Explain the difference between stateful and stateless session beans in J2EE.

Understanding the Difference Between Stateful and Stateless Session Beans in J2EE

Stateful and stateless session beans are two types of beans in J2EE that serve different purposes and have distinct characteristics.

Stateful Session Beans:

In J2EE, a stateful session bean maintains conversational state with a specific client across multiple method invocations. This means that the stateful session bean retains information about the client and can be used to store data related to the client's session. Stateful session beans are suitable for scenarios where the client requires a long-lived conversation with the bean.

Stateless Session Beans:

In contrast, stateless session beans in J2EE do not maintain any conversational state with clients between method invocations. Each method call is independent of any previous calls, and the bean does not store any client-specific information. Stateless session beans are designed for scenarios where a client does not require a persistent connection or state with the bean.

Overall, the key difference between stateful and stateless session beans in J2EE lies in how they handle client state and information retention. Stateful beans maintain state across multiple method invocations, while stateless beans do not retain any client-specific information.