Customer Reviews

Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP)

5 star:		(163)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a solid book, and an effective tutorial, but it is sometimes frustrating as a reference. It will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about writing real applications with Servlets and/or JSP, including good coverage of how to integrate multiple JSPs and servlets together to build a real application. This is important, because who really creates websites where the pages don't have to integrate together?

This book includes a reasonable discussion of the various JSP/servlet engines out there, and how to set up Apache Tomcat, the reference implementation (the commercial implementations are easier to set up). It also has good coverage of all the standard topics, like HTML form data, dealing with HTTP headers and status codes, using cookies, and session management. It also includes a reasonable chapter on JDBC and another on JavaBeans, and if you understand SQL and your needs aren't very elaborate, you may not need to buy another book on either topic. It also includes code for some handy utilities like a simple database connection pool (important since you almost certainly want your web application to be multithreaded) and a visual HTTP client that lets you specify the HTTP headers to send and view all the headers that are returned. Overall, this book is clear and thorough and I highly recommend it.

However, I still found this frustrating at times, due to the indexing. For example, in its discussion of sharing Java beans between multiple JSPs, it discusses the ability to share beans at different scopes--session, page, request, and application. The problem is, it doesn't define what is and isn't included in application-level scope, or how you define some pages to be part of an application but not others. If you plan to have multiple applications on your web server, this is important. Like several other topics I looked for, there was no way to find this using the index, though it may be in the book somewhere. I finally solved this by going to the Apache Tomcat documentation.

Still, occasional frustrations aside, I have yet to find another book this good on the subject, and it did teach me how to build applications out of JSPs effectively. So even though it's not perfect, I recommend it to anyone who needs to understand the topic.

While this book may have been widely accepted in the old days, the technology improvements made by Sun to JSP/Servlets (and the wide vendor adoption of JSP 1.1 and Server 1.2) have rendered this "core" book as inadequate by contemporary standards. The author obviously realizes this, but rather than doing what most authors do (release a second edition), the author unconventionally released a "more..." book to fill in the gaps. This would be fine if the gaps were small or non-essential secondary topics, but the gaps are HUGE and actually represent the "core" of contemporary JSP and Servlets: web applications, application security, error handling and more.

I'm an architect that purchased this book because I am trying to recommend a good Servlet and JSP book to staff developers who are intestered in doing Java Web Development.

This is a great book for getting started with Servlets and JSP and learning the "old way" of how to implement Servlets and JSP as a haphazard grab bag of individual web components. But don't buy this bought and expect to pass serious code reviews by well informed colleagues. Two years ago, it would have been a great book. Now, its outdated and non-comprehensive of what Sun themselves consider to be "core" JSP and Servlets.

Do not expect any coverage of Sun's J2EE best practice recommendation for using JSP and Servlets to create robust "Web Applications". That fundamental piece of knowledge, which should be taught from the ground up, is now lumped into this book's sequel. What a mistake that that was! Rather than coming out with a much needed second edition of this book which would have sustained HUGE successes, the author decided to publish another book "More Servlets and JSP" to cover the really critical topics that were omitted from this book. The result: you buy two books when you should only need one (good for the seller i guess) and end up with an out of sequence set of topics that force you to learn the old way first, develop bad habits and at the very end of the learning process (when you are done with the "core..." and start reading the second "more..." book, you learn that you should forget what you learned in the first book, stop using the bad habits taught in book 1 and do it the right way.

The author covers the "guts" of the API well, but fails to describe the J2EE architecture and how important it is to use JSP and Servlets to deploy well architected "web applications". There is also no distinction made between web sites and web applicaitons. The following topics are omitted or given cursery treatment, yet they are supported by all major JSP/Servlet vendors, they are core objectives of the Sun Java Web Component Certification Exam and in my opinion, they make or break real world web applications:

The handling of web.xml is limited to JSP custom tags, and no emphasis is made that web.xml is a powerful AND recommended Java standard that can be used to encapsulate the configuration of a web application in a portable way for implementing servlet startup configuration, servlet mappings, web application security and servlet initialization parameters. The reader is left with the impression that web application configuration is a "vendor dependent" headache (see page 35), when in fact Tomcat, JRun, and WebLogic have been using web.xml to some degree since as early as 2000. Also, the treatment of error handling, a "core" part of a robust web application, is totally insufficient.

Another problem is that ServletContext, the primary API for sharing global resources among JSPs and Servlets a web application, is not even covered at all under Servlets. It is not mentioned until the JSP section (Chap 10, page 245).

I'm not one to complain without proposing a solution. To the authors. This book would sustain its life in the industry and leave little to be desired if a second edition were released with the following topics given more substance and added as new chapters around or after Chapter 7:

Developing a Web Application
- Describe the requirements of robust Web application models
- Describe the Web application descriptor file and web.xml tags <web-app>, <display-name>, <session-config>, <servlet> and <mime-mapping>
- Deploy a Web application using deployment descriptors

Sharing Resources Using the Servlet Context
- Describe the purpose and features of a servlet context
- Develop a servlet context listener that manages a shared Web application resource

Handling Errors in Web Applications
- Describe the types of errors that can occur in a Web application
- Declare an HTTP error page using the Web application deployment descriptor
- Declare a Java exception error handler page in the deployment descriptor
- Create an error handling servlet
- Write servlet code to log exceptions
- Write servlet code to capture a Java technology exception and forward it to an error handling servlet

Configuring Web Application Security
- Explain the importance of Web security
- Use the deployment descriptor to configure authorization for a Web application resource
- Use the deployment descriptor to configure authentication of users of a Web application

I refuse to buy the "More..." book. I want ONE book (not TWO) that present the "core" topics in a logical sequence. I'm definitely not alone: our local book retailers are slashing prices on the "more..." because its not selling.

TO OTHER READERS: If a second edition of this book comes out that covered the "core" JSP and Servlet topics above, then I would highly recomend the book. Until then, check out O'Oreily.

TO THE AUTHORS: Follow the advice of the GE Chairman. Every year, lose your losers and save your winners. "Core" was a winner, it may be in jeopardy of being a "loser" and it could be a huge "Winner" again. My 2 cents is to lose "More" and save "Core".

This book is truly a good buy. If you are new to JSP and servlets then I would definitely recommend this book. Before I bought this book I purchased professional JSP by wrox press and it was badly written and its explinations were unclear. Plus the number of spelling mistakes in that book were rediculous, making the book untrustworthy. Marty Halls's book is organized well and clearly explains the technology so that anyone can understand it. It is also advanced enough to be used as a good reference. If you have ever had trouble staying awake while reading a programming book, don't worry, Core Servlets is actually written well enough to keep you interested and awake. So I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in JSP or Servlets. It is also easy to skip around the chapters if you want to read up on something specific. It tells you in the chapters if it is discussing something from another chapter, which can be very helpful if you don't understand that topic or if you have not read the other chapter yet. He also has a nice web page with notes on JSP and all sample code in an easily downloadable format.

In the jungle of java books, it is very difficult to find a good book. This is one is which is worth each penny of its cost.

For rapidly changing java world in my opinion choice of a book should be dependent on following factors: a) timing - should be of latest or close to latest version. b) lots of example code - so that you don't have to reinvent the wheel c) very focused - should not add pages by providing more than required reference to sun's API.

Like other developers, I try to read about the book beforehand by going to B&N or local library and then buy it if it is indispensable.

For this book I would like to say: a) this is current, covers JSP1.1 b) gives you enough example code to design web pages using technology other than servlets. c) gives a in depth understanding of servlets and jsp which is required in troubleshooting. This is very important because lot of run of the mill books give you toy code, but no core understanding of the subject. For successful project I can't even dare touch a subject without knowing what goes behind the screen. This understanding is essential when deploying applications on server like websphere/weblogic.

This book is excellent for those who want to get a firm understanding of servlets and JSP quickly. Don't let the quick part fool you. This book is no overview. It provides detailed coverage of both technologies, but it is so well written that anyone from the professional developer to the hobbyist should find it an easy read.

I am new to Java development and was recently given a project to take our current customer service system and convert it from a servlet based system to a servlet/JSP system. I bought this book based on the reviews and it was EXCELLENT.

Marty Hall starts you off with an in depth view of servlets and then gradually walks you into JSP. Although he is thorough with his information, he is never boring. I read the book from cover to cover and it provided me with an excellent foundation for learning servlet/JSP programming. It has also motivated to obtain a firmer grasp of the subject by continuing to read up on it. I have begun reading Fields' and Kolb's Web Development With JavaServer Pages (review forthcoming).

If you are new to servlets and JSP and want to get up to speed quickly, I would say this is the best book out there.

This is another excellent web programming book from Hall following Core Web Programming. It explains not only servlets and JSP but also beans, JDBC and the Java Web Server. Must have for any serious web programmers using java technologies.

Written from a programmer's perspective but assuming almost no knowledge (other that HTML and a basic understanding of Java), Marty Hall begins by carefully explaining the basics of Servlets, development environments, and Servlet programming. He does not begin with JSP until the second half of the book.

Covers servlets, JSP tag libraries, sessions, beans, and JDBC. Also covers Installation, setup, and configuration of the following servlet containers: Tomcat, JRun, IBM Websphere, Sun's Java Web Server and JavaServer Web Development Kit, BEA Weblogic, New Atlanta ServletExec. Stepwise explanation of server details, including how to register web applications for each.

The examples assume a basic understanding of Java and HTML but nothing else. Stepwise instructions for setting up the servlet container, classpath settings, and compiling and using packaged files.

Tons of examples from useful utilities to learning tools (ShowCGIVariables.java) Make this book a highly valuable book.

How to get the most out of this book:
Although all of the examples are online and can be downloaded, you will learn more from typing them in by hand and compiling them yourself, comments and all. When doing this, keep the J2SE API and javax.servlet docs loaded in a browser window so that you may quickly look up classes and methods (*do* look up unfamiliar classes). Do the examples in the first few chapters as prescribed. This will give you a more complete and intimate understanding of how JSP's really work.

Also see 'More Servlets and JavaServer Pages,' (same author & publisher). These two books are the best books I have found on this topic.

Sorry, I don't understand the hype about this book. No doubt, it is a good book but it has to less detailed informationen if you plan a professionel project with servlets and JSPs. Additional, you need a more verbose book concerning JSPs (e.g. Fields / Kolb "WebDevelopment with JavaServer Pages"), where you find details about architectural issues and practical issues like form validation with memento pattern. Three stars as standalone book; five stars in conjunction with Fields/Kolb book.

Wanting to learn servlet programming, I bought this book, but had to return it for a refund. This book is based on the older technologies. Why are they still selling this book? To be honest I don't know how many stars I should give this book, so I just put 3.

The difficult part of this book, for me, has been the editorial comments made by the author. For example, here's a comment from chapter 1, "The Advantages of JSP"

"PHP is a free, open-source HTML-embedded scripting language that is somewhat similar to both ASP and JSP. The advantage of JSP is that the dynamic part is written in Java, which you probably already know, which already has an extensive API for networking, database access, distributed objects, and the like, whereas PHP requires learning an entirely new language."

That entire paragraph and many like it could be summarized using the author's own words.."JSP is better than every other programming language out there because it uses Java."

I know I'm convinced! (*wink*)

Here's another in chapter 2, section 2.6:

"Be aware, however, that it is possible for the Web server to crash. After all, no all Web servers are written in reliable programming languages like Java; some are written in languages (such as ones named after letter of the alphabet) where it is easy to read or write off the ends of arrays, make illegal typecasts, or have dangling pointers due to memory reclamation errors."

These types of comments, like many many others located throughout the book, make it appear as if the book is trying to "convert" me to become a Java zealot rather than just learn the language of JSP and Servlet technology. It becomes frustrating to have to read through countless comments on why a particular method is "harder with every other programming language on this planet" rather than just explain how do perform a particular task.

As far as the actual "meat" of the text, there is some really good, basic information regarding JSP and servlets. I do not recommend this book if you don't know any programming and are trying to learn. You're better off with a basic Java book to start with or you'll get lost pretty quickly.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I think that size of this could be cut down by 25% if the editorial drivel was removed. To avoid being totally negative, I really have learned a lot from the material considering I started the book only having experience with ASP, PHP, and Perl for server-side programming.