Customer Reviews

Java 2 Enterprise Edition 1.4 (J2EE 1.4) Bible

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

For those people who want to know what's coming and how to use J2EE 1.4 then this book is for you. If you're after how to implement J2EE 1.4, then look elsewhere (though I think this book could still be of use).

I came at this after having waded through the current 1.4 spec. and some pretty poor J2EE 1.3 books. It was an eye-opener: the whole structure of the book hit me as being so good - all of the stuff I needed to know about was up front, with more esoteric (for me) work like Web services towards the back. Where were these guys when I needed a good J2EE 1.3 book?!

Since getting it, I've read the book cover-to-cover twice just to make sure I understand some of the more complex issues. The authors definitely know how to put some of these things into context and it was a pleasure to read. A few chapters are a little heavy going, but that's probably just me.

At the moment I can't think of a better book to read on the subject of J2EE and specifically version 1.4. And I've tried quite a few!

I bought this book because I needed an overview of J2EE technology, and I wanted something with a lot of breadth. With the notable exception of web services, I feel that this book delivered on that promise.

After reading the book, it will still be necessary to read and learn the various technologies in more depth, but the book provides a good roadmap.

The strength of the book is its breadth, covering everything from servlets to EJBs to logging APIs to build tools. Because the book covers so much, it is able to give a sense of how all of these technologies fit together for web application development.

The weakness of the book is its uneven quality. Some sections, such as the one on servlets, are written in great detail, and other sections, such as the one on web services, are simply a consolidation of material from other documents, poorly explained.

My biggest complaint about this book, in the context of it being an overview or roadmap, is that the section on web services is awful. I doubt the author understood much about the technologies in that section because a lot of material is copied from other sources without adequate explanation, and the text has the look of a padded english essay. ("This attribute is another very important part of processing.") In addition, some of the inline editing comments from prepublication are still in the text! ("Deleted, if so WHY?---JG") JG makes a few appearances in the web services chapters. There are also clearly some copy/paste errors in these sections.

Aside from that, there is the occasional poor programming practice, such as classes declared with "extends Object".

On balance, however, the good outweighs the bad, and I am now happily oriented, and ready to learn some of these technologies in more detail.

I'm an independent consultant and have been doing a lot of J2EE work over the years. Now that 1.4 is on the horizon I'm getting lots of questions from my clients and requests to migrate stuff to it. I've looked at other books on the subject, but this is the one that really did it for me: it's well structured, easy to get into and just flows. The authors obviously know their stuff, and by the time I was finished I felt that I did too.

This is without a doubt one of the best books on J2EE architecture I've read and certainly the best one of 1.4.

Don't let the size put you off. You can structure your own way through the chapters if you really need to, leaving out those things that don't concern you immediately. There's a lot of hints and tips as one of the other reviewers mentioned and also many cross-references, so if you miss something to start with 'cause you don't think it's relevant, if the authors do they'll let you know!

A great book at a pretty good price too.

I happened to read some excerpts from the book and I feel that they have taken an extra effort to make the audience understand the concepts before getting into the details unlike other books. Most chapters start off with a simple-world scenario which tends to get you interested in the topic rather than make you close the book!!! I would highly recommend this book. The concepts are precise and easy to understand. They should have included some more examples in the book. Other than that a sure BUY...

I almost missed out on reading this book after seeing some of the negative reviews. However, I had $40 burning a hole in my pocket when browsing and decided to take the hit and just see for myself. After the first read my initial thought was "WOW!", then the next thought was "Did the negative reviewers read the same book?"

This is a great text, whether or not it's entirely up to date is pretty immaterial. As many others have already said, the structure of the book is really good, leading you from one topic to the next in a natural way. It's easy to get into difficult subjects and not know about it until you're through the other end! I was really impressed with the depth of knowledge, the presentation, the worked examples, the hints, and a 1001 other things that made me glad I didn't save my money for something else.

If like me you're unsure about what to do to get into J2EE 1.4 then you can't do better IMO than getting hold of this book. Grab it from a friend if you can't afford the price, or if you're still unsure, but *do* read it. You're not going to find another text this comprehensive and readily understandable in a long while. Don't save your money - the money I spent wasn't a waste, it was an investment that is already showing dividends!

Just glancing over the breadth of this book's chapter headings tells you right off the bat that you aren't going to get in-depth treatment of the subjects, since many, if not most of the subjects covered might well require one or more books dedicated to each.

But you will get a good sense of where Java is going in the next release, allowing the savvy programmer or manager to catch up with the next wave of Java changes before it crashes down on his or her head.

This is not a book for the expert in, say, Java Database applications to delve into the arcane depths of J2EE support for the intricacies of modern database design and techniques. It is a book for the beginning Java programmer, for programming management and architects, and for the expert Java programmer taking on new projects, anyone who wants an overview of the entirety of J2EE 1.4 before being tasked with implementing it yesterday or by tomorrow at the latest.

This is the book one would want to have read through before walking into a strategy and planning meeting, or sitting down for a job interview, or planning needed classes for programming staff, or keeping one's resume current with the state of the art.

With an average of thirty-three pages devoted to each topic, the information presented is usually packed solid, and it must be admitted that a few of the authors have more technical prowess than the gift to turn a dainty phrase, but technical writers being what they are, the fact that the book is clearly written in English and takes pains to be accessible to a wide range of potential readers is a strong point that far outweighs the few flaws.

Buy this book. Read it. You'll spare yourself a lot of confusion and come away with a strong grounding in the fundamentals of the next edition of J2EE. Isn't that what a Bible is? Not a cookbook, but a guide.

Bought this book just to play around with j2ee14 sdk. I found this book is written using a beta version of j2ee 1.4. The book examples does not work with the current version of j2ee 1.4 sdk and authors confuse the readers with their own assumptions on j2ee14, showing some sample snippets without appropriate documentation. I find once you try using this book you are able to do nothing with the current version of j2ee.

Isn't this book supposed to be advanced reading level? It reads like a child's book with words like "screw" and "buzzword-friendly." Plus, there's so much info to cover in J2EE that it only explains the minimum needed to get started. If you plan on reading this book, don't expect to gain substantial knowledge from it. This book is only good for one thing: to establish an introduction. The real deal is to read the specifications which are advanced reading level and written by technical writers appointed by Sun Microsystems.

This book was written by several members of the Java Community Process (JCP) and will have competitive advantage over books that are simply written by professional writers. It is jammed with information on the latest J2EE specifications and explains crucial concepts in a clear manner. This is the best J2EE book of the year.

I'm relatively new to Java and J2EE, so this book was kind of like jumping in to the deep end. However, thanks to the authors' clear and concise writing style, I learned to swim pretty quickly in the new J2EE 1.4 pool! The size of the book was a bit daunting at first, but I decided to give it a go. I found the book really pulled the concepts together and presented them in a useful way.

This isn't the first J2EE book I've read, but it is definitely the best I've come across so far. After finishing the book (which is well worn and dog-eared now!) I feel like I'm ready to tackle some of the new concepts in J2EE 1.4. I certainly won't be spending money on another 1.4 book in the forseeable future.

My recommendation in a nutshell would be: buy it - you won't regret it if you're prepared to put the effort into reading it.