Foreword

You're holding one part of a truly stellar phenomenon in the computing industry: the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition. This book is a key piece of a visionary effort that began more than two years ago with the introduction of the J2EE platform. In that time, the J2EE engineering team has defined a new ecosystem for networked computing and taught the world a new way to develop distributed applications.

This team has changed the computing world on many levels. They've reinforced the core values of Java technology: portability, scalability, security, and community. They've redefined the model for developing big, industrial-strength enterprise applications. They've invented new licensing models, driven a new compatibility model, and invigorated a new adoption model. Through the Java Community Process, they've taught intense competitors that working together--and building smarter--can be the key to successfully growing a marketplace that offers more for everyone.

With the release of the J2EE 1.3 platform, the momentum continues. Six months after the initial release of the J2EE 1.3 platform, the introduction of compatible products is running 56% over the rate for the previous version.

Part of the reason for this phenomenal uptake is, of course, the range of new features in the J2EE 1.3 platform. These include improved container-managed persistence, the new EJB Query Language, message-driven EJBs, support for the J2EE Connector architecture, as well as enhancements such as servlet filters and improved JSP tag library support. Our J2EE licensees have been eager to introduce these features to the platform, and J2EE developers have been anxious to begin taking advantage of them.

In this regard, the Java BluePrints team truly stands alone--first out of the box with real solutions and tested guidelines to help you use these features to best advantage. Because of the quality of their efforts, Java BluePrints has also been a phenomenal success during the past two years. More than a half million developers have downloaded the BluePrints book and demo application code. A dozen application server vendors now redistribute J2EE BluePrints with their J2EE compatible products. Four vendors have even introduced commercial products based on J2EE BluePrints. Elsewhere, BluePrints is recognized, written about, and praised by every major Java technology-focused publication. A number of technical institutes even use BluePrints to train the next generation of Java application developers.

The Java software organization focuses on efforts like these because we see the net effect: a huge win for software developers everywhere, at all levels of the software development food chain. By fostering Java technology standards like the J2EE platform and providing content like BluePrints, we're working to ensure that the Java software development community continues to grow, flourish, and mature.

This book is central to that effort. The enterprise team who brought it together are thought leaders who can help you build the skill sets you need to be ready for new opportunities. Like you, they stay awake nights thinking about how to build applications that are more flexible, more portable, higher performance, and easier to develop. They're tuned into solving the problems that you face day to day. Working alongside the folks who define and implement the technologies they are using, they explore the "what-if" scenarios that this rich platform suggests and sift through design options to come up with clear guidelines for the what and how of software design on the J2EE platform.

The future holds great things for Java technology and the BluePrints program. During the coming months, our Java Web Services Developer Pack, The Java Web Services Tutorial, and Java BluePrints for Web Services will help developers build applications that take advantage of the services-on-demand promised by the Sun ONE architecture. Building on what's already available, these offerings will enhance the phenomenal success of the J2EE platform and the Java application marketplace.

By taking advantage of the gold mine of advice you'll find in this book, you too can be part of the phenomenal success that is the J2EE platform.

Rich Green

Vice President and General Manager

Java and XML Software, Sun Microsystems

Santa Clara, California

February, 2002