Audience

Readers should have a good working knowledge of the Java language itself. We don't expect that readers will be entirely fluent with J2EE, but we do expect a top-level knowledge of what's available in the J2EE technology stack (we include a brief overview in Chapter 1 for those who've been away, summarizing the problems that each technology solves). In the presentation tier section, readers will need some basic knowledge of Java Servlets and of HTTP and web protocols in general, but we explain some of the nuances as we encounter them. Since enterprise applications tend to be database-intensive, the business tier section (Chapters 6-10) makes frequent use of databases.

For a fast-paced primer on all the J2EE technologies, check out Java Enterprise in a Nutshell by William Crawford, Jim Farley, and David Flanagan, also from O'Reilly & Associates.^[1]

^[1] Will suggests purchasing copies for friends, relatives, and loved ones.