Comparing .NET and J2EE Features

Table 2.2 shows a comparison of features and functions in .NET and J2EE. However, differences in the background makeup of each platform make direct comparisons between .NET and J2EE not always applicable. For example, MSMQ is a product whereas JMS is an API. Therefore you cannot simply rip out one component and replace it with the equivalent from the other platform.

Table 2.2: Comparison Between .NET and J2EE Functionality

Feature or Service	Microsoft .NET Element	J2EE Element	Comments
Technology Type	Product	Standard
Middleware Vendors	Microsoft and partners	50+ vendors
Client Side GUI	Windows Forms Environment	AWT/SWING	SWING/AWT are part of J2SE
Web GUI	ASP.NET	JSP
Web Scripting	ISAPI HttpHandler HttpModule	Servlet Filter
Web Application Hosting	Internet Information Server	Multiple (depends on vendor implementation)	J2EE examples include Apache Tomcat
Interpreter	CLR	JRE
Server Side Business Logic Component	.NET Class or Serviced Component (COM+)	EJB Session Beans
Server Side Data Components 1	Serviced Component with DB Logic	EJB with Bean Managed Persistence
Server Side Data Components 2	ADO.NET Data Set	EJB with Container Managed Persistence	Only an approximate equivalence
Directory Access	Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI) through LDAP	Java Naming and Directory Service (JNDI) through LDAP	LDAP compatibility makes switching between directory services very easy.
Remote Invocation	.NET Remoting	RMI-IIOP
Data Access	ADO.NET	JDBC, SQL/J, JDO
Messaging	Microsoft Message Queuing	JMS	Microsoft Message Queuing is a product. JMS is a specification, and therefore requires an underlying implementation.
Transactional Support	COM+/Distributed Transaction Controller (DTC)	JTA