Method and software for processing server pages

Abstract

A method and software for processing a server page is disclosed, in which a resource file is generated for each server page. The resource contains the markup text of the server page. When the server page is translated into a servlet, a static class initializer is included to read the resource file and initialize static class variables with the markup text. The initialized class is then loaded into a shored memory that is accessible to different processes.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 294,560 filed on Jun. 1, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to computer systems and more particularly to a method and software for processing server pages.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The introduction of the World Wide Web is revolutionizing the way information and applications are distributed and used. Initially, the World Wide Web employed a static approach for disseminating information, in which web pages containing the information are annotated in a markup language such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and stored on a web server. In response to HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) requests from a user, the web server transmits the web page containing the marked up information to the user's rendering agent such as browser. When the browser receives the web page containin...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]This performance bottleneck for JSP-generated Java Servlets is addressed by the present invention, in which the literal strings for the markup text is stored, not in Java literal strings, but in a resource file generated for each Java Servlet. In one implementation, the JSP-generated Java Servlet is configured to contain an inner class that includes initialization code that reads the markup text from the resource file and copies the markup text into static Java char arrays. The inner class is then “hotloaded,” in which the class instructions and pre-initialized static variables are loaded into a shared, read-only memory that is globally available to different user sessions on the web server without synchronization. After a class is hotloaded, the class's instructions and pre-initialized static variables are available, without synchronization, to Java applications. By avoiding the use of Java literal strings, which require interning and synchronization, access to the static markup text of JSP-generated Java Servlets is much faster, which improves the performance of Java Servlets generated from Java Server Pages.

Problems solved by technology

This bottleneck results from the Java specification's requirement that string literals be “interned,” so as to share unique instances of strings in a Java program (§3.10.5).

In order to share strings among different users and ensure the integrity of the intern table, it is necessary to synchronize access to the intern table among the different users, which is slow and inefficient.

JSP-generated Java Servlets, however, include large amounts of static text that need to be shared for scalability reasons but, if interned, are slow to access.

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