【正文】 of some other underlying format. But, HTML is by far the most mon format, so an important servlet/JSP task is to wrap the results inside of HTML. 5． Send the implicit HTTP response data. Figure 11 shows a single arrow going from the Web middle layer (the servlet or JSP page) to the client. But, there are really two varieties of data sent: the document itself and the behindthescenes HTTP information. Again, both varieties are critical to effective development. Sending HTTP response data involves telling the browser or other client what type of document is being returned (., HTML), setting cookies and caching parameters, and other such tasks. Why Build Web Pages Dynamically? many client requests can be satisfied by prebuilt documents, and the server would handle these requests without invoking servlets. In many cases, however, a static result is not sufficient, and a page needs to be generated for each request. There are a number of reasons why Web pages need to be built onthefly: 1． The Web page is based on data sent by the client. For instance, the results page from search engines and orderconfirmation pages at online stores are specific to particular user requests. You don39。 you need to talk to the database. Going from the client to the Web tier to the database (a threetier approach) instead of from an applet directly to a database (a twotier approach) provides increased flexibility and security with little or no performance penalty. After all, the database call is usually the ratelimiting step, so going through the Web server does not slow things down. In fact, a threetier approach is often faster because the middle tier can perform caching and connection pooling. In principle, servlets are not restricted to Web or application servers that handle HTTP requests but can be used for other types of servers as well. For example, servlets could be embedded in FTP or mail servers to extend their functionality. And, a servlet API for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) servers was recently standardized (see In practice, however, this use of servlets has not caught on, and we39。re already convinced that Java technology makes for more reliable and reusable code than does Visual Basic, VBScript, or C++. Why go back to those languages for serverside programming? 3． Powerful Servlets support several capabilities that are difficult or impossible to acplish with regular CGI. Servlets can talk directly to the Web server, whereas regular CGI programs cannot, at least not without using a serverspecific API. Communicating with the Web server makes it easier to translate relative URLs into concrete path names, for instance. Multiple servlets can also share data, making it easy to implement database connection pooling and similar resourcesharing optimizations. Servlets can also maintain information from request to request, simplifying techniques like session tracking and caching of previous putations. 4． Portable Servlets are written in the Java programming language and follow a standard API. Servlets are supported directly or by a plugin on virtually every major Web server. Consequently, servlets written for, say, Macromedia JRun can run virtually uncha nged on Apache Tomcat, Microsoft Inter Information Server (with a separate plugin), IBM WebSphere, iPla Enterprise Server, Oracle9i AS, or StarNine WebStar. They are part of the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE。t support them and developers don39。s helpful to fill in some details on the situation that led to the birth of the technology. Just 10 short years ago, the term thin client was a novelty. We still lived in a world of desktop applications, powered by wimpy 286 microprocessors with 14inch monitors that we squinted at. Boy, have times changed! Now my desktop does nothing but power a Web browser, while servers from Sun, IBM, HP, Compaq, and the rest churn out putations, business logic, and content. And that little monitor? Replaced by flatscreen, plasma, whopping 21 and 25inch beauties. Why? So we can see the intricate and plex HTML displays that serve as a frontend to these powerful applications. No longer does a clunky interface suffice。t support at least three of four MLisms such as HTML, XML, and WML is considered shabby, if not an outright failure. And, of course, that means we all care very deeply about the ability to easily develop a Web presentation it turns out, using the new Inter, and all the languages we have at our disposal Java, C, Perl, Pascal, and Ada, among others hasn39。s take a vs. reworkBesides the separation of content and presentation, another measure of a presentation technology39。s code the simplest case, the artist supplies the markup, and the developer provides code and also plugs the markup into the presentation technology. The application is started up, and the content magically bees a user interface. Of course, as we all know, development rarely ends there. Next e revisions and changes to the interface and new business rules that must be coded. This is where the true test of the presentation technology39。ve all been victim to marketing departments changing this or that). So now a problem arises: what do the designers change to tweak their work? The original markup language page they gave to the developer? Probably not, as that page has most likely had custom tags or code inserted (JSPpages, template engines), converted to a Java servlet, or changed into something totally the designer must rework the original page and resubmit this page to the developer. Then the developer has to reconvert this page to the specific format needed for use in the presentation technology. Alternatively, the designer has to learn a scripting language or at least know that which areas of the page39。ve determined that a presentation technology allows a clean