I'm a JavaServer Faces newbie trying to get my head around this framework by using whatever online tutorials and resources I can find. So far the hunt has not been overly successful. I've been studying the
java language at home on my own from a small application and desktop perspective.
I've found some tutorials targeted at the
JSF framework but most of them are old or are very task specific, like how to create a data table in Eclipse or build contact form in Netbeans, but I find little to nothing that thoroughly addresses JSF conceptually. I've been trying to fill in that picture in my head by downloading various libraries and pulling through the sources and reading the spec manuals that are available, but that hasn't been overly helpful either.
I've looked at Icefaces, Richfaces, Primefaces, Myfaces and Mojarra and although I see similarities there are enough distinct differences that it really makes me wonder how Java Server Faces are supposed to work. For example, Icefaces is large and uses java code on the server to create it's pages and components while Primefaces is small and uses
alot of javascript to create components on the client side and what is Mojarra? Is Mojarra the code base of the JEE6 library packages that give us javax.faces, javax.faces.application, javax.faces.bean...etc? In the end it compiles down to jsf-api.jar and jsf-impl.jar?
As you can see, I am confused, and what it'd really like to see is a couple of tutorials that clearly explain the conceptual framework of the JSF library and how it plugs together and interacts. I've been trying to read the JavaServer Faces Specification 2.0 but it's written in some sort of extremely tedious legalistic techno speak that has me utterly confused about what a value expression is now. I mean I used to think I knew, but not any more.
Can any one point me to some articles that might help clear this fog?