Java Data Objects [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by David Jordan (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
David Jordan founded Object Identity, Inc. in 2001 to provide JDO consulting services. He became interested in the integration of object type systems and databases while earning his M.S. in Computer Science in the early 1980s. At Bell Labs in 1985, he initiated the development of the first C++ object database. He has developed a variety of applications using C++ object models on top of network, relational, and object database systems. Bell Labs appointed him a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1990 for his contributions in object and database technologies. The Object Data Management Group (ODMG) asked him to serve as their C++ editor in 1993. He served in that role until 2000 and was appointed their Java editor in 1998. He coedited four books published by the ODMG. David served as a C++ Report columnist describing the ODMG standard from 1994 to 1996, at which point he stopped to write his first book, C++ Object Databases. David started using Java in late 1995. Upon his selection as ODMG's Java editor, he became a columnist for Java Report, initially covering ODMG and then JDO. David was part of the small group that initiated JSR-12, and he became one of the initial members of the JDO expert group. The JDO specification has a special acknowledgment of David's contributions to the JDO standard. When the JDOcentral.com community web site was formed, David was selected to serve as its moderator. David can be reached at [e-mail]

Craig Russell studied applied mathematics at Harvard University (B.A. '70 - '71) and acquired practical experience working as a technician repairing mainframes with the computing power of a 1997 model laptop. His early experiences in distributed computing included building applications with CICS and DL/I and designing heterogeneous network server implementations for file, print, and communications sharing among personal computers. Craig later dealt with issues of persistent object interoperability among Smalltalk, C++, and Java and integrating object and relational databases using X/OPEN XA protocols and commercial transaction processing systems. Craig served as the Java Chair of the Object Data Management Group and played a key role in the development of the ODMG 3.0 Java binding. For the next standard for database access from Java, the ODMG decided to support the Java Community Process as the delivery vehicle. With support from all major relational database and middleware vendors, Java Specification Request 12, Java Data Objects, was proposed in May 1999 and released in April 2002. Concurrent with the development of the JDO standard, Craig's primary responsibility was to lead the implementation of the object-relational database engine for several Sun products, including Java Blend and Forte for Java Transparent Persistence. Craig currently is the architect for the Container Managed Persistence implementation of Sun ONE Application Server, where he deals with the reality of implementing the high-performance, specification-compliant version of the object-relational database component of the J2EE application server.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 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: #319,809 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.