JSP without .jsp-files?

Question

I have a little project (a CMS) that was developed using .jsp-files in 2006. I moved in 2011 to JSF and had only one .jsp-file for the frontend.

In 2014 I integrated the backend into the frontend using JSON and kicked all .jsp-files. I only use servlets now to build JSON-Answers, AJAX-Answers for XHTML and binary streams servlets for binary data. No .jsp-files anymore.

JSP means Java Server Pages and I don't know if this means I must use .jsp-files(!) or does it mean I also can serve XHTML-Pages via Java and transport them via AJAX.

After all, can I say in the handbook it uses JSP anymore?

Answer 1

First off, I don't see anything wrong at all in developing a CMS in Java. As you point out, Java server hosting is no longer hard to find and expensive as it once was. Java servers also in my experience tend to be more responsive than similar servers written in, say, PHP. Yes, Java isn't trendy like Ruby on Rails or node, but trendiness isn't exactly the best way to pick a development platform.

As to your primary question, I wouldn't call it a JSP solution. People are familiar enough with the more accurate term "Java Servlets" for that to be an appropriate term, and some will even prefer it (I've seen sites kludged together with .jsp files doing jobs entirely inappropriate for them before now, and seeing something described as a JSP application makes me worry that it might be one of them).