servletbased

Servlet-based describes software that relies on the Java Servlet API as the primary mechanism for handling HTTP requests inside a servlet container. A servlet is a Java class that extends HttpServlet and implements lifecycle methods such as init, service, doGet, doPost, and destroy. Servlet-based applications are deployed to a servlet container (for example Tomcat, Jetty, GlassFish), which provides the runtime, threading model, security, and resource management.

Configuration is usually driven by web.xml descriptors or by annotations like @WebServlet, with the container mapping URL patterns to servlet instances. The core execution model is request-response: a servlet receives an HttpServletRequest, constructs an HttpServletResponse, and writes the response. Servlets can be composed with filters, listeners, and especially asynchronous processing (Servlet 3.0+) to improve scalability.

Key characteristics include portability across Java-enabled containers, mature tooling, and a clear separation between presentation and control logic. They are typically stateless per request, though sessions can be managed via HttpSession. In practice, servlet-based applications range from simple dynamic pages to RESTful backends and APIs.

Servlet-based is foundational in many Java web stacks; many modern frameworks (such as Spring MVC or Jakarta RESTful Web Services) build on top of the servlet API, providing higher-level abstractions while remaining compatible with existing servlet containers. Historically, the model evolved from early Java EE specifications and remains widely used for server-side Java development.