two main java web development is

1. JSP
2. Servlets

Web Container

A Web container is the interface between the web components and the environment that supports the component. It manages the execution of the JSP page and Servlet components

Web Application

A web application consists of web components, static resources, and dependent libraries.

what difference between JSP & Servlets

Requirements to starting java development

JDK

NetBeans or Eclipse

Apache Tomcat

we’ll also export them from Eclipse and deploy them to the Tomcat server. Before JSP or Servlets can run in Tomcat, they have to be compiled, so JDK instead of JRE is required. Tomcat 5 has been extensively tested with JDK 1.3.1 and JDK 1.4.2

Now we need to set up two environment variables: CATALINA_HOME and JAVA_HOME.

Java Web Development Framework

1. Structs
2. JSF
3. Spring MVC
4. wicket
5. Stripes
6. Stapestry
7. RIFE
8. Seam
9. OpenXava
10. Google Web Toolkit

My References:

http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/10-best-java-web-development-framework/