Enterprise Computing with Objects (Addison-Wesley Object Technology) [Paperback]

Yen-Ping Shan (Author), Ralph H. Earle (Author), Marie A. Lenzi (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201325667 | ISBN-13: 978-0201325669 | Publication Date: December 12, 1997 | Edition: 1st

As the pace of change in business and technology continues to quicken, the business systems that are key to the enterprise's ability to adapt and prosper must also change rapidly. The expansion of enterprise computing into the world of the Internet makes the task of developing, deploying, and maintaining today's information systems even more challenging. With its modular approach to programming and capacity to manage complexity, object technology holds the key to success for enterprise computing to meet these challenges. Enterprise Computing with Objects helps the reader place rapidly evolving technologies-the Internet, the World Wide Web, distributed computing, object technology and client/server systems-in their appropriate context in relation to modern information systems. The authors distinguish what is essential from what is incidental, while imparting a clear understanding of how the underlying technologies fit together. The book examines essential topics, including data persistence, security, performance, scalability, and development tools. Even readers with existing experience in object technology or client/server programming can benefit from the perspectives offered here.With this book as an aid, designers and developers can better transition their information systems into the twenty-first century. 0201325667B04062001

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Enterprise Computing with Objects: From Client/Server Environments to the Internet is a broad but useful survey of the growing role for object-oriented technologies in today's enterprise systems, including the Internet. Written for both managers and developers, the book does a good job of presenting information without the excessive jargon often found in software-engineering texts. (There are one or two notable lapses; for example, where the principal effect of the Internet is described as "disintermediation.")

The book begins with an historical introduction to client-server computing, from dumb terminals to fat clients. The authors also provide guidance on how different architectures work, from two-tier and three-tier to today's "n-tier" designs in distributed systems. Next, the guide presents a tour of what objects are (using a video rental store as an example) and the advantages of such an approach over a traditional procedural design.

The authors show how objects can be used in enterprises on the client--in object-oriented user interfaces--and on servers, where they introduce and explain crucial technologies such as transaction monitors. Particularly valuable sections include a fine explanation of what object-oriented databases are and what their advantages (and disadvantages) are versus traditional relational database solutions. Other chapters cover the implementation of objects within the enterprise, discussing everything from "glue" which allows intercommunication between CORBA and ActiveX/DCOM, to object "persistence," which allows objects to be stored and retrieved from databases. Another useful chapter describes the role of the Internet in enterprise computing. Further sections discuss today's object-oriented development tools (Microsoft Visual Studio and IBM's VisualAge tools get thumbs-up ratings from the authors.)

Finally, the authors consider performance tuning and scalability in object-oriented systems, topics that will be most familiar to those with exposure to software engineering. Enterprise Computing with Objects concludes with some forecasting about the (predictably bright) future of objects in distributed systems. Overall, this is a very useful book, which presents a lot of critical information about wide-ranging roles for objects, now and in the future.

From the Back Cover

quicken, the business systems that are key to the enterprise's ability to adapt and prosper must also change rapidly. The expansion of enterprise computing into the world of the Internet makes the task of developing, deploying, and maintaining today's information systems even more challenging. With its modular approach to programming and capacity to manage complexity, object technology holds the key to success for enterprise computing to meet these challenges.

Enterprise Computing with Objects helps the reader place rapidly evolving technologies-the Internet, the World Wide Web, distributed computing, object technology and client/server systems-in their appropriate context in relation to modern information systems. The authors distinguish what is essential from what is incidental, while imparting a clear understanding of how the underlying technologies fit together. The book examines essential topics, including data persistence, security, performance, scalability, and development tools. Even readers with existing experience in object technology or client/server programming can benefit from the perspectives offered here. With this book as an aid, designers and developers can better transition their information systems into the twenty-first century.

0201325667B04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (December 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201325667
• ISBN-13: 978-0201325669
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,039,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have For Developers New To OO Enterprise Applications, May 6, 2003

By 

Philip R. Heath "Gadgets, Music, & Books" (DFW) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Enterprise Computing with Objects (Addison-Wesley Object Technology) (Paperback)

This book is a little bit dated, but most of what is here still applies. As long as new people are making the shift to OO devleopment, this book will be of great benefit.

First of all, the authors give a very objective view of OO devleopment without a bunch of hype. Then, the book begins by addressing the non-OO way of developing client/server applications and explains how objects can fit in.

After giving a road map of the possible ways to introduce objects into existing systems, the authors go in great detail of client, server, and "glue" OO development. The glue is essentailly the communication mechanism used between the client and server.

To round out the book, the authors give good introductions to object persistence, performance, scaleability, and security. These are all important topics with books dedicated to each of them. Readers will be ready to read the more advanced material after having read what the authors present.

The last two chapters are more speculation than fact, and it would be nice to have a second edition of this book to account for the changes since the book was published in 1998.

As a final note, managers with a techincal background but no OO experience will find the material very useful in coming up to speed on OO client/server development.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Intro to Object Technology, May 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Enterprise Computing with Objects (Addison-Wesley Object Technology) (Paperback)

This is one of the top five technical book I have ever read. Unlike most technical books that are 40% filler, every page in this book contains interesting and useful information.

Very well written. It is a great introduction to the latest object technology that is taking over enterprise computer.

Every paragraph in the book has a one sentence summary of the paragraph in the margin. I found this feature very helpful and I wish more authors did this.

I highly recommend this book!!!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A clear overview of OO applied to enterprise business apps, April 3, 2000

By 

DTC# "ROP" (ROP) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Enterprise Computing with Objects (Addison-Wesley Object Technology) (Paperback)

This book presents a clear and high-level overview of the issues and topics of client/server and OO computing. I've worked in the field for a while, so there was not much new material for me. Nevertheless, I still found it a useful read. It presents a coherent and comprehensive conceptual framework for thinking about the many of issues and tradeoffs in the field. The book's layout, format, and style make it readable and useful. It has a reasonable index, bibliography, and glossary. The beginning and ends of each chapter clearly summarize the material. The book's stated goal was to give the reader a fundamental understanding of essential issues rather than a barrage of incidental technical details. I believe it succeeded. I wish I had this book five years ago when I was new to the field of OO applied to business applications.