MySQL and JSP Web Applications: Data-Driven Programming Using Tomcat and MySQL [Paperback]

James Turner (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672323095 | ISBN-13: 978-0672323096 | Publication Date: April 6, 2002 | Edition: 1

JSP developers encounter unique problems when building web applications that require intense database connectivity. MySQL and JSP Web Applications addresses the challenges of building data-driven applications based on the JavaServer Pages development model. MySQL and JSP Web Applications begins with an overview of the core technologies required for JSP database development--JavaServer Pages, JDBC, and the database schema. The book then outlines and presents an Internet commerce application that demonstrates concepts such as receiving and processing user input, designing and implementing business rules, and balancing the user load on the server. Through the JDBC (Java DataBase Connector), the developer can communicate with most commercial databases, such as Oracle. The solutions presented in MySQL and JSP Web Applications center on the open source tools MySQL and Tomcat, allowing the reader an affordable way to test applications and experiment with the book's examples.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

JSP developers encounter unique problems when building web applications that require intense database connectivity. MySQL and JSP Web Applications addresses the challenges of building data-driven applications based on the JavaServer Pages development model. MySQL and JSP Web Applications begins with an overview of the core technologies required for JSP database development--JavaServer Pages, JDBC, and the database schema. The book then outlines and presents an Internet commerce application that demonstrates concepts such as receiving and processing user input, designing and implementing business rules, and balancing the user load on the server. Through the JDBC (Java DataBase Connector), the developer can communicate with most commercial databases, such as Oracle. The solutions presented in MySQL and JSP Web Applications center on the open source tools MySQL and Tomcat, allowing the reader an affordable way to test applications and experiment with the book's examples.

About the Author

James Turner is the manager of Black Bear Software, LLC. He has more than 22 years of experience in the computer field and has worked for organizations that include MIT, Xerox, Solbourne Computer, BBN Planet, and Interleaf. He has spent the last seven years managing and implementing e-commerce Web sites for companies including CVS, The Christian Science Monitor, and Woolworths UK.

Mr. Turner is also a well-published freelance journalist and technology writer who has written for publications including The Christian Science Monitor, WIRED, and Web Developers Journal. He lives in Derry, New Hampshire, in a 200-year-old colonial farmhouse along with his wife and son.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (April 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672323095
• ISBN-13: 978-0672323096
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,890,365 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some valid information but stays strict to Turbine, December 6, 2002

By 

Mark A. Symmonds (Roswell, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MySQL and JSP Web Applications: Data-Driven Programming Using Tomcat and MySQL (Paperback)

I picked up this book as a reference for integrating our PHP and MySQL designs with JSP pages. However the author sticks to a single fundamental method of JSP development for MySQL which is using Apache's Jakarta Turbine classes. No information is given as to the other mechanisms available to utilize MySQL with Java such as MySQL Connector/J or Resin JDBC. I believe this book is a very shortsighted approach to the many tools available in the Java and JSP world. I think the Turbine approach is fine, but should maybe have been a later chapter not most of the book. We developed our entire web site without the use of Turbine.

Some discussion is given to strategies with JNDI and LDAP, as well as EJB. There is also a healthy discussion of XML which I believe would be better suited for an XML book, but serves as nothing more than filler here, which could have been used to expand upon the other methods of JDBC.

I would have given this book three stars, but several errors in the code examples always bring down quality by at least one star. I expect a book written by a developer for the purpose of instruction to be error free in all code examples.

All in all the book appears to be a step by step tutorial to building a program according to the developer's linear scheme, rather than a comprehensive discussion of all the options available to a JSP/Servlet developer integrating with MySQL. Sadly this really is the only book available on the subject at this time.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Worst Technical Book I've Ever Bought, August 17, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MySQL and JSP Web Applications: Data-Driven Programming Using Tomcat and MySQL (Paperback)

This is without a doubt the worst technical book I have ever bought.

Some of the problems stem from the fact that most of the packages used are now out of date. Case in point: the book walks through the installation & configuration of Turbine (which is used for connection pooling), unfortunately the connection pooling part of Turbine has now been branched off into another project (and Tomcat now includes standard J2EE connection pooling anyway).

The other major problem is that a nearly every instance of example code is either sloppy and badly edited, or in some cases plainly doesn't even work without serious debugging.

If you must buy this book, don't even think about trying to follow the core example application without first downloading the source-code from the authors website. You WILL be needing it, even if only to 'fill in the blanks' from the poor instructions, and to help find the coding errors.

In conclusion, I would never recommend this book to anyone - even another experienced programmer trying to add JSP/Servlets to their repertoire.

Do yourself a favour, buy Murach's book instead.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good addition to a newby's JSP library, April 13, 2002

By 

DW (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MySQL and JSP Web Applications: Data-Driven Programming Using Tomcat and MySQL (Paperback)

I purchased this book in the hopes that it would provide a JSP newby like myself more coding examples than "Web Development with Java Server Pages" (Fields, Kolb) did. While the highly-revered Fields & Kolb book does a commendable job of explaining concepts, I always thought it was a bit light in content when it came to explaining how to get an application server and database up and running. (I'm primarily a front-end developer with limited Java and DB experience.)

"MySQL and JSP Web Applications" takes a different approach. It assumes you are already somewhat familiar with programming and database concepts (the author mentions this in the introduction), and jumps right in to topics like obtaining, installing, and configuring Apache Tomcat, Ant, and MySQL. After a cursory overview of JSP and SQL, we are treated to a nice overview of the role of functional requirements in application design. Very nice stuff here. After that, we dive headfirst into the design and development of a fictitious e-commerce site with shopping cart.

This book makes a great complement to the Fields/Kolb book. Unfortunately, there are some frustrating anomalies in the text (mostly in the installation / configuration sections) that seemed to have slipped by the technical editors. Still, the code examples and functional requirements discussion make it all worth the price of admission. A highly readable text, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get up and running with database-driven applications using JSP.