Who Are You and Why Are You Reading This Book?

I l @ ve RuBoard

There are at least three good reasons you could be holding this book in your hands right now:

• You are a Java programmer who has worked largely on front-end systems, such as browser-based applets, and you would like to learn how to implement the delicate internal clockwork that makes a modern e-commerce site work.

• You are an established e-commerce developer moving from tools such as ASP and CGI programming into a JSP environment and looking for a complete walkthrough of a basic implementation.

• You are a student or entry-level programmer looking for a good introduction to object-oriented design.

It's my fond hope that no matter which of these three (or perhaps more) motivations compelled you to pick up this book, you'll put it down knowing all of them. If I've done my job well, you should walk away a proficient JSP e-commerce developer who uses object-oriented design methodologies.

This book grew out of my frustration as a college instructor teaching a course in designing e-commerce Web sites. Specifically, I found that although there were foot -thick books on JSP, SQL, and OO design, there really wasn't a text that tied them all together and led the reader through the entire design process to a finished product.

This book is not for an absolute newcomer to software development, however. I'm going to assume that you've already picked up a few specific skills, and you're going to get lost pretty quickly without them:

• You have a moderate proficiency in Java.

• You've had some exposure to SQL, although we'll be using fairly simple syntax and the JDBC interface is explained in some depth.

• You're comfortable with basic HTML design, including forms, and you understand, at a simple level, how a Web page is delivered to a browser.

If you have these in your utility belt, you should be all set to party. So, with that brief introduction out of the way, it's time to move on.

I l @ ve RuBoard