The previous sections have been rapid-fire introductions to the Java Enterprise APIs that
are part of the J2EE framework as well as a set of key de facto standard tools used
commonly in the Java Enterprise space. Don't worry if you didn't understand all the
information presented there: the rest of the chapters in the following two parts of the book
cover the APIs in more detail. The important message you should take from this chapter
is that the Java Enterprise APIs are building blocks that work together to enable you to
write distributed Java applications for enterprise computing. The computing
infrastructure of every enterprise is unique, and the Java Enterprise APIs can be combined
in any number of ways to meet the specific needs and goals of a particular enterprise.
Figure 1-1 shows a schematic for a hypothetical enterprise. It illustrates some of the many
possible interconnections among distributed services and shows some of the Java
Enterprise APIs that facilitate those interconnections. The figure is followed by example
scenarios that demonstrate how the Java Enterprise APIs might be used to solve typical
enterprise computing problems. You may find it useful to refer to Figure 1-1 while reading
through the scenarios, but note that the figure doesn't illustrate the specific scenarios
presented here.
Figure 1-1. The distributed computing architecture of a hypothetical enterprise
