In order to compile and run the example code, and to get hands-on experience in creating EJB components and J2EE applications, you will need both the J2SE and J2EE SDKs, as well as a source code editor or IDE.

     J2SE 1.4.1 and the J2EE 1.3.1 SDK Reference Implementation (J2EE RI) were used on Windows NT 4.0, Service Pack 6a, for testing the examples. The applications have also been proven to run properly, with the appropriate deployment, under JBoss 3.0.4 on both NT and SuSe Linux.

     You should be aware that the example programs focus on EJB development for the relevant section, and have not been optimized for production use. Any introductory and most intermediate material suffers this limitation due to the need to zero in on the target topic without the litter of numerous real world considerations. That's certainly true here, due to the breadth of the areas covered, and many best practices had to be left undone or unmentioned to keep the tutorial understandable and to a reasonable size. The upshot is that you will learn enough to get started in the J2EE and Enterprise JavaBeans world, but you should look to the Resources provided with the tutorial and other references before embarking on production quality applications. In particular, if you want to be more than just a "follow the IDE wizard" EJB developer, you will find yourself frequently reviewing the EJB specification.

     Even so, you should read through the example explanations whether or not you intend to review the code or run the applications. These discussions mention specific techniques, and often expand or augment the relevant tutorial section.

     The classes, Enterprise Archive (EAR) files, and source code for the tutorial examples are available separately as a Java Archive (JAR) file. The JAR contains a main directory named gsejbExamples, with subdirectories named Alice, MetricCvt, Survey1, Survey2, Survey3, and SurveyResults, corresponding to the example applications. The download link is included in Resources. You can also see the applications in action before, or instead of, deploying them yourself at conceptGO's Community page.