Java Data Objects (Paperback)

~ (Author), Craig Russell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Java Data Objects revolutionizes the way Java developers interact with databases and other datastores. JDO allows you to store and retrieve objects in a way that's natural to Java programmers. Instead of working with JDBC or EJB's container-managed persistence, you work directly with your Java objects. You don't have to copy data to and from database tables or issue SELECTs to perform queries: your JDO implementation takes care of persistence behind-the-scenes, and you make queries based on the fields of your Java objects, using normal Java syntax. This book, written by the JDO Specification Lead and one of the key contributors to the JDO Specification, is the definitive work on the JDO API. It gives you a thorough introduction to JDO, starting with a simple application that demonstrates many of JDO's capabilities. It shows you how to make classes persistent, how JDO maps persistent classes to the database, how to configure JDO at runtime, how to perform transactions, and how to make queries. More advanced chapters cover optional features such as nontransactional access and optimistic transactions. The book concludes by discussing the use of JDO in web applications and J2EE environments. Whether you only want to read up on an interesting new technology, or are seriously considering an alternative to JDBC or EJB CMP, you'll find that this book is essential. It provides by far the most authoritative and complete coverage available.

About the Author

Jordan is a key contributor to the JDO expert group and the moderator of JDOcentral.com. He is the principal of Object Identity, Inc., a firm that provides JDO consulting services.

Russell is the Specification Lead for Java Data Objects, and the architect for the Container Managed Persistence component of the Sun ONE Application Server.

Cattelll is a Distinguished Engineer at Sun, and has contributed extensively to JDBC design. An expert in objects and databases, he is co-author of the best-selling book, JDBC API Tutorial and Reference, 2/e (AW).

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (April 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596002769
• ISBN-13: 978-0596002763
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #439,324 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent book about Java Data Objects(JDO)!, April 29, 2003

By	Michael Bouschen (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews

Java Data Objects by David Jordan and Craig Russell succeeds in giving a good introduction to JDO and providing a very good overview of the standard. The book covers all the relevant aspects of managing persistent Java objects, such as creating and deleting persistent objects, identity, queries, and transaction handling.

More importantly, the authors describe how to use JDO in practice, meaning how to use JDO to write a Java application that accesses persistent data transparently. There are lots of detailed, but easy to understand code examples explaining the concepts of JDO. I like the idea that the entire book uses a single application scenario. The source code is included in the appendix.

The descriptions do not depend on a particular JDO implementation. Instead, it focuses on how to write an application in a manner that is portable among different JDO implementations. Where necessary, it explains JDO's optional features and areas where JDO implementations may differ. JDO does not specify a standard for the mapping of persistent classes to specific datastores; but this is an important aspect of developing an application with JDO. There is a chapter about datastore mappings, with the focus on relational databases.

There are chapters about defining persistent classes, enhancing them, and setting up the JDO runtime environment. It is easy to transfer the provided examples to your own application environment. I like the chapter on JDOQL; it provides a good and in-depth description of the JDO query language. There are extra chapters about the identity and lifecycle of persistent instances, as well as nontransactional access of persistent data. The last two chapters describe how JDO integrates into web- and application-server environment, especially J2EE application servers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to understand and detailed information!, June 25, 2004

By	M.S. "mtin" (Germany) - See all my reviews

This book is definitely the best on java data objects! i have read the one from prentice hall and addison wesley`s. its true that the first code example doesnt work, what is a shame but if you overcome your frustration and have a look at the oreilly website you can fond the correct and again detailed information (and even reason) to get it done. short cut to the correctings is : http://examples.oreilly.com/jvadtaobj/README.txt .

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only Book you need for Java Data Objects, May 5, 2003

By	"java1dev" (USA) - See all my reviews

Craig Russell, at Sun Microsystems, is the specification lead for JDO and David Jordan, at Object Identity, has been an active member of the JDO expert group since its inception.

Java Data Objects provides a thorough coverage of JDO and explains how it can be used in various architectures. The reader is expected to be familiar with Java but needs only a limited knowledge of databases. In brief, Java Data Objects (JDO) insulates you from needing to know a lot about databases. JDO permits you to develop applications using your preferred Java object-oriented model, without you having to write code to translate between Java objects and how the data is stored in the database--JDO takes care of all of that for you.

The first three chapters provide a high level overview of JDO by walking through a small application, exploring each of its interfaces at a high level, and introducing the architectures it might be used in. Even if you have been away from code for a while you will be able to follow most of the code example. You can stop here if you just want to understand what JDO is all about and where it can be used. These are recommended reading for a manager.

Chapters 4 through 9 are required reading if you want to start developing JDO applications. They really get you into JDO, so you can understand it and start using it. The first three of these cover how to define persistent classes and fields, how they can be mapped to various databases (done for you) and the class enhancement process (which makes a lot of JDO transparent to you). The next three (chapter 7 through 9) bring home the power of JDO. These cover how to connect with a database, establish a transaction context and create, read, query, update and delete database objects. The material is made concrete by illustrating it with a detailed and intuitive example application. This example is carried throughout the book with sections of it explained as the concepts are covered.

Each remaining chapter covers a different JDO concept or feature (including optional features) that were introduced earlier but not covered in detail to keep the earlier chapters more understandable. These remaining topics are identity, lifecycle states & transitions, field management, cache management, nontransactional access and optimistic transactions. You can read these chapters as you feel the need for a more in-depth understanding of these concepts.

The last two chapters explain how to use JDO in an application-server environment and an Enterprise Java Beans environment. These two chapters assume you are already familiar with these environments, but I think a lot of it is understandable even if you are not.

There are five appendices with everything from the lifecycle state transitions to the collected source code for many of the classes used in the example application.