Thread: should I use J2EE or not?

The answer to this question is entirely up to you, there is no right or wrong answer, you are asking on a java forum so the answers might be biased. Things to consider are a) access to servers that allow J2EE capability b) timelines and what other languages you are comfortable with c) your desire to learn new languages, and much more...In my opinion, J2EE - as the acronym entails - is for enterprise applications. While the definition of enterprise application may change slightly from one place to the next, the general keywords include complex, business, cooperate, scheduling, processing, scalable, etc...in my opinion (and only my opinion) often far overkill when all you want is a dynamic webpage to display a different state.

Hey Copeg, what you say makes perfect sense. But as somebody who (very possibly incorrectly) uses J2EE to handle relatively simple dynamic webpage stuff myself, what alternatives do you suggest? And what is the dividing line between using J2EE or something simpler? I know this is a subjective thing, but I'm curious to hear the opinion of somebody with more experience than me. I've muddled through with J2EE knowing that what I was doing probably wasn't the best approach, and things have mostly worked out, but I'd love to hear more about your train of thought!

Originally Posted by KevinWorkman

Hey Copeg, what you say makes perfect sense. But as somebody who (very possibly incorrectly) uses J2EE to handle relatively simple dynamic webpage stuff myself, what alternatives do you suggest? And what is the dividing line between using J2EE or something simpler? I know this is a subjective thing, but I'm curious to hear the opinion of somebody with more experience than me. I've muddled through with J2EE knowing that what I was doing probably wasn't the best approach, and things have mostly worked out, but I'd love to hear more about your train of thought!

Its all a gray area, and quite subjective. I like to think java/J2EE better geared towards what I would define as an application. In many cases, I have a hard time defining a dynamic web site (at least the ones I have written) as an application - at least relative to the desktop and enterprise applications I have contributed to which utilize algorithms, threading, queue's, multiple network nodes/servers, machine learning, data mining, IO calls, etc..

Consider a stripped down version of something like facebook. A user can register, post, view posts, and make friends. Essentially the website stores and presents user input, pretty much serving as a front end to a database. I would not classify this alone as an application. Now consider adding functionality such as suggesting friends (need algorithms to analyze graphical structures), using directed advertising based upon user history (you need algorithms to analyze and categorize), placing user requests into a multi-threaded queue beyond the view of the user (the two previous might be where this is necessary if the analysis takes a while and you don't want to lock up a web browser), firing timers to update logic or count down to a certain event (think ebay auction time left), etc...this would be where I would say it crosses the line towards an application - it is doing more than just storing and presenting information dynamically, it is analyzing and reacting to that information in a much more complex way. This isn't to say another language can't handle that (Ruby, php, perl, etc..). I personally like java because the option for different front ends (such as a webstart application) is much easier to enable. I personally like php for the more simple tasks mainly because of its ease of use and ubiquity on shared servers. My .02 and your mileage may very

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense. My original plan was to pick up php, but then somebody (I think it was somebody on this forum actually) asked me why not use Java EE, so I went that route instead. I'm glad I did, as I'm learning an aspect of Java I'd never worked with before, plus my needs include things that are closer to the application side than the basic front-end side. Anyway, thanks again for clearing things up!

Originally Posted by Bob_Sadarka

Anything involves in working with Servlets, JSP, JSTL, web services... meaning you are using Java EE, no matter how complicate your application is.

Right. But the point we're discussing is when those things are appropriate, and when it might be better to consider the other options.