Customer Reviews

Logging in Java with the JDK 1.4 Logging API and Apache log4j

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

 

 

As a developer looking for a more detailed reference/guide to technical usage and programming practices, this book falls short. My focus was log4j, and I found that most of the information is freely available from apache. No real value was added here. I expected at least an in depth compare-contrast between log4j and jdk logging, but this section was very terse. What would be a nice add would be a technical reference that would be one stop shop for syntax. The book didn't even provide a PatternLayout key of codes for logging items, that would be useful.

What we really need is a practical bridge between javadocs and this book, which is a high level academic overview.

I should have just gotten "The complete log4j manual", but I thought this might have been more extensive. I was wrong.

I bought this book based on the review of Thomas Paul, who has supposedly read it. If he had read this book then he would still be suffering migranes like I am. Without a doubt the worse book on logging I have read. I really wanted to get into this book and write some of my own logging programs. My advice to anyone who wants to do the same is to go to the Jakarta website where they have much better documentation and its free! Save your money. don't buy this book unless you like to read to help you sleep.

This book covers the two most popular logging APIS, the one built in to JDK 1.4 and the Apache log4j. The book starts with a brief introduction to logging and why we should care about it. The rest of the book is divided into two parts, each discussing one of the two APIs. The final chapter covers best practices and a brief comparison of the two APIs. The sections on the logging APIs are divided into two parts, the first discussing the features of the API and the next discussing how to create your own custom components to extend the API.

The book is very well written. The author does a nice job of combining the discussion with code examples to make the topics clear. He uses UML diagrams appropriately to help the reader understand how a log request flows through the many classes. He clearly explains each of the classes in the logging frameworks and how to properly use them. The discussion of log4j ends with a chapter on the log tag library written for use with JSPs.

Overall this is a very good book. If you are doing no more than very basic logging then this book is probably a lot more information than you need. But if you want to incorporate logging into your development projects in more than just a very basic way or if you are interested in comparing in detail the two APIs, you will find this book useful.

I really *wanted* this book to be an excellent logging book, because I would benefit by such a book. More than that, I would like to be able to (figuratively) throw a good logging book at developers needing one. While possessed of the necessary physical characteristics to do some damage when thrown, the low quality of the content of this book makes it unsuitable for chucking at developers needing logging guidance.

The prose is difficult to follow, the examples not-quite-lucid, the editing noticeably poor. The advice and analysis may not have ever made a lot of sense, but certainly by today's logging standards is off-base. (Treatment of Commons Logging is barely there, despite it being a prevalent logging framework API binding layer. Treatment of alternatives to Log4J addressing some of its classloader complexity is nonexistent. Logging considerations in application containers is absent.)

As much as I despise the pay-for-documentation model of monetizing open source, I have no alternative but to recommend that persons looking for a logging book purchase the log4j PDF, which is more comprehensive, more useful, and better edited than this unhelpful little volume. The log4j PDF largely treats no topics other than log4j, but it treats log4j very effectively. The book reviewed here attempts and fails to treat a broader range of topics.

This book really helped me in terms of creating a logging strategy for the projects in my company. The author gives a very smooth ride through the different features of both the Logging APIs. Also it gives you ideas about how to extend the framework. Overall, I am very impressed with the book. The docs in the Apache website can be a starter but this book is required to decide a logging strategy for the organisation.

Thanks to the author

Pauline

This book does an excellent job to readers like me at intermediate level of programming. Step by step guide on both the logging APIS was good although I settled for Log4j finally. I was a bit surprised to see this book got a one star review from someone. This book certainly does better than that. Ihave not read the complete log4j manual (it is out of stock mostly) but apart from that I could not find any other material which does a better job!! My thanks to the author.

The only reason it is a 4 star to me is that there can be more on practical application of logging such as in EJB and all.