What is Java EE?
Java EE is the short form of Java Enterprise Edition. Intention of Java EE is to offer an enterprise application development platform containing influential APIs to the developers thereby reducing the development time, lessening complexity of the application, and refining performance of application. Java Enterprise Edition is developed with the help of Java Community Process, which is held accountable for all the Java technologies.
Why the name J2EE?
When Java EE was introduced, its first significant release was termed as Java 2 Enterprise Edition, in short J2EE. Though several versions of Java EE are in place, predominantly Java EE is still called as J2EE.
Latest Version of Java EE
Latest version of Java EE is Java EE 7, which was introduced on 12th June 2013. However, most awaited stable release of Java EE 8 is expected to happen soon within the end of this year 2017.
J2EE / Java EE Architecture
Java EE provides an environment for development and deployment of web-based enterprise applications using multi-tier architecture, as signified below:
The diagram shown above demonstrates J2EE multi-tier architecture that encompasses several J2EE containers each including its own J2EE components. Here is an overview about the different tiers of J2EE architecture:
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Client Tier – Components of Client Tier will run in the client devices / containers. Client Tier components are standalone java applications, static and dynamic HTML pages, and applets.
- Middle Tier
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Web Tier – The web tier components namely JSP’s and Servlets execute with the help of J2EE web server in a web container.
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Business Tier – Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) are the business tier components that are executed within the EJB container using J2EE Application Server.
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EIS Tier – In the EIS tier, the application related data are stored in a database. EIS tier may also include ERP’s or legacy systems that can be accessed via an API representing Java EE Connector Architecture.