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1.5 webMathematica Technology

webMathematica is based on two standard Java technologies: Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technologies.

Servlets  are  special  Java  programs  that run in  a  Java enabled  web  server,  which  is  typically called  a  "servlet  con 

tainer" (or sometimes a "servlet engine"). There are many different types of servlet container that will run on many

different operating systems and architectures. They can also be integrated into other web servers, such as the Apache

Web Server.

webMathematica allows a site to deliver HTML pages that are enhanced by the addition of Mathematica commands.

When a request is made for one of these pages the Mathematica commands are evaluated and the computed result is

placed in the page. This is  done with the standard  Java templating  mechanism,  JavaServer  Pages, making use of a

special tags; examples of these are given in a 

later section

.

webMathematica  technology  uses  the  request/response  standard  followed  by  web  servers.  Input  can  come  from

HTML forms, applets, javascript, and web enabled applications. It is also possible to send data files to a webMathe 

matica  server  for  processing.  Output  can  be  many  different  formats  such  as  HTML,  images,  Mathematica  note 

books,  MathML,  SVG,  XML,  PostScript,  and  PDF.  This  user  guide  includes  examples  of  working  with  all  these

different technologies.

webMathematica provides a large library of Mathematica commands to handle the many possible ways of working

with Mathematica computations. An important part of webMathematica is the kernel manager which calls Mathemat 

ica  in  a  robust,  efficient,  and  secure  manner.  The manager  maintains  a  pool  of  one  or  more  Mathematica  kernels

and, in this way, can process more than one  request at a time. An overview of the workings of a webMathematica

site is shown below.

 .