RE: Beginning web development

> If you look
> at the generated code you'll find they read the orginal HTML and scan for
> magic markers and replace them with data from a Bean.

Just as a final note, this statement is incorrect.  The scanning is done
when the JSP is compiled.  During this compilation phase, a Java class is
generated.  The class does the following:

1. Writes to the HTML output stream pieces of non-executable HTML
2. Has code generated for access to beans
3. Executes whatever embedded Java code you choose to place in the JSP

All of this generated code is then compiled, and from that point on, the
original JSP is never scanned again unless it is changed.  This is part of
the elegance of the JSP architecture.  To achieve the same level of
performance, you would have to convert your "snippet syntax" to some HLL
source code, then compile the generated code, and then finally call that
program in response to a CGI request.

If you are indeed doing something of this complexity, then perhaps you have
something that might be a valuable alternative to the JSP processor.  If
not, you're replacing a perfectly good wheel with a log, and not a
particularly round one at that.

Joe