JSP vs. JavaScript

JavaServer Pages (also known as JSP) is a Java based technology specifically used to help software developers serve dynamically generated web pages (such as HTML and XML), as well as other document types pertinent to the development of interactive web content. It was specifically created in order to answer the scepticism that most web developers had concerning the Java platform’s ability to give developers enough support for the web.

JavaScript is a scripting language that is object oriented (that is a programming paradigm implemented through the use of objects, or data structures that are comprised of datafields and methods). It is used to give programmatic access to objects that are found in both client application and other applications pertinent to the running of a specific program. It was intentionally created client-side (meaning, client orientated and run) in order to provide support for dynamic websites.

For all intents and purpose, JSP is a sophisticated Java servlet. JSPs are loaded into the server, and from the Java EE Web application, operated and packaged as .war or .ear file archives. It allows Java code and specific predefined actions to communicate with static web markup content. The page that results from this interaction is compiled and executed on this specific server, and is viewed as an HTML or XML document. It is comprised of two very specific syntax styles: scriptlet and markup – a scriptlet simply being blocks of Java code that are mixed with markup, which is the standard HTML or XML.

JavaScript is a Java language; however, it is of a different dialect. It makes use of the ECMASCript standard and is considered a dynamic, weakly typed, prototype based language that just so happens to have first class functions. This suggests the extent to which many different languages have had on JavaScript; however, it was designed to appear as Java – only in a format that is more feasible for non-programmers to work with.

JSP pages are required to be compiled to Java bytecode classes in order to be able to be executed. However, this compilation only really occurs one time – each time a change takes place to the source JSP file. This is because Java is a compiled language, and not a scripting language – meaning the code must, essentially, be translated to make the JSP compatible with the server.

Summary:

1. JSP is a Java-based technology used specifically in order to help software developers create dynamic web pages; JavaScript is based on Java, but was created in order to allow non-programmers the ability to work with it easily.

2. JSP must be compiled in Java bytecode in order to function properly; JavaScript is a Java language of a different dialect, and does not need to be directly translated into bytecode.

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