Customer Reviews (17)

Best J2EE 1.4 book and best Java book for my money
Bought this book and have been very impressed with the content. There is a LARGE amount of very solid material in this book. Total page count is 1490 pages and the pages I've read so far have been wonderful. There is just about everything in here related to J2EE, alot of material on EJB, new Web Services coverage, JAXR, DSML, you name it and it is there. They havent skimped either (see the page count above). They have alot of examples and some pretty cool diagrams that have helped me understand the J2EE APIs. It is all J2EE 1.4 and some additional material. I dont write reviews but it is clear that they spent a alot of time on this book. Ive also been very very happy so far with the book and it is a permanent addition to my library so I figure that they deserve a good review.

Great Book!
I recommend this book to developers at any level who want to learn about J2EE. The authors did a great job at describing all of the meat inside J2EE. I was very happy with how thorough they were in covering each API in detail. Many J2EE books miss covering something that is imporant or gloss over some details. I wanted a book that covered everything even thoguh I wouldn't be needing to know it all right away.

Take a look at the table of contents and see what I mean. I can say that all of the content is carefully described and they provide diagrams illustrating the J2EE structure and code examples showing how to use each API. True to its name, it is my handbook for J2EE that I keep with me at work and on the road and so I wanted to give them a good review for a job well done. My only drawback is that the code for the J2EE 1.4 reference implementation needs to update the build scripts. But I sent an e-mail to one of the authors and he responded saying that the J2EE implementation changed and the code should work but they would send me and update their web site with the new reference implementation scritps. Since I am only using the code and the code works it was no big deal for me. I was pretty impressed that the author even responded to my e-mail since most don't.

One of the good books with great examples
This book covers a large number of j2ee apis in a coherent manner. It is a good reference book for every day use.
Some parts of the book out dated with respected to technologies progress from it's publishing. The real life examples with oracle, weblogic, j2ee RI server is great help. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business Data Processing   2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   3. Computer Books And Software   4. Computers   5. Programming Languages - Java   6. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   7. Java (Computer program languag   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Operating Systems   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computer Programs Testing   4. Computers   5. Information Theory   6. Operating Systems - General   7. Programming - General   

Customer Reviews (1)

Mediocre
Too complicated to use as a tutorial, and too simple to use as a reference. This book tries to be both and does a poor job of it. Buy this book if you absolutely have to (like I did, for a class at the U of MN); otherwise I'm sure there are other books out there that can do a better job.

P.S. - I found at least one typo in chapter 1. Can you find it? :-) ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Data Base Management   2. Computer Books: General   3. Computer Programming Languages   4. Computers   5. Data Structures   6. Data structures (Computer scie   7. Data structures (Computer science)   8. Database Management - General   9. Java (Computer program languag   10. Java (Computer program language)   11. Programming - General   12. Programming Languages - Java   13. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Customer Reviews (5)

Pick it Up
This was not my primary study guide as I highly recommend the Sierra title, but it is a solid effort. The questions and practice exams are well worth it and it is concise. Some in depth explanations are lacking, and if you are trying to understand polymorphism and casting, you should augment what you read here. I think it is always good to have a couple of books when going for certification because each book may stress or explain something different. Many times, that gives you a three dimensional look at material that begins to really make sense. If you have a study guide already, pick this one up as well. It is compact and loaded with information and practice questions that are of excellent quality. I passed using this and the Sierra book primarily and can only recommend it.

Missing some things
I would not rely exclusively on this book to get you through the Java exam unless you have some significant practical experience with Java to cover the stuff you won't find here.

There are some things missing in this book...simple stuff even like anonymous array creation. And everything else, as the title says, is crammed: about 10 pages per topic. Annoyingly however there is some stuff in this book that isn't in the exam objectives: eg. static intialization blocks...

I found the tests in the book were somewhat misleading of my current knowledge: they are fairly easy, so they flatter to deceive to a certain extent. ALso of annoyance are the topic tests at the end of each chapter: these are quite good in themselves, but each one has the answer straight after it. SO it's hard to avoid seeing it and the remedy: using a peice of paper to cover it and another the page next to it so you can't see and memorize the answer to the questions over there is a little demeaning. Seriously...it shows poor oversight and miserliness...what's a couple of more pages and put the answers in one section at the end of each chapter? A small gripe but nonetheless an important one.

The CD contains an exam where some of the questions cover material that isn't in the exam objectives: I hit one question on Iterator Methods! This is absurd!

I recommend Kathy Sierra's Book (she helped create the test!) instead of this and also reading the Java Language Specification to find out all the rules, nuances and quirky behavior that makes Java the language we all love- and love to hate because of this Exam (but what's life without a challenge?)

Also: to these people who like to post their test scores as vindication of a book: why do this? Firslty anybody cna make up a number or lie about having done the test. Secondly, god knows how much of your life you've spent on Java. So unless you give a fair assessment of your knowledge --book and then book++ it really doesn't mean much....just a thought.

Good for experienced developers
My study for the exam consisted of:

1) sit sample test 1 from the book (scored 58%)
2) read a chapter of the book, skimming the easy bits but writing test code to demonstrate any interesting/surprising language features.
3) do the questions that appear at the end of the chapter.
4) repeat 2 & 3 for all chapters
5) sit sample test 2 from the book (scored 90%)

This allowed me to pass the exam with a 88% score.

While this book was my primary study tool, I also made frequent use of the online library Javadocs and the book 'Java in a Nutshell' to provide supplementary detail.

Overall I thought the book was pretty good, my biggest complaint would be that the answers for the chapter questions are right under each question making it *much* too easy to accidentally see the answer. I also felt the threading coverage was a little weak.

I'm an experienced developer, it could be that someone with less experience needs more detail. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification   2. Computer Bks - Accounting Packages   3. Computer Books: General   4. Computer Networks   5. Computer Programming Languages   6. Computers   7. Electronic data processing personnel   8. Examinations   9. Financial Applications - General   10. Java (Computer program language)   11. Programming - General   12. Programming Languages - Java   13. Study guides   14. Computers / Technical Skills   

Customer Reviews (5)

A Good Read for Project Mangers, too
Often, managers of medium to large scale software projects do not have the time (or inclination) to learn the technical nuances of the development environment they're managing. This lack of understanding can quickly give birth to worry and stress. "If only I knew the right questions to ask..." is a common lament among project managers as they wonder "why is module X so brittle?" and "why can't we ever meet the performance spec for subsystem Y?"

"J2EE AntiPatterns" is a useful guide for helping project managers with technical (but not necessarily J2EE) backgrounds zero-in on the major pitfalls the development team must circumvent. The Background, General Form, Symptoms and Consequences, and Typical Causes sections of most AntiPatterns provide the manager with sufficient information to recognize, understand, and (hopefully) avoid technical problems. (The exceptions are the AntiPatterns for entity, session and message-driven beans - the book assumes a basic understanding of J2EE beans.) Project managers do not need to fully comprehend the code examples (the book has many) to employ the lessons described in "J2EE AntiPatterns" - simply recognizing and understanding the AntiPatterns will be valuable to the team.

If I had read this book before (or during) my last project, I would have been able to recognize some significant problems by simply observing and listening to the engineers discuss their challenges, including the following AntiPatterns:

"Too Much Code" - our LOC metrics would have fleshed this one out quickly;
"Using Strings for Content Generation" - we spent many hours debugging HTML that rendered properly in IE but not Mozilla;
"When In Doubt Make it a Web Service" - it can be expensive mistake to implement something purely for technology's sake.

Coupled with a book or two describing J2EE at a high level, "J2EE AntiPatterns" is essential reading for technical project managers. This book will undoubtedly increase the project manager's effectiveness and help him/her better communicate with the team. A little knowledge for project managers is NOT always dangerous!

Gotcha's exposed.... (A Review of one good book)
Why should you read this book?... I mean you've read the J2EE Blueprints and that's supposed to be the best practices and you've followed all it's advice... didn't you? You should read this book because it gives you a way to see what you "didn't" do and how to fix it.

In this book the Antipatterns (APs) are grouped by J2EE topical area, several are identified for the area and then solutions proposed for each AP. Not only do they expose issues with designs that are common mistakes, but they then go on to not only tell you a possible solution(s) and also impart good principles on why.

Each AP has the following sections: Background, General Form, Symptoms and Consequences, Typical Causes, Known Exceptions, Refactorings, Varations, Example(s) and Related Solutions. The catalog of AP's in the appendix of the book provide a quick summary of each AP also, so you can see if your Symptoms are listed quickly.

One example is from the "Distribution and Scaling" chapter. The just of it is that in an enterprise system you use layering, workflow and the idea that the network is the computer to model and solve your problems. If you haven't you'll notice all of your code linking into libraries of many different types when library access should be localized to one workflow point that other workflow tasks utilize. By doing what they suggest you'll end up with a highly distributable solution and a weakly coupled system that will be flexible to change.

So save yourself some future troubles, or help yourself fix your current ones, read this book! It imparts knowledge you can't get from a Blueprint!!

Excellent for J2EE Designers/Developers
Did you ever have the feeling that there was something wrong with your application design but you just couldn't put your finger on the problem? The authors of this book have taken their own experience developing J2EE applications and produced a book that will help you avoid many mistakes in application design. The book is geared toward helping the experienced designer/developer produce robust, maintainable applications and fixing applications that are not robust and not easily maintained.

The book covers most of the J2EE spectrum. There are sections on JSPs, Servlets, Entity and Session Beans, JMS, and Web Services. There are also sections on general J2EE architecture including distribution, scaling, and persistence. Each chapter gives a background on a specific antipattern, discusses the typical symptoms of the antipattern, and then covers various refactorings that can be used to correct the antipattern. Some of the antipatterns discussed may sound familiar ("too much code in JSPs") but the list of refactorings will provide useful information for even these obvious coding errors if you happen to be supporting an application that suffers from that antipattern.

The authors have done a great job of clearly explaining each antipattern, both explaining why it is an antipattern and what you can do to fix the problem. Each refactoring is demonstrated with code samples as well as with UML diagrams where appropriate. Overall, this is an excellent book that should be on the shelf of anyone involved in designing J2EE applications. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Antipatterns (Software enginee   2. Antipatterns (Software engineering)   3. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   4. Computer Books: General   5. Computer Networks   6. Computer Programming Languages   7. Computer software   8. Computers   9. Development   10. Java (Computer program languag   11. Java (Computer program language)   12. Programming - General   13. Programming Languages - Java   14. Software refactoring   15. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   16. Java & variants   17. Networking packages   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computers   4. Java (Computer program languag   5. Java (Computer program language)   6. Object-Oriented Programming   7. Programming Languages - Java   8. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computer games   4. Computers   5. Entertainment & Games - General   6. Java (Computer program languag   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming   9. Programming Languages - Java   10. Wireless communication systems   11. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Customer Reviews (9)

Good coverage but is lacking
I'm working on a web services project using Java and purchased this book. There wasn't any coverage on web services. I supplimented this title with Java, The Complete Reference that covers web servers. Otherwise, this book is OK

Good introduction to J2EE architecture
"J2EE Unleashed" covers the major aspects of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition. The three main pieces (servlets, JSPs, and EJBs) are each well covered with good examples. JNDI, JDBC, JavaMail and JMS are each given a chapter and XML is also covered. The strength of the book, though, is its coverage of designing J2EE architectures. For example, servlets are explained but then the authors go beyond the explanation to show how servlets fit into an overall J2EE architecture. Model 2 controller architecture is covered and Apache Struts is discussed as an example of using servlets as controllers. According to the publisher, "The goal of this book is not to teach the J2EE specification but to illustrate the best practices for developing J2EE applications." In fact, it does both. The example application which is used throughout the book is well designed to cover all the pieces of J2EE. I do have two complaints about the book. First, it concentrates too much on the SilverStream Application Server getting down to the level of showing screen shots of deployment wizards. Second, the book could have used some editing to give it a better flow. J2EE architecture is explained before any of the pieces that make up the architecture are discussed. EJB session beans are used to demonstrate how to use JDBC before EJBs are covered. Overall, however, the book is well done and can stand up against any of the books covering this complex topic.

It Could Be Better
The book is written with a good outline on each subject, however, it does not follow-up the same for each subject. For example, the section on JavaMail is good with multiple examples (except for a serious error in one of those examples). While they somewhat duplicate the examples in that chapter with a few variations, another chapter in the book will have much less supporting information. What I would criticize most about this book is the level of information written on each subject differs between chapters and within chapters. There is no real consistency of detail or emphasis. I also would expect a revision in the near future because of a few errors in the book (mostly typos). In defense of the book, I must say that about 75% of all programming books seem to do the same thing... that is being inconsistent with their level of information. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business   2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   3. Computer Books: General   4. Computer Networks   5. Computer Programming Languages   6. Computers   7. Data processing   8. Java (Computer program languag   9. Java (Computer program language)   10. Programming - General   11. Programming Languages - Java   12. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Customer Reviews (5)

Clear and Concise Introduction to Java
One of the worst qualities of computer books is their length. For some reason most books decide to talk about functions for 189 pages and what an integer is for 35. This book offers a clear introduction to the java language and manages to be less than an inch thick. The book is very well formatted and ordered and is pretty pleasant to read. And thankfully it is content to give one good sized example rather than 6 long cryptic ones.
However it is not an effective advanced reference. It fails to talk about RMI, JNI and reflection which are very useful advanced concepts that I would like to hear about from these authors.

Excellent book for people with some programming experience!
This is a superb book for novice with some programming knowledge. It's not for those that picked up a programming book for the very first time - in another word, a virgin.

The book stands out in term of example explaination. Greatly recommended by a computer science student! UCSC RULES!!

programming book for programmers
Just wanted to let some consumers know that this book is a programming book written for programmers. Unless you have had previous experience with programming (and a strong programmer at that) this book will be somewhat difficult to understand and follow. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - General Information   2. Computer Books: General   3. Computer Networks   4. Computer Programming Languages   5. Computers   6. Data Processing - General   7. Java (Computer program languag   8. Java (Computer program language)   9. Networking - General   10. Programming Languages - General   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computers   4. Java (Computer program languag   5. Java (Computer program language)   6. Programming Languages - Java   7. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Enterprise JMS Programming can put enterprise-level development with the Java Message Service into the hands of any capable Java developer. This book successfully mixes a tutorial to the JMS API itself and a discussion of the "big picture" concepts you need to know to architect large systems that use messaging effectively.

What distinguishes this title is the clear-as-crystal perspective on what messaging is and how to implement various messaging architectures. This book is far from just a listing of JMS APIs. The author outlines basic messaging concepts, including synchronous and asynchronous processing, plus the publish/subscribe and point-to-point models of message distribution. Early working code examples show off basic message operations (like sending and receiving messages). Then it's on to a nicely packaged demo of using a message-driven bean from Enterprise JavaBeans 2.0. A notable section looks at the various available JMS message types (and when and how to use them).

The book then covers larger concepts like transactions and security in JMS and the issues that you'll need to consider when designing secure and reliable enterprise messaging systems. The author looks at ways to make sure your messaging code is as fast and reliable as it can be. (He walks the reader through scenarios in which message queues can fill up, and in one good example, shows how orders for an online store build up in the queue in one business day.) A discussion of administration tasks is followed by real advice and screen shots using BEA WebLogic Application Server 6.1, a popular choice for J2EE/JMS deployment.

Final chapters really excel at guiding the user in designing JMS applications by providing hypothetical case studies for no less than four separate scenarios. Using intranet, extranet, and high-volume Internet systems, these examples and the designs outlined here will ensure that you can correctly apply JMS to a wide variety of enterprise-class problems. A final listing of all JMS APIs rounds out this book.

Overall, Enterprise JMS Programming sets a high standard for any programming text with its stellar presentation style and clear code examples, which provide the best of theory backed up with practical advice. It's sure to be an extremely worthwhile resource for any developer facing a JMS project. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Overview and history of the Java Message Service (JMS); guidelines for choosing JMS; types of messages (including text, byte, object, and map messages); message properties explained; constructing and sending messages (illustrated with a variety of message types); receiving messages synchronously and asynchronously; publish/subscribe and point-to-point messaging basics; tutorial for message-driven beans in Enterprise JavaBeans 2.0; understanding and using JMS transactions; security concepts in JMS; tips for maximizing JMS performance (including factors that affect performance, optimized code, and benchmarking); JMS administration (illustrated with BEA WebLogic Application Server 6.1); sample case studies illustrating JMS architectures: a sample real-time financial trading system, a workflow system, a high-volume extranet application for branch offices (for loan applications), and high-volume order-taking systems (for three onlinee-commerce sites); and a reference listing all JMS classes and APIs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Best JMS book I've read
I have used JMS for about 2.5 years before I bought this book.
There wasn't many books writing about JMS the first time I used JMS back in 2000.
This book has a solid coverage of JMS and give you advice in designing an enterprise application using JMS.
You can find samples of administration tasks for JMS Product from BEA Weblogic and iPlanet Message Queue.
The only thing that I missed is the coverage of IBM MQ, which is the messaging infrastructure that I use.

If you want to get a good understanding on designing JMS application, don't look further, buy this book, you won't regret your investment

Generally excellent, but not consistent.
I bought this as I needed a JMS reference that went beyond the spec and talked about design, deployment and management of JMS infrastructure. I was very impressed with everything I read until I dipped into Chapter 13 - specifically the four pages on improving client-side throughput through internal queueing. While this is an excellent idea, the example shows how to build a complicated and threading-heavy internal queue and dispatching mechanism and recommends that you use it to, er, put events onto the Swing event dispatcher's internal queue. Hmm.

The book (commendably) sets out to give a full picture of how to design, build, deploy, secure, and manage a JMS-based messaging architecture. This means, however, that it's very noticeable when a topic is skimmed over. For example, the section on bridging two different vendors' JMS implementations has two pages of simple code and less than one page of discussion that fails to consider administration, security, or performance, despite the normally good coverage of these areas elsewhere.

Nevertheless, I was mostly impressed with this book - it's just a pity that the high standards it sets itself aren't met consistently throughout the book. A second edition that discussed the example architectures in Part III in detail would be a truly excellent book, and would be relevant to all messaging products rather than just JMS.

A great JMS book!
This book gave me real world examples, concepts and gotchas related to JMS. I found it very useful for understanding how to implement JMS with my J2EE application. It explained JMS in a fluid style that was easy to read.

This book goes beyond theory and explains how to use JMS in different situations. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business   2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   3. Computer Books: Languages   4. Computer Programming Languages   5. Computers   6. Data Processing - General   7. Data processing   8. Electronic mail systems   9. Java (Computer program languag   10. Java (Computer program language)   11. Message processing   12. Programming - General   13. Programming Languages - Java   14. Telecommunication   15. Telecommunication (Engineering)   16. Telecommunications   17. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   18. Java & variants   

Customer Reviews (10)

Excellent book
Just about every Computer Science program requires a course called "Data Structures and Algorithms". In order to become a programmer you must understand the information provided in this course. This book was written as a textbook for a "Data Structures and Algorithms" course and all the expected topics are covered; arrays, queues, stacks, linked lists, trees, hash tables, heaps, sorting, recursion, and searching. Whether you are a teacher looking for a text, a student who wants a better text than the required one, or just someone who wants to learn more about programming, this book is a very good choice. By using Java, all the complications of C++ are eliminated and the author's crystal clear explanations come shining through. And the author's explanations and examples are excellent. For example, the chapter on link lists explains what a linked list is, what problems it is supposed to solve and what problems it fails to solve, and then shows how to implement your own link list. The author provides a set of applets to visually illustrate the topics covered in the book. There are questions at the end of each chapter and answers are provided. This book is not going to explain the Collection classes or help you learn the API. What this book will do is help you get a deeper understanding of what data structures are, how they work, and what performance sacrifices must be made in order to achieve better overall performance in your programs.

Makes learning data structures a joy!
I am nearing the end of my Data structures and Algorithms course at the University of Missouri, and I'm doing very well, thanks in part to this fantastic book. I realized right away that I didn't like the assigned textbook for the class, so I did some research online and ended up buying a used, first edition copy of this book. One of the best investments I ever made! (I also purchased another book which I like - see the end of this review).

The explanations are so clear, I can honestly say it has been relatively easy to learn. I haven't really struggled at all. The author takes a very sensible approach, only focusing on the subject of algorithms and data structures. He criticizes the current trend of mixing software engineering and oop in with this subject (which is exactly why I don't like the assigned textbook). His goal when writing this book was to create "the most easily understood book ever written on data structures and algorithms." I'd say he hit his mark dead-on!

The only thing missing from the book is exercises. There are none (at least not in the first edition). But several times I have taken the code from the accompanying CD and rewritten it to suit my personal programming style, which has been very instructive.

I don't know what has been added/changed in the new edition, but you can probably find out by checking the publisher's Website. The author has given us a real gem, and for that I am grateful. By the way, another very good book is "Data structures and Algorithms" by Aho, Ullman, and Hopcroft. I highly recommend it as well. I think it's out of print, but I had no trouble finding a cheap, used copy.

Best wishes,

Greg Norris

Great Book For Learning Data Structures
I bought this book for my Data Structures class at NCSU and it was perfect. There aren't a lot of "real world" examples; its just the straight forward way of showing you want the data structures are and how to code them efficiently. There's also a lot of extra theory in the sorting chapters that I haven't found in other data structure books. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Algorithms (Computer Programming)   2. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   3. Computer Books: General   4. Computer algorithms   5. Computers   6. Data Modeling & Design   7. Data Structures   8. Data structures (Computer scie   9. Data structures (Computer science)   10. Database Management - General   11. Java (Computer program languag   12. Java (Computer program language)   13. Programming - General   14. Programming Languages - Java   15. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Customer Reviews (83)

WOW
After searching several books that would teach java 2, I have concluded this is the best book I could find. Don't be fooled by the title "beginning java 2" This book is a whopping 1100 pages plus (and smaller than usual font). Covers Java Core, I/O Streams, util package, Threads, Basic to Intermediate Swing (graphics) and JDBC (database). It is well written with good explanations, Code Snip lets and "Diagrams!". The explanations are detailed which is great for novice programmers and useful for seasoned programmers moving from another language to Java when stuck with a concept. Seasoned non java programmers can read through the code snip-lets and grasp concepts through the numerous diagrams that explain key concepts easily. It is not a skim by the surface book leaving you with holes of thought nor is it a book that just covers elementary topics. The author goes from the elementary to intermediate level with good detail. It is not a quick reference. Well Done! Ivor Horton

I Like it Like that!
After searching several books that would teach java 2, I have concluded this is the best book I could find. Don't be fooled by the title "beginning java 2" This book is a whopping 1100 pages plus (and smaller than usual font). Covers Java Core, I/O Streams, util package, Threads, Basic to Intermediate Swing (graphics) and JDBC (database). It is well written with good explanations, Code Snip lets and "Diagrams!". The explanations are detailed which is great for novice programmers and useful for seasoned programmers moving from another language to Java when stuck with a concept. Seasoned non java programmers can read through the code snip-lets and grasp concepts through the numerous diagrams that explain key concepts easily. It is not a skim by the surface book leaving you with holes of thought nor is it a book that just covers elementary topics. The author goes from the elementary to intermediate level with good detail. It is not a quick reference. Well Done! Ivor Horton

This book IS exceptional!
I program in Java only sporadically, but this book has ALWAYS come up with the goods whenever I've needed to find out how to do something in Java. It also got me through my Java exam.

Yes, it's long; yes it's a bit of a struggle (how could it not be... it's teaching a complex and feature-rich programming language from scratch); yes, the author is a bit verbose; yes, JSP and other wonders aren't covered (a cursory glance at the back page tells you what it DOES cover), but, OVERALL, it's a real winner and I cannot recommend the book highly enough.

As for errors in the book: not many compared to other tecnical books. The number of errors to number of pages ratio is tiny.

I don't wish to sound cruel, aloof or snotty here, but those reviewers who have been baffled by the book (and have, basically, zero-rated it as a result) should consider brushing-up on their burger flipping skills, because real life programming is full of brain-bending stuff that at least matches (and often dwarfs) the trickier parts of the book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: General   3. Computer Networks   4. Computer Programming Languages   5. Computers   6. Internet - General   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming - General   9. Programming Languages - General   10. Programming Languages - Java   

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computer software   4. Computers   5. Development   6. Java (Computer program languag   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming Languages - General   9. Programming Languages - Java   10. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   

Customer Reviews (19)

Very unhelpful book
Dr. Shaffer attempts to address the difficult topic of data structures and fails. Consistently he glosses over important points, or does not describe the implementation of data structures (the buffer pool, for example, is especially poor) adequately and leaves the hapless student confused and frustrated. For a computer scientist who already understands the subject this book may contain a few good points. Indeed, I was able to follow the sections where I had previous training, but when I studied material new to me, I was out of luck.

If you are unlucky enough to have a university that uses this text, consider trying to find a better book to get yourself an adequate understanding of this important subject, because Dr. Shaffer's text won't do that for you.

Bad Book
I was required to get this book for my CS344 class and so far I don't like this book at all. The exercises at the end of each chapter aren't good problems. Don't get it unless, like me, you have to.

A terrible textbook
I would have to say that i'm very much angered by the poor quality of this "textbook", if it can be called a textbook. A textbook, by definition, should try to explain everything in detail as much as possible and convey the concepts in a clear and well-illustrated manner. On the contrary, this book is full of partial details in long-winded sentences, which makes a already hard topic even more difficult to follow. As a textbook, it is counter-productive. Maybe the author dont want to bother, but the lack of detail and jumping of thought is striking in this book, not to mention the incomplete, half-baked C-like Java code that does not even compile. It is a shame that it is used as a textbook anywhere, it is even a bigger shame that some school selects it as textbook for the reason other than academic. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: General   3. Computer Programming Languages   4. Computer Science   5. Computer algorithms   6. Computers   7. Data Structures   8. Data structures (Computer scie   9. Data structures (Computer science)   10. Java (Computer program languag   11. Java (Computer program language)   12. Programming - General   13. Programming Languages - General   

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book
I used this book for Data Structures and Algorithms course in computer science undergraduate curriculum. Data Abstraction and Problem solving with Java is a great introduction into the field of theoretical computer science and is very encouraging. The structure and organization of the material is great. There are virtually no misprints/mistakes in the text or problems. To be honest, this book changed my study methods for most of my other courses (not necessarily comp sci related). If you are serious about studying computer science, this book is for you.

Excellent! Best Data Structures book
The text is an excellent introductory text in data structures. This is *not* a tutorial, but thoroughly explains data structures and abstraction. While being a true academic text, the style is very readable. Good stuff! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computers   4. Data structures (Computer scie   5. Data structures (Computer science)   6. Java (Computer program languag   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming Languages - General   9. Programming Languages - Java   

Customer Reviews (3)

a solid start for beginners
Seriously, I can't find any other book right now that lays Maven out in such an easy to approach way. All the material online is reference based entirely and my fingers are practically bleeding from digging through google every five seconds. If you've never setup Maven before, buy this book while you still have your hair.

Excellent reference for open-source tools
I bought this book mostly because I am fairly new to open-source development and was looking for a good reference to tools such as Ant, JUnit, Cactus, and Maven. These chapters were concise and had plenty of supporting examples. I also liked the fact that the book provides plenty of tips, and has references to good practices. I definitely recommend it to less experienced developers, or to those looking to have a better understanding of open-source tools.

Tons of Typos
This book is a convenient way to get a decent introduction to Java tools because all of the information is condensed into one book. However, there is nothing in here that you can't read online for free if you take the time to find it. I am really angry that I paid $40 for a book that is full of typos. There are literally typos on every other page. I have never encountered so many typos in a book before this one. The typos are especially troublesome because they often occur in the examples so if you are unfamiliar with the syntax of the new tool being taught you will get unexplainable errors when the bad examples don't work for you. Print out online tutorials, this book is a waste of money. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computers   4. Java (Computer program languag   5. Java (Computer program language)   6. Open source software   7. Programming - General   8. Programming Languages - Java   9. eXtreme programming   10. Computers / Programming Languages / Java   11. Java & variants   

Customer Reviews (8)

Sample code does not work
Having read only the first few chapters I was ready to go run the first example. The problem was the server that the Jargoneer application connects to does not exist at the URL used. Not a very impressive start! Hopefully the other examples work.

Very good introduction to J2ME CLDC/MIDP
I am commenting on the First Edition of this book.

I own two books on introductory J2ME development in a CLDC/MIDP environment: this is the better of the two. Mr. Knudsen writes well (no silly jokes or other distracting nonsense), and covers the core material one needs to begin programming MIDlets.

Chapter 12 in the first edition is extremely useful, wherein the practical use of message digests on the client side are illustrated.

All in all, a good book for the bookshelf, and one I recommend to friends interested in J2ME CLDC/MIDP programming.

Daft
This book is really, really daft, because to date there is only a minute number of mobile phones available on the planet which implement MIDP 2.0. You can't imagine how painful that is, because chances are you won't be able to run Knudsen's code on your device. Not only that, you won't even be able to compile it with your version 1 tools. It's a shame really, it's otherwise a good intro to J2ME with plenty of code and an appendix which serves as a reference. Pity that we'll all have to wait at least for another year to use this book while the mobile device manufacturers get up to speed. I for one am a bitterly disappointed programmer, I can tell you that, and wish I hadn't spend my last bucks on this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: Languages   3. Computer Networks   4. Computer Programming Languages   5. Computers   6. Embedded computer systems   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming   9. Programming - General   10. Programming Languages - Java   11. Wireless communication systems   

Customer Reviews (12)

Highly readable, highly useful introduction
"Web Services Essentials" provides an excellent, concise overview of the complicated world of web services, and makes sense of the alphabet-soup jargon of SOAP, XML-RPC, UDDI and WSDL (as well as more obscure protocols). With web services appearing to be the "next big thing" in web development, this book is a must-read for any developer looking to introduce him/herself to the technology, as well as for the technically-minded manager who may soon be responsible for implementing web services. Clear writing and relevant examples make this an enjoyable as well as an informative read.

Good Intro !
I'm in the process of reading this book right now, and so far I like it. The book provides a good introduction to Web Services, and Apache software, on which all the examples in the book are based, is actually very easy to set up.

This book opens your eyes to the world of web services, and I must say it does so very well.

All the information in the book is probably available online for free, but who has the time to look it all up?

Obsolete and belated book
This book is based on obsolete specifications and older SOAP implementation which is not even available for download. The Apache SOAP is already a piece of junk and Apache recommends to use Apache Axis (which is not in the scope of this book). All other implementation examples such as XMethods and UDDI4J are also obsolete as well. The APIs are already deprecated and the code discussed does'nt make any sense. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Internet   2. Computer Books: Web Programming   3. Computers   4. Design   5. Internet - General   6. Java (Computer program languag   7. Java (Computer program language)   8. Programming - General   9. Programming Languages - HTML   10. Programming Languages - XML   11. Web services   12. Web sites   13. XML (Document markup language)   14. World Wide Web (WWW)   

Customer Reviews (5)

Best book for learning to use RUP with J2EE development
Well worth the money. It does a great job in simply describing how to follow RUP for J2EE dev. Does not go into depth, you will need more guidance, I use the RUP Plugin that is available for use with RUP that was created from the content in this book. It has been refined and much detailed has been added for real app dev use.

This is THE book for J2EE architects
Get this right, this is NOT a 50-50 mix of J2EE development process and RUP, this is not for the ones doing BPR (Business Process Redesign) and book does not try to position itself as the ultimate book for RUP (I'm glad it doesn't).

This book let's you focus on only a small subset of RUP, a subset which is really relevant for developing the architecture of a J2EE application, it let's you use RUP as a tool (that's the whole point of RUP, it's a tool, not a goal in itself) to deliver your final deliverable, the software architecture document with other supporting documents.

If you are a J2EE Architect or a senior developer planning to make the move towards architect roles, this is the book for you, keep the 'J2EE Patterns' book (Deepak Alur, Dan Malks, John Crupi) by your side, and you're ready to go!

Excellent display of how to merge two valuable tools
The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a language independent methodology that can be used to develop software. Constructed from a series of six best practice style guidelines, which are:

* Develop iteratively
* Manage requirements.
* Use component architectures.
* Model visually.
* Continuously verify quality.
* Manage change.

the RUP is a proven way to keep software projects on track. The Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) is the latest iteration of the Java language platform. Having only been introduced a few years ago, Java has undergone a phenomenal rate of adoption, which attests to the flexibility and power of the language. In this book, the two are combined, as the authors take you through a series of steps that show you how to construct the architecture of an online auction system using J2EE.
After finishing the book, I suddenly realized that I did not remember seeing any actual code. In fact there are a few lines, but only to demonstrate some of the J2EE component technologies, which is the topic of chapter 2. Code is not used in the chapters that describe the modeling of the project, which is a strong point in favor of the authors. Had they included code in this section, it would have just complicated the explanation without improving it.
Diagrams are heavily used throughout the book, which serves to clarify many of the critical points. However, the strongest area of the book is the use of Activity boxes, which are also used throughout the book. They are sections set aside having the form:

* Title. For example, Activity: Structure the use-case model.
* Overview. A brief explanation of the activity and how it is carried out.
* Input artifacts. What must be present when the activity starts.
* Resulting artifacts. What should be present when the activity is over.
* Steps. The operations to be performed in the activity.

I found these activity boxes of enormous help, and in most cases relied on them for the bulk of the information that I was looking for. Additional explanation appears in the text, but in many cases, I found it unnecessary.
The selection of the online auction project was a good one. It is complicated enough to provide an effective demonstration, yet simple enough to be understandable. The principles of an auction are easy to understand, so the only explanations needed are the additional rules needed to conduct one online.
This book is an effective demonstration of how to use RUP to build software. Since there is very little code, the structures are based on the organizational characteristics of J2EE rather than specific commands in the language. Therefore, it really is not necessary to understand Java to benefit from the book, and there certainly is a great deal of benefit to be gleaned from it. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming   2. Computer Books: General   3. Computer Programming Languages   4. Computer software   5. Computers   6. Development   7. Internet - World Wide Web   8. Java (Computer program languag   9. Java (Computer program language)   10. Programming - Software Development   11. Programming Languages - General   12. Programming Languages - Java   13. Software Engineering   14. Computers / Internet / World Wide Web