AS 4.0, let's look at an EJB 2.1-based example application. The Mortgage Calculator Web application calculates the monthly mortgage payment for a loan and stores the results in a relational database. After each calculation, the application searches the database for past results that have lower monthly payments. Those results are displayed at the bottom of the page. Figure 1 shows how the application works. When you first access the application, you are prompted to enter a username and password. Use the username and password combo "user1"/"pass1" to log in. If you want to see the error message for unauthorized users, try the "user3/pass3" combo.
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