Customer Reviews

Apache Axis Live: A Web Services Tutorial

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Almost from the very first page, the early chapters of this book are filled with errors. You can see at a glance that the source code is all wrong. You see code that belongs in a method, and will only compile in a method, right after the declaration of the class...code that can't possibly compile. (See page 27.) At another point, the book directs you to run the AdminServlet by clicking on a non-existent "View" link. Instead, you should click on the "Administer Axis" link. Then the book tells you that you should see a screen like the accompanying figure, which is of the "Axis Servlet," as the URL bar in the figure only too clearly shows. NOT of the "Admin Servlet."

I think this book was rushed into print, had no editor (or else one who deserves to be shot at dawn), and the final phases of it were done by an author who was tired and staying up until 3 in the morning, so that huge ridiculous errors slipped by his attention again and again.

I've already been through the ringer with Axis, so by the time this book arrived, I already knew what should happen in the early examples, and what the author was trying to get at. But if I hadn't been already familiar, I would have been confused, lost and very angry with this book.

This book may prove to have valuable information later on, if it isn't filled with errors all the way through. But I no longer trust it. If something doesn't work, I'll be more likely to blame the book than any error I might have made.

One more thing: Even if the book wasn't filled with errors, it's a mere 180 pages, and it has no index. Over 20 of those pages are devoted to debugging Java applications in Tomcat. Unrelated filler in a book of a mere 180 pages! Very insufficient for the price. The lack of an index is another sure-fire sign of a book that was rushed into print. I speculate that they wanted to beat O'Reilly to press. They did--but that is about the extent of their achievement.

Avoid.

Well, I labored through 2 chapters, although it's obvious that the examples are full of bugs. Then at the end of the second chapter, I received the maddening admonishment that if I had "performed correctly" the previous examples, I would face success. You can't know how frustrating such a statement can be. I did perform all required steps as outlined, and I couldn't even get the example code to compile! Man, what a waste of money! If you want to learn about Apache Axis, do not purchase this book!

I read the previous review and did find the errors mentioned, but they were minor in my experience. I thought the title was a good read and was the only up to date version available.

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