Beginning J2EE 1.4: From Novice to Professional (Apress Beginner Series) [Paperback]

James L. Weaver (Author), Kevin Mukhar (Author), James P. Crume (Author), Ivor Horton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590593413 | ISBN-13: 978-1590593417 | Publication Date: February 2004

This book is aimed at programmers who have learned the basics of Java from, for example, Beginning Java 1.4: From Novice to Professional, and are now ready to learn how to use Java in the real world, with J2EE. But, J2EE is a big spec, and the target audience is not interested in Enterprise JavaBeans and other advanced specs within J2EE. In fact, 75% of J2EE applications are built using only JavaServer Pages and Servlets (two of the simpler technologies to learn in J2EE), so these are the areas that the audience is particularly interested in.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

The first edition of Beginning J2EE 1.4 was released while the J2EE 1.4 software development kit (SDK) was in beta 1. Shortly after it was released, there were some significant changes to the J2EE 1.4 SDK. This latest edition of "Beginning J2EE 1.4: From Novice to Professional," released in February 2004, covers the final release of the J2EE 1.4 SDK.

From the Inside Flap

From the Foreword by Ivor Horton, best-selling author of computer programming books on Java, C, and C++

Once you have a good grasp of the Java language and feel comfortable with applying the class libraries using the Standard Edition of the Java System Development Kit, you’ll almost certainly be looking at where to go next. Progression to the Enterprise Edition of the SDK is likely to be a natural choice for many, simply because so much professional Java programming effort is deployed in developing network-based applications. However, getting into developing Web Services and Enterprise Applications generally is more of a giant leap than a small step, simply because of the vast range of programming topics, technologies, and standards you have to master. This book is a very good starting point because it provides you with a structured introduction to most of what you need to know.

The previous edition of this book provided an excellent introduction to server-side programming using the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, J2EE, and this new edition is even better, having been fully updated to cover the latest version, J2EE 1.4. In a single book package, it covers all of the key capabilities provided by the J2EE 1.4 that you are most likely to need in a real-world Java development context. Because it starts by carefully explaining what J2EE is all about and how it relates to the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition, you’ll have an appreciation of the inter-relationships between the specific topics that you need for effective server-side programming in Java from the outset. This will enable you to better see how the various technologies involved can be combined when you get into the detail.

After guiding you through the process of setting up a development environment for web applications, it continues with introductory tutorials on the core topics in server-side programming, JSP and servlets. It doesn’t end there. A whole range of supportive web programming technologies are discussed, each with working examples that show you how they can be applied. These include JDBC for database access, Enterprise JavaBeans, XML of course, SOAP, WDSL, and many others.

The book is the product of a cooperative effort by several authors who are each experts in their field. Each topic has the benefit of being explained by the author who is best equipped to provide an effective tutorial on that subject. As a professional Java programmer, you need to be conversant with the latest Java technologies for the development of Web applications. You also need a good overall perspective on the most up-to-date version of J2EE and what its capabilities are. This is precisely what you get in this book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 700 pages
• Publisher: Apress (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590593413
• ISBN-13: 978-1590593417
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent beginner's guide, except for focus on Sun's server, August 20, 2004

By 

critical_g "!" (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Beginning J2EE 1.4: From Novice to Professional (Apress Beginner Series) (Paperback)

This book provides an excellent start on J2EE. It covers a good set of topics, including Servlets, JSP, and the various forms of EJBs.

My only disappointment is that the book focuses on Sun's J2EE server. This server will not likely be used for production. The book provides detailed usage information for Sun's proprietary deployment tool.

In my opinion, JBoss should be used as the application server for teaching. The server is free, deployment is as simple as copying a JAR file, and the server is truly enterprise ready. Plus, the book would then provide more complete examples of deployment descriptors.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Reference, May 15, 2004

By 

Eric Smith (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beginning J2EE 1.4: From Novice to Professional (Apress Beginner Series) (Paperback)

As a professional software developer, I've used some of the J2EE technologies on projects. I picked this book up to fill in knowledge gaps on some the features of J2EE that I hadn't used before. As I expected this book does a good job of covering the basics, but I was very pleasantly surprised to find that this book also covers some advanced topics. I expect that even experienced developers will find themselves referring back to this book not only for a refresher on the basics, but as a reference for advanced topics as well.

There is a little bit of tongue in cheek humor sprinkled through the book, such as one section heading called "Using JNDI to Phone Home". If you don't get the joke, read the first chapter on EJB's and you will. If you get the joke and are groaning, then you haven't hung around with enough software developers. That kind of thing constitutes high brow humor at my company. I can't wait to get back to work and use it.

The first chapter is an overview of web based applications, and where J2EE technology fits into the picture. It paints the big picture view that should be enlightening to most everyone, other than the seasoned web developer.

The second chapter is either the most, or least important of the book. It is instructions for how to setup the Sun J2EE environment on your machine, and the PointBase database. If you already have access to a J2EE 1.4 environment, then you may not need this chapter. The examples in the book are using the Sun tools, so you may want to follow the setup to make it easier to step through the examples in the book.

Chapters 3 & 4 are about JSP's and go from the basics to some pretty advanced topics, such as tag libraries, and expression language. I found quite a few bits of valuable information in these chapters.

Chapter 5 is about servlets. Servlets have been around for a quite a while now. If you aren't familiar with them, this is a good introduction to the technology.

Chapters 6 and 7 are about database access. Writing web applications really start getting fun when you start thinking about hitting the database. These are a couple of meaty chapters that start with the basics, straight JDBC/SQL, and then cover some advanced topics like stored procedures, database locking and isolation levels. I was pleased to pick up a lot of new and valuable information in these chapters.

Chapters 8 through 11 cover EJB's. Again you are taken from the basics, through advanced topics. EJB's are a tough subject, in my opinion. But, this book does spend a lot of time explaining how to configure and deploy them, which isn't obvious. If you aren't familiar with EJB's, being able to follow along with the examples in the book, having followed the chapter 2 setup, will be a big help. If you can make it through creating and deploying your EJB's, then the book covers some advanced topics like container managed relationships (CMR), EJB-QL, and EJB design patterns.

Chapters 12 and 13 cover web services. Before I read this chapter I would not have considered web services, a J2EE topic. It is certainly a web application topic, and something that seems to be emerging more often as a solution in web applications. However, I didn't realize how J2EE now makes some accommodations to support building a web services application with J2EE technologies. Again, interesting material in these chapters.

I am anticipating that I will be referring back to this book quite often.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Gist of J2EE 1.4, May 7, 2004

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beginning J2EE 1.4: From Novice to Professional (Apress Beginner Series) (Paperback)

The introduction to this book emphasises a "meat and potatoes" approach. The authors focus on describing the key points of J2EE 1.4, that most users can expect to need, most of the time. The reason this is necessary is because J2EE in this latest iteration encompasses a group of subjects, each of which can be, and has been, the sole subject of a book.

Specifically, we have Java Server Pages and Java Servlets. These are often used to make dynamic web pages, within a web server container like Tomcat, which gets an appendix of its own here, due to its importance.

As a practical matter, these JSPs/Servlets often hook up to databases. So J2EE involves using JDBC. Another 2 chapters here.

Business logic is often encapsulated using Enterprise Java Beans. These are now quite mature. Their widespread use in a J2EE context is reflected here in the 4 chapters devoted to them. These include a discussion of the recently introduced Message Driven Beans, used in JMS.

Finally, 2 chapters are given over to Web Services. Here the discussion is somewhat skimpy. Not thru any fault of the authors. Web Services are currently very inchoate. Much is being claimed for their future potential. But in terms of what is defined and available right now - well there isn't much. If you really are interested in Web Services, try a companion volume from the same publisher, "Google, Amazon and Beyond: Creating and Consuming Web Services" by Nakhimovsky and Myers.

The utility of this book is in letting you quickly come up to speed on J2EE. As a practical matter, once you have done so, you may want to get comprehensive books on the specific J2EE subjects that you will be dealing with. A virtue of this book is that it deliberately is NOT comprehensive. But it gives you the gist of each subject.