Question

When I decompile the GenericServlet and check the init() , I see the following code .

public void init(ServletConfig servletconfig)
    throws ServletException
{
    config = servletconfig;
    init();
}

public void init()
    throws ServletException
{
}

What is the init method actually doing here ? Am I missing something ?

Answer 1

From the javadoc:

/**
 *
 * A convenience method which can be overridden so that there's no need
 * to call <code>super.init(config)</code>.
 *
 * <p>Instead of overriding {@link #init(ServletConfig)}, simply override
 * this method and it will be called by
 * <code>GenericServlet.init(ServletConfig config)</code>.
 * The <code>ServletConfig</code> object can still be retrieved via {@link
 * #getServletConfig}. 
 *
 * @exception ServletException  if an exception occurs that
 *                  interrupts the servlet's
 *                  normal operation
 *
 */

So it does nothing and is just a convenience.