Preface

Current books on Tomcat are primarily focused on the application deployer or administrator. As a result, they invariably focus on the issues related to managing a Tomcat installation, configuring the runtime environment, and on deploying web applications.

On the other hand, while books on servlet programming are targeted at Java web developers, they often provide a container-agnostic view of the servlet specification. Tomcat is often a bit player in these books and has very few speaking lines.

This book fills the void between these two approaches.

It will take you on a guided tour of a living implementation of an industrial-strength servlet container.

Along the way, you will learn how various elements of the Servlet 2.5 specification as well as how the HTTP RFCs are implemented.

By the end of your journey, you will have acquired specialist grade skills in a range of technologies that contribute to the arena of Java server-side development.

This book intended to provide Tomcat administrators, deployers, and developers an introduction into the internal workings of the Tomcat servlet container.

At the same time, it provides Java web programmers with a deep appreciation of the Servlet API by exploring its reference implementation—the Tomcat container.

While this book provides you with the conceptual background of all that is necessary to take your skills to the next level, it assumes that the reader has a general understanding of the Java programming language and Java web programming.