Java Web Applications

The main function of the Tomcat server is to act as a container for Java web applications. Therefore, before we can begin our Tomcat-specific discussion, a brief introduction as to exactly what web applications are is in order. The concept of a web application was introduced with the release of the Java servlet specification 2.2. According to this specification, “a web application is a collection of servlets, html pages, classes, and other resources that can be bundled and run on multiple containers from multiple vendors.” What this really means is that a web application is a container that can hold any combination of the following list of objects:

• Servlets
• Java Server Pages (JSPs)
• Utility classes
• Static documents, including HTML, images, JavaScript libraries, cascading stylesheets, and so on