Customer Reviews

CORBA Distributed Objects: Using ORBIX (ACM Press Books)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

In lieu of a surplus of remotely useful CORBA books, I gave this book 3 stars instead of 2 or fewer. This books is one of the few that provides any remotely relevant and coherent information whatsoever regarding CORBA. However, it should be clearly noted that this book claims to be written against the Orbix implementation of CORBA. Unless the book was written against some version of Orbix that has not been published as of 1999, I don't see how this could be true. As of Orbix 2.3, several examples within this book are innaccurate (i.e., Typecodes, as defined by the book, are of a later revision of CORBA than the Typecodes implemented within Orbix 2.3, the Interface Repository interfaces are not defined witin the CORBA module contrary to the book, the list goes on...). In terms of overall content, this book is little more than an emebelished rehash of the Orbix Programmer's Guide. Instead of purchasing this book, I *HIGHLY* recommend the very thorough treatment of CORBA: "Advanced CORBA Programming with C++" by Henning and Vinoski. The only disadvantage of the latter book is that is does not cover the Interface Repository nor Dynamic Clients or Servers (DII and DSI).

I have read it from cover to cover. This is a totally superficial book. If you are serious about learning corba there is only one book out there "Advanced CORBA Programming with C++" by Mitchi Henning and Steve Vinoski. They are also very active in the newsgroups.

Sean Baker has done the obvious thing: As users are desperate for books on Orbix, why not reuse the Orbix Users Guide and write a book? It is purely a rehash, so unless you have a pirated version of Orbix without the manuals, its worthless. Whole paragraphs are identical (whole chapters, I'd say), No "dirty" tricks (And they exist, trust me) (Or hire an Iona consultant, they are quite good), nothing about name services, nothing advanced... Suitable for college students, not for professional developers or architects (Oh, by the way, it needs an update). A waste of money and time...

This book provided a lot of the detail that was needed for someone who was new to to Corba/Orbix. It was easy to read and very well organized. It introduced topics at a pace that was easy to digest, without feeling overwhelmed. Of the books that I bought pertaining to Corba/Orbix; this is the best.

Discusses most important CORBA concepts in depth and shows easy to understand Orbix/C++ implementation examples. Highly recommended for design and implementation of CORBA based applications without being a reference manual. Minor drawback: Too short on CORBA/Java -> worth a sequel

This is arguably the best CORBA coverage you will find. Enough vague statements have been written on CORBA so far. Now it's time for something useful to a practising programmer. Get it if you're into CORBA now. Beware: you might need to know a little on the subject to appreciate the book fully!

The content is excellent -- it may be a rehash of the Iona manuals, but then I *don't* have the manuals! The tone is readable. But, the glaring typos and comical typeface selections turn an enjoyable book into a chore. Many a typesetters must be spinning in their graves. Sean, issue a "patch" release: V1.1 and bring this book back up to a score of 9!

A rehash of the manual. If the IONA manual isn't clear neither is this book. Topics are not discussed in enough detail. For example, naming services and narrowing. It is better than nothing, but only slightly.

Granted, parts may be Iona-specific, but this book far surpassed any others currently available in terms of telling me how things work.

This is definitely one of the more *REAL* CORBA books around. Though it is not detailed enough in many places it is something that can get someone up and building applications almost instantly. I dont know about the IONA manuals but this is defintely a MUST HAVE book if you intend to write any CORBA applications in C++. Maybe the next edition will have more detail in regards to COSS where the book is seriously lacking.

Although as someone else has mentioned before.. please review the book there are too many typos for a book of this class. Fix it up! And thanks for a great book.