Servlet technology is used to create a web application. A servlet is a Java class that is used to extend the capabilities of servers that host applications accessed by means of a request-response model. Servlets are mainly used to extend the applications hosted by web services.
JSP is used to create web applications just like Servlet technology. A JSP is a text document that contains two types of text: static data and dynamic data. The static data can be expressed in any text-based format (like HTML, XML, SVG, and WML), and the dynamic content can be expressed by JSP elements. Difference between Servlet and JSP.
When to Use Servlet or JSP
Servlet: When you need to handle business logic, form processing, and request management.
JSP: When you need to build dynamic web pages with UI elements and embed minimal Java logic.
The difference between Servlet and JSP is as follows:
| Servlet | JSP |
|---|---|
| Servlet is a Java code. | JSP is an HTML-based compilation code. |
| Writing code for servlet is harder than JSP as it is HTML in java. | JSP is easy to code as it is java in HTML. |
| Servlet plays a controller role in the ,MVC approach. | JSP is the view in the MVC approach for showing output. |
| Servlet is faster than JSP. | JSP is slower than Servlet because the first step in the JSP lifecycle is the translation of JSP to java code and then compile. |
| Servlet can accept all protocol requests. | JSP only accepts HTTP requests. |
| In Servlet, we can override the service() method. | In JSP, we cannot override its service() method. |
| In Servlet by default session management is not enabled, user have to enable it explicitly. | In JSP session management is automatically enabled. |
| In Servlet we have to implement everything like business logic and presentation logic in just one servlet file. | In JSP business logic is separated from presentation logic by using JavaBeansclient-side. |
| Modification in Servlet is a time-consuming compiling task because it includes reloading, recompiling, JavaBeans and restarting the server. | JSP modification is fast, just need to click the refresh button. |
| It does not have inbuilt implicit objects. | In JSP there are inbuilt implicit objects. |
| There is no method for running JavaScript on the client side in Servlet. | While running the JavaScript at the client side in JSP, client-side validation is used. |
| Packages are to be imported on the top of the program. | Packages can be imported into the JSP program (i.e, bottom , middleclient-side, or top ) |
| It can handle extensive data processing. | It cannot handle extensive data processing very efficiently. |
| The facility of writing custom tags is not present. | The facility of writing custom tags is present. |
| Servlets are hosted and executed on Web Servers. | Before the execution, JSP is compiled in Java Servlets and then it has a similar lifecycle as Servlets. |
To read more about them in detail, read these articles on Servlet and JSP.