Customer Reviews

Enterprise Java for SAP

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am the author of Enterprise Java for SAP and would like to clarify a few points about the text. I have noticed that several reviewers were dissatisfied with the book due to the introductory treatment of Java and JCo. I would like to stress to all current and potential readers that this is a book written for the SAP developer, specifically someone well-versed in ABAP but who has had little to no exposure to Java programming.

The world of SAP development tends to be somewhat insular, with the bulk of commonly used tools provided explicitly within the SAP suite (ABAP Workbench, Menu Painter, Screen Painter, etc.). In my experience, many strict SAP developers have never been exposed to open source development technologies and struggle to gain entry into that world. The specific "open source" focus of this book is intended to demonstrate how these technologies can be used within an SAP environment.

If you are an SAP developer with an interest in broadening your development skills, I would definitely recommend checking out my book. If you are an experienced Java developer looking for an SAP JCo reference, I would pass on this book and check out the various articles and postings available on the Web. A good place to start is SearchSAP.com, where I have posted a number of articles and expert advice on the targeted use of connecting Java applications to SAP via SAP's Java connector, JCo. I also welcome questions/comments via email at austin at opensourceguru dot com.

This book was such a waste of money!

I don't want to read about general, simple concepts regarding Java on SAP that I can easilly read in either the SAP Java documentation or any standard doc for different related products.

When one buys a book like this you would expect to get some information out of it that would be hard to find or put together from other sources. Not reworked text from standard sources discussing the MVC pattern or Struts.

The only audience that could have any, even minor, benefit of this book is the SAP developer who hasn't heard about OO or Java before and just wants to quickly understand some of the basic concepts (without any specific details).

This book spends the bulk of its content addressing basic and well documented java and web application concepts rather than the SAP JCo. The book also spent way too much time on the treatment of open source internet technologies.

There is more sample code and documentation provided for plain old Java programming than for SAP specific Java issues and concepts. The samples that are there are also overly simplistic.

As an INTRODUCTION to SAP development using Java, this book has no equal. Its plain language makes it simple to learn this complex topic. Both subjects, SAP and Java, are too extensive to be covered by a single book though; so, don't consider this will be your only source of information. However, if you need to write either SAP interfaces or external applications using JCo, you won't find better resource than this one out there to kick off your development tasks.

I found the book really helpful. It didn't bog down into all the exceptions and special cases in Java. It was easy to read and straight forward. It covers new developments in Java and SAP, like using Apache Struts. I found the examples to be helpful. The thing that was most important to me was the fact the book introduced me to new technology that was relevant to me, where I want to go, and where I think the market will be going too.

It seems that the ratio of bad SAP books to good ones is about 99 to 1. This book, from a publisher who usually produces quality books, is of little use to a Java programmer, who could learn as much from the JCO sample code, and of no use to the ABAP programmer who will only get into deep trouble fast. After a terrible discussion of the JCO library, the author then moves on to a bad discussion of the Jakarta Struts framework, which is a book by itself. Save the money, people.

I have to say that I completely disagree with the prior review. I found this book to be both helpful and insightful. Not to mention, it was actually enjoyable to read. APress continues to publish some great texts.