Take the 2-minute tour ×

I'd like to make a simple-ish website that is essentially a small game. Key strokes are to be processed and sent to a server (already acquired and should support SQL and JSP, I believe) which then translate to a location and written to the DB.

SQL queries are to be used to retrieve these locations and written to other clients connected to the website. Their page is to be updated with these locations.

I have working knowledge of Java, jQuery/Ajax, SQL and JavaScript but I'm unfamiliar with JSP and how everything hooks up. I'm aware of the MVC paradigm as well. For my little game idea, would these technologies work? Am I over thinking this and can make it much easier to implement? What might be a good tutorial or example to study?

EDIT: I was just informed I will not be able to use WAR files on the server. I'm not big on php and really don't like developing with it, can I still use Java?

share|improve this question
Pretty sure JSPs are the devil. –  Rig Oct 17 '12 at 19:20
@Rig: So what does that make PHP? Cthulu? –  TMN Oct 17 '12 at 21:10
If you can't use WAR files... can you use Java??? interesting question –  Crowie Apr 28 at 17:36

5 Answers 5

up vote 4 down vote accepted

You can certainly do all this in Java/JSP, but personally it sounds like overkill. I would recommend using the LAMP stack instead (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP). You should be able to get this working much quicker using PHP.

If you are going to stick with Java/JSP, then I highly recommend making use of Spring MVC and JSTL tags to cut down on how much custom code you need to write just to wire everything together.

share|improve this answer
I've got a friend that is much more talented in PHP than I am, he's setting up that end of things. So this solution is what we're going with. –  Robb Oct 19 '12 at 14:36

You can use DWR for calling JavaScript functions from Java and vice-versa.

If you want to use the standard Java technology for the web, i.e. JSF, then JSP is kind of deprecated; you should use Facelets (xhtml files).

share|improve this answer

For what you are describing, you might consider looking into node.js on the server rather than java. Node is very good for apps that need to 'link up' multiple connected clients so that you can relay info between them. Especially if you'll be tossing around JSON. I'm sure you could do it in java... its certainly your call. I just personally think node might be a better fit and overall less hassle.

share|improve this answer

I think these or any other set of web technologies could do the job. Comes down to what you are going to do with what you know best (-;

If you want to stick with Java, check out Core Servlets for a JSP tutorial -- helped me when I was starting out with all things java-web-app.

Sounds like a fun project. Good luck!

share|improve this answer

I suggest you to look into the Play Framework, it doesn't feel like Java, you don't need to use an IDE nor Compile: It feels like Ruby on Rails: I'm liking it.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


