I keep finding documentation indicating that a
servlet's init method should be called before handling any requests. But I can't find anything that states exactly when the init is called. The behavior of my servlet indicates that it is only initialized after it receives its first request. It definitely finishes the init() before handling that first request, but it got me wondering how I could make sure the init() method is called before I need to handle that first request.
I have very little experience with servlets, so I may be missing something fundamental. I just wonder how one would handle a servlet that has a resource-intensive initialization process so that it doesn't create a performance hit for the first user.
Thanks in advance for any info.