Server Component Patterns: Component Infrastructures Illustrated with EJB (Wiley Software Patterns Series) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Alexander Schmid (Author), Eberhard Wolff (Author) "This part of the Book contains a pattern language that describes an architecture for a server-side component infrastructure..." (more)
Key Phrases: Entity Beans, Deployment Descriptor, Remote Interface (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Component technologies like Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), COM+ and CORBA Components (CCM) have become mainstream in many application domains. Developers and architects who use this technology in their everyday work need to know more about component infrastructures than the API's of the respective technology. And this is the book they need.

The first part of the book introduces a pattern language that describes how server-side component infrastructures work internally. It does not only adress the basic building blocks and their interactions. It also provides details about the reasons and rationales for this kind of system architecture. For each pattern, the book provides short examples of how it is implemented in EJB, CCM and COM+. These examples thus also serve as a good comparison of those three mainstream component infrastructures.

The second part of the book uses EJB technology to provide even more detailed examples for the patterns, including UML diagrams and extensive source code. Also serving as a comprehensive overview of EJB, it introduces it from the architectural viewpoint and for the developer highlights the consequences of working with that architecture.

Part three offers another approach to the material: a conversation between two people that describes how a concrete application has been built using component technology, focusing on the benefits of this approach.

After reading this book you will:

• understand the principles and patterns of server-side component infrastructures
• be able to design your own proprietary component infrastructures for specific projects
• have learnt about the commonalities and differences between EJB, CCM and COM+
• gain a comprehensive overview of EJB technology
• see how server-side component infrastructures can be used to great benefit in a real application

The "comic" illustrations accompanying the patterns have been created by Stefan Schulz who, when not drawing, works as an independent technology consultant.

From the Back Cover

Component technologies like Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB), COM+ and CORBA Components (CCM) have become mainstream in many application domains. Developers and architects who use this technology in their everyday work need to know more about component infrastructures than the API's of the respective technology. And this is the book they need.

The first part of the book introduces a pattern language that describes how server-side component infrastructures work internally. It does not only adress the basic building blocks and their interactions. It also provides details about the reasons and rationales for this kind of system architecture. For each pattern, the book provides short examples of how it is implemented in EJB, CCM and COM+. These examples thus also serve as a good comparison of those three mainstream component infrastructures.

The second part of the book uses EJB technology to provide even more detailed examples for the patterns, including UML diagrams and extensive source code. Also serving as a comprehensive overview of EJB, it introduces it from the architectural viewpoint and for the developer highlights the consequences of working with that architecture.

Part three offers another approach to the material: a conversation between two people that describes how a concrete application has been built using component technology, focusing on the benefits of this approach.

After reading this book you will:

• understand the principles and patterns of server-side component infrastructures
• be able to design your own proprietary component infrastructures for specific projects
• have learnt about the commonalities and differences between EJB, CCM and COM+
• gain a comprehensive overview of EJB technology
• see how server-side component infrastructures can be used to great benefit in a real application

The "comic" illustrations accompanying the patterns have been created by Stefan Schulz who, when not drawing, works as an independent technology consultant.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 488 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (November 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470843195
• ISBN-13: 978-0470843192
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #731,020 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars distinctive comparison with COM+, March 12, 2005

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Well, the cartoons are nice!

Seriously, the authors go into great detail explaining the nuances of EJB usage. They approach this by using patterns as the key conceptual thread that binds the book together. Now, to some extent, the basic EJB functionality has been stable for several years. So at one level this book won't (and cannot) reveal any more EJB functionality than several other books already published.

But if you regard patterns as crucial organising ideas in their own right, then this book may appeal to you. The patterns are higher levels of usage of EJBs. That perhaps other books have not made so clear, or even mentioned.

Another distinctive feature is a frequent comparison of the EJB components and usages to COM+ counterparts. Every other EJB book I've seen totally ignores COM+, as being in another universe perhaps. In contrast, the authors hope the comparison helps give you more perspective on EJBs. Now, they do also compare EJBs with CORBA. Here, you might also benefit by seeing how EJBs can improve over CORBA implementations. The COM+ may be more pertinent though, as Microsoft seems to be pushing this heavily.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is going on under the hood, January 3, 2006

By	Ray Ye (Dallas, Tx) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book presents a pattern language which is applied in implementing the component infrastructure (component and container) on the server side, particularly the EJB (Enterprise JavaBean) model. The patterns are also implemented with little variations by COM+ and CCM (CORBA Component Model).

E.g., how does the component tell container to handle its technical concerns by using ANNOTATION, and how does container intercept component call by using COMPONENT PROXY, manage the resource through LIFECYCLE CALLBACK and PLUGGABLE RESOURCES, achieve scalability and performance by using VIRTUAL INSTANCE, INSTANCE POOL and PASSIVATION, how does the transaction and security related information get passed through INVOCATION CONTEXT, etc.

The basic principles behind these patterns are Separation of Concerns and Functional Variability. The separation concerns between functional (business) and nonfunctional (technical) requirement yields the architecture and collaboration between the component and container; the functional variability yields reusable component building blocks.

No pattern is an island, the book provide a definitive guide on what is composed of server component infrastructure, it is a very valuable resource for both component and container developers, it is a link to chain all the individual patterns, each of which tries to solve one particular software requirement to illustrate how these patterns are working together to form a powerful yet flexible component infrastructure.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 18, 2004

By	Eduardo Burgos (Dominican Republic) - See all my reviews

A very complete guide to component services. I strongly recommend it.