The whole point of a cloud platform like Google App Engine for Java™ is in being able to imagine, build, and deploy professional-quality killer apps that scale — without breaking the bank or driving yourself insane. In this second part of his three-part introduction to Google App Engine for Java, Rick Hightower takes you beyond the ready-made examples of Part 1 with a step-by-step guide to writing and deploying a simple contact-management application using App Engine for Java.

Remember when Google App Engine was just for Pythonistas? Those were some dark days. Google Inc. opened up its cloud-computing platform to Java™ developers in April 2009. In this three-part article series, Java technology author and trainer Rick Hightower gets you started with this reliable, robust, and fun platform for Java-based development. In this article, you'll get an overview of why Google App Engine for Java could be the deployment platform for your next highly scalable killer app, then start using the Google Plugin for Eclipse to build two example apps: one based on Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and one based on the Java Servlet API. You'll learn for yourself what a difference Google App Engine for Java makes, both in building out an application from scratch and in deploying it to the tune of up to five million views. (And that's just the free version.)