What exactly is Tomcat (the Apache servlet)?

[Brazen]

I though this was a requirement for putting java in your webpages, sort of like how php must be installed in order for Apache to serve up php pages. But I've been messing around with Joomla and Gallery and they include some java pages, which work, even though I have not installed Tomcat, so I just don't get it.

So, in laymen's terms, what exactly is the purpose for installing Tomcat on an Apache web server?

 

[nputnam]

Basically Tomcat allows you to use real Java programs (class files). You might be confusing real compiled Java code with JavaScript witch is an interpreted language like php.

 

[Brazen]

aaaah, so javascript can be run without Tomcat, but Tomcat is for running compiled java code. I get what you're saying.

 

[Nothinman]

Javascript is interpreted entirely on the client side, just like the HTML and CSS. Tomcat run the Java crap on the server side, just like PHP.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Hmm ... that's an interesting tidbit of information.

 

[sigs3gv]

JSP is Sun's equivalent of PHP