Your problem is quite more general than JSP/tags/CGI/etc. - how do you teach a programmer things like good style and code/design/structure esthetics? It is incredibly hard, especially when dealing with "just get it working" type of people. The main benefit from tag libraries and the MVC approach in JSP comes from the separation of concerns (business logic and UI) which leads to an easier separation of work among hard core developers and UI/scripting people. Ideally, people doing the UI shouldn't need to know Java. However, in your case you probably have the same person assuming all the different roles of business logic developer, UI developer and WEB designer. So for him/her, that argument is probably invalid. That's why you will simply have to make them realize that code is plain ugly. And ugly code is the hardest to read and maintain. Besides the above mentionned advantage of tag libraries, they are better for example also for the following reasons:
- they provide a clean and powerful means of abstraction that applies well within the domain of WEB development - being XML-based, their syntax fits well with the rest of technologies used in the WEB. And this is no minor point - syntax in any sort of programming construct has a huge impact on readability, maintainability, ease of use, learning curve for newbies etc.... - when well written, tag libraries can provide a kind of mini-declarative language with powerful, targetted semantics - at the end, they make code much shorter. They make it possible to say more concisely and clearly what you want at that particular place of your page, in a declarative way... So, even when you are looking at a JSP page purely from a programmer's point of view, and if you have been thaught a thing or two about programming, the benefits of building and using tag libraries should be more or less obvious. As for your "another note", it depends how your whole application is structured....a JSP is a servlet after all so if your particular JSP, which has only Java code in it, is acting as a "controller" in the model 2 architecture, then yes it's still model 2 ;) Cheers, Boris Michael wrote: > long before server pages or servlets existed i was > writing these C++ template based systems with CGI > so i could do my best to separate content generation from programming > logic... > > i'm a consultant and this company made me lead on my first JSP/Servlet based > project, > i was really excited to get involved with JSP tag libraries. > > but when i got into the code base IT'S ALL .jsp files with > TONS of Java scriptlets! it's nasty. if/else blocks several hundred lines > long. > the developer i took this over from > thinks there is no reason to do it any other way. tags? why use tags? > > i am asking for input/references on why you want to keep the scriptlets <%> > </%> > out of the JSP files. every time i try to make a point-- maybe > i'm just not being eloquent enough... > > on another note: is it really model 2 if a JSP is processing the request? > i don't think it is, even if your entire JSP is just some java code > wrapped with a scriptlet tag.. (yuk). > > thanks for input. > --Michael > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
