> I'm struggle with struts -- is it just a fancy
> implementation of XSLT?
Struts is a pretty robust presentation framework for developing
Java web applications with. It incorporates a lot of different design
patterns and technologies and is not directly related to XSLT. Search for relevant documentation in Javaranch's 'Java Frameworks' forum.
> I believe I understand MVC quite well from my
> experiences with Swing TreeControls and Tables.
I thought I did too after completing the
SCJD exam but after starting the architect exam, I see that there are a variety of MVC implementations that are different in important respects. For example, in Swing, the user interacts with a system through the View, which relies on the Control to access the Model. With Struts, however, the user interacts with a system via the Controller which then obtains information from the Model before dispatching requests to the View. I remember wondering when first starting Struts why they called it an MVC architecture when it didn't seem to be organized like Swing MVC was. And it took me a while to see that design patterns like Front Controller which Struts is built on are types of MVC patterns, even though it doesn't immediately carry over to Swing applications.
> Should I take the time to learn struts and JSTL
> for the exam? OR would it be sufficient to know
> that struts implements MVC for us?
I am not sure why you view JSTL as important for the
SCEA exam. It's an important technology that you can use to implement
JSP pages but it's only tangential to the purpose of the SCEA certification -- which is to learn how to architect
J2EE applications.
As for learning Struts, I don't think you need to learn it for the exam. The design patterns on which it is based, however, are crucial to completing PArt II of the certification (i.e. Front Controller, etc.)
My thoughts on the matter,
Darryl