Many of the present web applications are created with a dynamic character by using a server side programming language. In principle, the dynamic web pages allow the separation of user interface by the content generation. There are many server side programming languages presently used to develop complex applications.

Java Server Pages (JSP) allows the integration of Java code inside static HTML pages. JSP technology is developed by Sun Microsystems and permits the creation of applications running on server side. The Java code is contained inside special tags, but while the HTML, CSS or other static codes are processed by a web browser, the tags including Java code in a JSP file will be interpreted on the server.

If you want to start learning to make JSP applications, you will need to prepare the development environment. Free tools are available for any operating system, offering support to deploy and test JSP applications or scripts. For Windows operating system, the Apache Tomcat web server seems to be a reliable alternative.

First, you will have to install and download the latest version of Java SE Development Kit which provides the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and other useful development tools. The JRE location is required by the Apache Tomcatinstaller for Windows and will be detected automatically. After you start the Apache Tomcat (installed by default as a Windows service), you should check if the installation was successful, by typing in your browser address bar:


You should see the default Tomcat homepage. From the left menu, you can select to browse the Tomcat server documentation, test and view the sources of JSP examples and more. The port 80 must not be used by any other server previously installed, and, as a consequence, it is recommended to disable the automatic startup of other servers if they exist, in the same time with Apache Tomcat, on your Windows operating system. The extensive documentation, tutorials and resources related to JSP applications development existing over the Internet should help you to rapidly create your own JSP scripts.