This book is an introduction to, and quick reference for, the Java Enterprise APIs. Some of these APIs are a core part of the Java platform, while others are standard extensions to the platform. Together, however, they enable Java programs to use and interact with a suite of distributed network services that are commonly used in enterprise computing.
These APIs can be used individually to integrate specific enterprise functionality into your applications. Or, you can use them within the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), which integrates all of the APIs discussed in this book into a well-defined application framework. What’s the difference? Well, besides guaranteeing a certain level of support for the various enterprise-related Java APIs, a compliant J2EE server also provides certain application services that are critical for developing, deploying, and managing applications in an enterprise environment. These include application assembly and deployment facilities that let you configure runtime application properties and resources at deploy time, in a standard format, as well as a unified security model that applies to various types of components that can be defined within J2EE.
Before we go any further, let’s be clear. The term enterprise computing is simply a synonym for distributed computing: computation done by groups of programs interacting over a network.
Anyone can write distributed applications: you don’t have to work for a major corporation, university, government agency, or any other kind of large-scale “enterprise” to program with the Java Enterprise APIs. Small businesses may not have the same enterprise-scale distributed computing needs large organizations have, but most still engage in plenty of distributed computing. With the explosive growth of the Internet and of network services, just about anyone can find a reason to write distributed applications. One such reason is that it is fun. When distributed computing is used to leverage the power of the network, the results can be amazingly cool!
So, if the Java Enterprise APIs aren’t used exclusively by enterprises, why aren’t they called the Java Distributed Computing APIs? The reasons are simple. First, enterprise is a hot buzzword these days -- everyone in the networking industry wants to be working on enterprise something. Second, large enterprises have lots of money to spend on costly hardware for running their expensive network server software. Since the enterprise is where the money is, we get the word “enterprise” in the APIs.
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