Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA [Paperback]

Robert Orfali (Author), Dan Harkey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1997 | ISBN-10: 0471163511 | ISBN-13: 978-0471163510 | Edition: 1

Java and CORBA are merging in cyberspace. Here's your complete guide to navigating this previously uncharted territory.

Whether you're a seasoned Java programmer, a distributed objects expert, or looking to be a little bit of both, Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA gives you the programming know-how you need to combine these two technologies into workable client/server solutions for the Object Web.

Full of working code, tutorials, and design trade-offs, this one-of-a-kind book:

• Covers everything from simple ORBs to object activation
• Uses tutorials and a client/server benchmark to compare CORBA and its competitors—including Java/RMI, Java/DCOM, Sockets, and HTTP/CGI
• Explains in detail Netscape's ORB: VisiBroker for Java and shows you how to use Caffeine to write CORBA/Java applications without IDL
• Provides a Debit-Credit benchmark for JDBC databases used to compare 2-tier vs. 3-tier client/server solutions
• Includes a Web-based Club Med client/server application using CORBA, Java, JDBC, and applets
• Shows you how to use CORBA's dynamic facilities such as callbacks, dynamic invocations, object introspection, and the interface repository
• Compares the performance of C++ ORBs with Java ORBs
• Includes a CD-ROM with over 15 Java-based client/server applications

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The standard by which all other CORBA books are judged, Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA is the book to read if you're thinking about doing anything with this language- bridging technology. Working toward the Object Web, a computing phenomenon in which the Internet is full of code modules that users can assemble in many different ways to suit their needs, Orfali and Harkey explain the Common Object Request Brokerage Architecture (CORBA), which goes a long way toward realizing that goal. This book is the single best CORBA resource available anywhere. Appropriately enough, the book opens with a comparison of the client/server architectures of Java and CORBA. It then goes on to cover dynamic invocations of CORBA objects. There's a discussion of the trade-offs involved in choosing among sockets, HTTP/CGI, remote method invocation (RMI), and CORBA/IIOP, complete with a table that compares the features of all the competitors. The authors then explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of two- and three-tier database query systems under JDBC. The book concludes with a fully implemented client/server transaction-handling system. The authors' prose and code is lucid and complete, and all of the numerous code samples appear on the companion CD-ROM.

From the Publisher

A programming companion to their bestselling books, The Essential Client/Server Survival Guide and The Essential Distributed Objects Survival Guide, this new book from Robert Orfali and Dan Harkey gives software developers and programmers the technical know-how to implement the concepts and theories introduced in their earlier books. Topics covered include ORBs, SOM, objects and the Web, Network OLE and Joe (enterprise Java). The book provides coding examples in both C++ and Java, as well as a CORBA Client/Server Style Guide. Includes CD-ROM with... * Over 10 fully-functioning client/server programs that can run on Windows 95, Windows NT, and OS/2 * Performance comparisons between Java ORBs and C++ ORBs.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471163511
• ISBN-13: 978-0471163510
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,902,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Orfali and his soulmate of thirty years, Jeri, were both in the computer software field in the early days of Silicon Valley. They co-authored three best-selling software books and went together on several world tours to promote their technology. Jeri was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, in 1999, shortly after they moved to Hawaii.

Jeri and Robert spent the next 10 years fighting Jeri's cancer and learning how to live with it. Jeri even learned how to surf during her chemo years. She went from "Silicon Valley Executive Woman of the Year" to "Waikiki Surfer Chick." Jeri received one of the most moving surfer funerals ever. Her ashes are in the ocean at Waikiki.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Java Client Server Overview with CORBA as one of them..., May 9, 2000

By 

Anwar Rizal - See all my reviews

This review is from: Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

This book is a huge book, but CORBA is not the main theme of this book: it is Client Server with Java. It covers rich themes from socket, servlet, RMI, JavaBeans, Enterprise JavaBeans, and DCOM.

If you look for an introductory book on CORBA programming, this book is not the one. You will be confused by its coverage on non-CORBA technologies. If you look for an advanced CORBA book (like Michi Henning's in C++), surely this is not the one either.Because IDL-Java mapping,Implementation Repository, Object Adapter (BOA or POA), CORBA services is not covered very well. The only CORBA service that is covered well is Naming Service(of course). Trading Service is covered, however no sufficient code examples. However if you would like to have a roadmap where CORBA is, how it relates to EJB, COM/DCOM, socket, RMI, this might be your book.

I am still keeping this book on my shelf though because of its very good coverage on JavaBeans, not because of its CORBA coverage.

I am still searching CORBA-Java book with the same quality as Michi Henning's book on Corba-C++.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overview on CORBA and Middleware for Beginners, May 25, 2002

By 

Srihari Mailvaganam (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

This book is more suitable for beginners that want an insight to the jargon-laden world of Java middleware.

CORBA is a powerful and complex method for distributed computing. This book does not go in depth into how to make use CORBA in practice. It gives a fairly shallow overview that frustratingly does not have much substance. It reminded me of an academic lecture I attended where I was positive that the lecturer did not have practical experience in the subject - and gave a theoretical discussion on the subject. This is fine as an introduction but frustrating if one wants to get over the theoretical summary of the concepts and work on what (and if) it works; and under what circumstances!

BUT this book is very useful to beginners that would like the 50K feet view first and then go elsewhere to drill for more information.

Another point to keep in mind is that this book was originally published in 1998 - some of the book's information is presently irrelevant. I am not sure if there was a reprint since 1998 but the information included is dated.

In conclusion, buy this book if you are a beginner and would like a reference guide.

Hope this is helpful!!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly great CORBA book, November 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Client/Server Programming with Java and CORBA, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I found this book to be a very helpful tutorial-style book on CORBA for beginners. Although some may argue about the wide scope of this staggeringly huge and complete volume, I thought that the chapters are justified and very helpful. For example, the book includes in-depth chapters on how CORBA compares to servlets, CGI, sockets, RMI, and DCOM. The chapters are very thorough and the same program is rewritten for each technology to allow you a clear perspective upon which to compare. In addition, the chapters on JavaBeans and JDBC are also top notch, written in a very personable tone that makes it enjoyable to read.

I have gotten a great deal of valuable CORBA knowlege from this book and I would highly recommend it to any intermediate Java programmer who is looking to learn CORBA and willing to put some serious time into doing it.