What Do You Need to Bring to the Table?

This book provides a full introduction to Struts. However, it assumes that you already know at least some JSP. If you've never used JSP (or Java, for that matter), you need to get up to speed on those technologies first.

Because modern Web applications often have a SQL database behind them, examples are provided that use the MySQL database. If you know nothing about SQL, you need to spend extra time on that subject to get the most out of the examples.

More importantly, you should be reading this book if you want to design Web sites that are easy and fast to maintain and change. That's the promise of Struts. If you're designing only a simple one-page form, you probably won't see much initial benefit from using Struts. But if that site ever grows or if you're designing anything more complex, Struts gives you benefits both immediately and down the road.