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JAVA BOOKS

Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Tony Stubblebine. By O'Reilly Media, Inc.. The regular list price is $14.99. Sells new for $8.62. There are some available for $6.89.
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5 comments about Regular Expression Pocket Reference: Regular Expressions for Perl, Ruby, PHP, Python, C, Java and .NET (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)).
  1. This book is the best reference for regular expressions. The second edition came out in July 2007 and has several updates over the previous version. The reason for the books ease-of-use lies in the organization. The chapters represent one language each. For each language, listings of the meta-characters and examples are shown. Depending on the language being displayed, there are other subjects covered such as unicode support, object orientation, and different topics unique to the language. The primary parsing engine is listed at the beggining of the chapters with the examples arranged at the ends of the chapters. I generally need to look up expression for JavaScript and [...]. Both of these are covered plus perl, java, php, python, ruby, pcre, apache, vi and shells. I just bookmark the 2 areas I need and I can lookup the expression listing in a few seconds.


  2. "Regular Expression - Pocket Reference" is just as high in quality as it's big brother ("Mastering Regular Expressions.")

    The book begins with a very brief review of regular expression concepts and patterns. For each language/tool, the book includes tables to reference the metacharacters, a reference for the API/syntax/library and four examples. A few of the languages have additional examples tailored specifically to that language.

    The languages/tools included are: Perl, Java, .NET, PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PCRE, Apache Web Server, vi and awk/sed/egrep. If you use a number of these, the book is a concise reference. If you only use one, you would be better served by printing out the relevant reference charts from the website of your language of choice.

    If you are learning about regular expressions or only going to buy one regular expressions book, I recommend the "Mastering Regular Expressions." If you are knowledgeable about regular expressions and just need a review or reference, this book does the job nicely.


  3. From the back cover of the Regular Expression Pocket Reference: "Ideal as a quick reference..." and "... makes an ideal on-the-job companion." All this is true if you are well-versed in regular expressions and use multiple programming languages (and confuse the syntax).

    I like the use of the same examples across programming languages (where applicable).

    The recipes in the cookbook section are great, although I would have liked to see additional recipes (like stripping HTML tags, matching credit card numbers etc...). Of course the examples are endless and over time one builds his/her own recipe collection. At least this is a good place to start.


  4. Pocket references are not meant to teach you anything from the beginning, but to be everyday references in known and new environments. In other words, if you don't know regular expressions, then go to "Mastering Regular Expressions". If you're still here, then you'll get a cheat sheet on steroids for languages ranging from bug-prone JavaScript to the King and Queen of robustness, Perl and Python. Although everything claims to be PCRE these days, particular examples in every language available is a plus for anyone. A must for any type of user input validation.


  5. You know those times when you know what you want to do, but are not sure of the correct form, this is the book to grab. It has been my book to grab as a reference rather than trying to find the right language book. This is not the book to learn the language from, however. You will find your copy will be well worn if you do lots of coding.


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Bill Burke and Richard Monson-Haefel. By O'Reilly Media, Inc.. The regular list price is $49.99. Sells new for $28.88. There are some available for $20.45.
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5 comments about Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0 (5th Edition).
  1. I have been building J2EE based applications for about five years now and this book has given me exactly what I needed to move to the new version of the specification. I'm using it as a study guide for the Sun Certified Business Component Developer certification exam.

    Fun to read with great working examples included with the Jboss Workbook at the end.


  2. I found this book very helpful getting me up to date with the latest version of EJB. I had used EJB 2.1 before, but this book is good even for complete beginners. The first couple hundred pages are about the new Java Persistence Architecture. The last couple hundred pages are on using EJB 3.0 in JBoss AS. The middle of the book covers the rest of EJB 3.0. I still reference this book from time to time when working with JPA and complex relationships. I highly recommend this book.


  3. I recommend this book. The book cover almost topics in EJB 3.0 and you can depend it for preparing the SCBCD 5. The author explain and describe the topics in easy way.

    The problem of this book have more error in code I escalation it for author. cause the book have his name not auditor name.

    I will give this book three stars for losing the quality.


  4. To be brief, this is a great book, but you will almost certainly want the newest edition of it.


  5. This is a great introduction to EJBs in general, and now EJB3. (the JSR 220 standard) Just like EJBs are now easier to develop with version 3, so is it easy to read and study this book. I hold O'Reilly in a high regard, (doesn't mean I'm a fan boy though, they do have their share of bad apples) and their high standards show in the quality of writing in this book. You will be happy with your purchase.


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Bruce Eckel. By Prentice Hall PTR. The regular list price is $64.99. Sells new for $34.99. There are some available for $36.49.
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5 comments about Thinking in Java (4th Edition).
  1. I have been a Java developer for 7 years, and my knowledge of Java increased by double, if not more, after reading this book. This book is fantastic to get deep into general Java topics. No kidding, I learned enough that I was able to point out features in Java that even our "gurus" at work did not know. Now I am one of the gurus! Note that the book covers no J2EE and is only an intro to concurrency so suppliment with books specific to those topics if you need.


  2. I really liked this book, its a complete one. I used it to study for the SCJP 5.0 Exam as a complement to the Kathys book. Its however not a beginners book. You have to have some programming background cause its very theorical book. It explains in depth every subject, and its it drawback too, it gets a little boring with so much explanation, and in some examples it focuses more on the Design Patterns than Java. This is the Java Bible,every thing you will need is inside.


  3. Much of the code in the book is predicated on you using some of his custom libraries. As a result, you learn things his way, not necessarily the standard way to code Java.


  4. Thinking in Java is a quite comprehensive book for intermediate to advanced level for Java programmers. Each chapter can be read individually in order to learn inner details of Java 5/6 language. This is not a book for a new comer to Java language.


  5. This is a beginner addressed book on Java: if you are already skilled in programming with procedural or even OO language, you'll find this book very useful.
    The text is very simple and clear, the examples are incisive and at the end of each chapter you'll find a couple of exercises that can be very useful to focus the concepts.
    A "thinking in enterprise java" would be a great successor to this good book.
    5 stars!


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Joel Murach and Andrea Steelman. By Mike Murach & Associates. The regular list price is $52.50. Sells new for $33.08. There are some available for $17.10.
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5 comments about Murach's Java SE 6: Training & Reference.
  1. There have been a number of books and tutorials written about Java. The gold standard for me has always been "Learning Java" by Patrick Niemeyer and Johnathan Knudsen (O'Reilly & Associates). I have had a number of new programmers, enthusiasts, and members of the JUG tell me it is information overload. The book does contain a lot of information in its 828 page heft. As a result, I have been looking for a book just for beginners. I have found it.

    I just completed reviewing Murach's Java SE 6. It is a very good resource for learning Java. This book does an excellent job of providing a firm basis for understanding the technology. The book is clearly and concisely written. The book is divided into 5 major sections which cover the essential Java skills to advanced topics on data access programming using XML and JDBC.

    The teaching style is very clever. It typically takes the form of a page of information with facing page with examples. I found this to be very important in getting sometimes difficult points across. I typically take the "Show me the code" philosophy, and this style works for me.

    The other technique that used is to convey a purpose for learning Java. This is done by using the various topics as building blocks to create an application. The final result is a completed application at the end of the book. It encompasses the lessons learned, and gives the new programmer a sense of accomplishment with a completed functional application at the end of the book. I love it.

    I have found that people learn better with functional code examples. This book is replete with them. One of my greatest annoyances is to have code samples which do not work. This clouds the ability to learn because it forces the beginning programmer to question their abilities. The shroud of uncertainty should not be because the gold standard code is incorrect. I am pleased to note that I tried a number of code examples and they all worked.

    My favorite section is Data access programming with Java. Chapter 20 covers working with XML. This is a must for any programmer. XML is the new black, and anything that can help you learn this important technology is a must. In chapter 20, the topic of StAX is covered. This is the best simplified example of using StAX I have seen. After reading the information, and performing the examples, I felt I had a better understanding of this technology.

    I only have a few minor negative points to mention: the title is a little misleading. The majority of the information in the book really details Java SE 5 enhancements with two notable exceptions: StAX and an introduction to Derby (Java DB).

    My overall impression is that the book is an outstanding resource for new and seasoned programmers. This is a great book to add to the reference shelf.


  2. As a UNIX/C/C++/python programmer, this book has allowed me entrance into the Java world. I went to the Java Conference and was overwhelmed by all the choices, but this book allows learning of the different methods and how to put Java together. I am still in about the fifth chapter so I am not sure if it suitable for an advanced Java programmer, but it is easy for a beginning Java programmer to follow. I heartily recommend this book. It also is accurate and the programs actually work (which is not always the case with a programming book....)


  3. This is a great book for both training and reference. I was a VB6 programmer and needed to get into Java and object oriented programming for work. I read this book about 3/4 of the way through from page one and did all of the exercises after each chapter. The book is split so that the left side facing page is narrative description and the right side facing page is bullet points. This is great in that it allows you to read on the topics you don't know and just use the bullet points for the stuff you do know. This is also nice for going back to something for reference while working on a program. I plan to finish reading the remainder of the book within the next couple weeks.


  4. I found the book to be excellent and much easier to understand than many other java text sold today. The book teaches the basics very well and is a solid foundation for anyone who wants to learn basic java programing skills in days instead of weeks or months. The expansions are clear and the examples are well thought out.

    LG


  5. I am very satisfied with whole amazon-purchasing experience, as always ! Book was shipped in solid protecting box and received on time. I would like to say thank you to amazon staff for doing high quality work.


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Ross Harmes and Dustin Diaz. By Apress. The regular list price is $44.99. Sells new for $26.35. There are some available for $26.33.
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5 comments about Pro JavaScript Design Patterns (Recipes: a Problem-Solution Ap).
  1. Harmes and Diaz bend, twist, fold and stretch the Javascript language in ways that it wasn't probably intended to ever be used and, in doing so, demonstrate just how flexible and dynamic Javascript is. They actually cover topics such as Interfaces, encapsulation, inherittance, the singleton pattern, the factory pattern, the bridge pattern, the composite pattern, the adapter pattern, the proxy pattern, the lightweight pattern and the command pattern.

    Early on in the book when looking at the interface pattern, when it was suggested an implementation of this pattern with comments, I actually thought that this just wasn't going to work for me. They do, however, show a much more credible implementation of this and other patterns and, in the process, cover some of the deeper and more powerful features of the language. The examples are highlighted against specific applications. For instance, the benefits of the singleton pattern are explained through the process of creating an XHR object (an instance of the XMLHttpRequest).

    I haven't finished the book yet, but it is clear that this is one to keep going back to. As someone else has already mentioned, this is not a showcase of UI tricks and will be appreciated by someone developing or extending web development frameworks or someone who just wants to write better and more extensible Javascript.

    I would have liked to have seen some examples of how the patterns are used in frameworks such as Prototype/Scriptaculous and jQuery in the same vein that Olsen's "Design Patterns in Ruby" (an excellent book if you are into Ruby) illustrates patterns with code used in Rails, Ruby and other applications in the wild. Also, I found that I needed to brush up on my Javascript (bigtime) in order to keep up with this one (Resig's "Pro Javascript Techniques" and Crockford's "JavaScript: The Good Parts" are highly recommenced to that end). Then again, the Authors might have then struggled to keep this at just under 270 pages.

    Highly recommended!


  2. The authors of this book, being recognized web experts in Google and Yahoo circles, are sharing an array of javascript design patterns that will empower your applications and widen horizons of all web developer levels.


  3. Back in the early days Design Patterns examples mostly used C++ as language. This day Java is the typical choice, with an increasing amount of C#. Usually if you are familiar with any of those languages, porting the sample code to a different platform isn't that hard. Unfortunately JavaScript is quite a different beast, first of all is not class based, it's loosely typed, it doesn't support interfaces etc. JavaScript has a whole bunch of peculiarities that make it really hard to translate those Java/C# samples. That's why this book is really welcomed. The authors stick with mainstream, well-know patterns, nothing new, but they "translate" those patterns in JavaScript, offering working samples. I tend to disagree with them whenever they pretend to add interface-like functionality to JavaScript; yet, I think they made an excellent job, a book that can be really valuable if you do non-trivial work with JavaScript


  4. To begin with this is not a book for the person new to JavaScript. The authors assume some knowledge of JavaScript and object oriented programming right from the start. This is more of an advanced text for those who already can get things done in JavaScript and want to advance their knowledge, write code that is easier to maintain, and exploit the flexibility of JavaScript to its fullest extent.

    For each pattern discussed they provide background information on the problem to be resolved, example coding, and when to use it. I appreciated this detail in helping me to fully understand not only when a pattern could be used to benefit a project but also when it might not be the most appropriate way. While JavaScript has always been known for its flexibility these authors show how a creative person can exploit the language's flexibility.. The patterns themselves represent pretty common ones in other languages but the way they were implemented in JavaScript was enlightening.

    This is an excellent guide and reference for high-level JavaScript programming on large projects maintained by multiple programmers. Pro JavaScript Design Patterns is highly recommended for experienced object oriented programmers who want to add this to their knowledge base.


  5. it's a great book to learn more.....it's missing practical examples for real life.....lot of theory. If you don't know Object Oriented Principles, it will be (very) hard(er). (ActionScript 3.0 book can help, or Java book ).

    It's not begginer book........It's great for large projects, applications.
    This is great for frontend engineers and software engineers.
    I would recommend JavaScripts Good Parts in addition to this, it could help with coding standards....

    Unfortunatelly, there is no single Javascript book.

    Many of them are old and lousy......

    As UI/Front End Developer, it's nice to have a book like this. it's very helpfull for sure.

    What's missing, HOW TO - the connection to real Javascript frameworks, like YUI, JQuerry, Mootools, Prototype, Dojo, etc, etc, etc.



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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by David Flanagan. By O'Reilly Media, Inc.. The regular list price is $44.95. Sells new for $25.54. There are some available for $19.43.
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5 comments about Java In A Nutshell, 5th Edition.
  1. The book is by far the most comprehensive, plain english manual for java that exists. Great book, but anyone who see's it laughs at the title. I think it must be an intentional joke. With 1225 pages and weighing in at a hefty 1.5kg (3.3lb) it's by no means a nutshell. It's more like a bombshell. If it were ever to be divided into 3 books, I would buy it again, just so that using it wouldn't be so cumbersome.


  2. This is a great book for those Java programmers who want a rapid reference. The only drawback of this book is its weigth: the large part of the book is made of a Java reference (very similar to the official JavaDoc) that in my opinion is not so helpful, as if I need the documentation for a specific class I can browse the official documentation online.
    Anyway, the first part of the book is well written and gives many examples that can help both new and experienced programmers to understand the main features of Java 5.


  3. I very much like this as a reference, but at this point I feel like most of the back 2/3 of the book is unnecessary bulk. The front portion, however, is excellent.


  4. I used to like this Nutshell book, but it seems to have grown a little too big for its bridges. Maybe it's not O'Reily's fault. Maybe it has more to do with Java growing so much. But earlier versions were quick and to the point. This is now overly verbose.

    This is no longer a sleek Nutshell. Its a back-breaking bomb shelter with 10ft thick walls.


  5. I am a programmer, and in a programming language book, I expect to find syntactical diagrams of the language. Anyone can read those, we should not have to glean the diagram from the wordy explanation. It's fine to have all the verbiage, but head each section with the syntax diagram.
    Also, this book goes into lengthy explanations of what object oriented programming is NOT, as on page 104. This is a very bad practice in teaching. Only teach what is correct, not what some novice might ignorantly think. I have gotten better fundamentals in Java free on the w3c site.


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Craig Riecke and Rawld Gill and Alex Russell. By Pragmatic Bookshelf. The regular list price is $38.95. Sells new for $18.95. There are some available for $38.95.
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No comments about Mastering Dojo: JavaScript and Ajax Tools for Great Web Experiences (Pragmatic Programmers).



Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by James Elliott and Tim O'Brien and Ryan Fowler. By O'Reilly Media, Inc.. The regular list price is $39.99. Sells new for $19.50. There are some available for $19.50.
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4 comments about Harnessing Hibernate.
  1. I just got this book in the mail last week, as it was just recently released. From reaing it, I can tell you that it carries on the tradition of high quality editing and content that we expect from O'Riely books.

    There has been a real lack of good, up to date, READABLE books about Hibernate on the market. You only have to scan amazon to see some of the horrible reviews many books have received. But this book is excellent, and I can assure you that many five star reviews will follow this one.


  2. Harnessing Hibernate is a fine book, which uses the most efficient ways to achieve its goal. Though focusing on Hibernate, the book enlists the usage of various frameworks such as Spring Framework, Stripes and Maven.


    Part I: Hibernate in a hurry: The core

    Build:
    The book starts with how you should build which used to be a dread. The authors choose to use Ant - Maven task, which is cool. I use Maven directly, but that's beside the point. Both approaches are better than finding the JARs on the web.

    Database:
    HSQLDB is what the book recommends and for some reason it makes sense . It really is the best way to go. I am not suggesting to format your Oracle DB server and install HSQLDB; but I am suggesting you stay focused and worry about the big DB later; the book goes back to a larger DB; so don't worry too much right now.

    The Project Hierarchy:
    This one, I must admit, I do not care for; I think Maven directory structure is better and one should not have to create this manually, but that's probably personal. This is later reviewed in Chapter 12: Maven in More Depth.

    Core hibernate:
    The book doesn't mess around too much. It explains how to configure hibernate and before long you find your hands in hibernate mapping. From chapter 2 through chapter 9 you'll find yourself in the core of Hibernate: mapping, hibernate configuration, persistent objects (creating and finding), collections and associations, richer associations, custom value types, annotations, criteria queries and a look at HQL.

    Part II: Playing nice with others: beyond the core

    MySQL - a nice short intro to MySQL is shown.

    Hibernate and Eclipse - yes, this is in here too (and up to date Eclipse v3.3). And just in time for you to get ready for a later chapter, Spring and Hibernate, which is the way J2EE is going anyway (lightweight).

    Maven in more depth - Maven does not have many books out there and this is a very nice in depth explanation. If you think you've gotten short changed, take a look at Java Power Tools (you'll love that book too). The chapter is enough to get you moving with Maven, and if your Maven experience is anything like mine, you'll never go back to Ant.

    Hibernate and Spring - this book could not have gotten any better than this. Spring, is like a dream. Rod Johnson, Colin Sampaleanu and team have done it well. Unlike the other monolithic approach, Spring takes advantage of already existing frameworks and offers this invisible layer to allow you to focus on what's important; your business code... and, of course, the book delivers. It shows you how Spring simplifies Hibernate development. If you're new to layered development a la separation of concerns (SoC) the book first introduces you to the DAO pattern. It then continues with the reason so many of us like the Spring framework: HibernateDAOSupport and the HibernateTemplate. Although I prefer to use the HibernateTemplate directly and avoid loosing my one chance at inheritance, I agree with the book examples. The authors are tying to help you understand what kind of support Spring offers.

    Stripes with Spring and Hibernate - Now, the book could just end here and be done with it, but no, it continues with the web app. I mean, wow. The book ends with style. It uses Tomcat - and I think it does it to prove a point. You don't need a fancy big server to get J2EE running these days. Stripes is a cool project to work with and I thank the authors for introducing me to a framework I was clueless about.

    This book is truly amazing. If you're looking for an in-depth approach to Hibernate take a look at Java Persistence with Hibernate. If, however, you're an impatient developer this is the book for you. I think it offers just enough in-depth theory and it keeps you awake with frequent easy to understand code.

    James Elliott, Timothy M. O'Brien and Ryan Fowler; I thank you all for writing this book.

    /.Will


  3. While I was at work one day, I decided to write the persistence layer of an application that my team was working on. I had minimal experience with Hibernate because I had worked on another project where a coworker implemented the persistence layer and used Hibernate. I got to see a bit of the magic that Hibernate provides, and I thought it would be excellent for my current project. My problem was that I did not really know how to set everything up.

    I searched on Amazon for books about Hibernate, and I wanted to make sure I bought one that was fairly current so that I could see how to use it with the latest technologies. I came upon Harnessing Hibernate which is only a few months old. Even though there were only two reviews, after reading them, I decided to take a chance on this book. Wow, these reviewers were exactly right!

    The authors take you through a music cataloging project. Their progression through the concepts is nothing short of amazing. They seem to give the perfect amount of detail and explanation at each step, and then you begin to form questions in your mind. They seem to anticipate them, because these questions always seem to be answered in the next section.

    I should inform you that I often dislike reading books on computer technologies. I find that most authors tend to make the books as dry as possible, going on and on, ad nauseam, about every detail and idiosyncrasy of the topic. The authors of Harnessing Hibernate, however, make the book completely enjoyable to read. Their style is conversational, and they do not try to talk over anyone's head. They give you plenty of useful information that you can use immediately, and inform you of other sources to investigate if you want more information on a particular aspect of the material.

    Anyway, if you want to learn Hibernate in a clear and concise manner, then you will not be disappointed if you buy this book. It will keep you reading, and you won't fall asleep while doing so. And hey, you'll understand all of the material and you will even learn a lot about Hibernate! I do not give complements lightly, but this is indeed a perfect book.


  4. 'Harnessing Hibernate' is a great resource for learning more about and how to use the Hibernate technology to map Java code to relational databases and vice versa. In today's programming world you want to be able to create object that directly map to database tables and fields. Not only does this allow for persistence and good scalability, it hides the SQL stuff that can otherwise make for difficult programming and puts them into familiar classes instead. Before this book there really wasn't great resources out on the market for learning about this technology but that is no longer the case. With 350+ pages spread over 14 chapters, good writing and separation of content this is a must have for all seasoned Java database and Hibernate developers.

    ***** RECOMMENDED


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by John Resig. By Apress. The regular list price is $44.99. Sells new for $24.32. There are some available for $25.00.
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5 comments about Pro JavaScript Techniques (Pro).
  1. If you are an intermediate javascript developer, and you want to know what to learn next in the javascript language this book is for you. Inside you will find concise information about several obscure javascript elements which will make your coding more effective once you master them.


  2. Book has lots of examples. Many involve using libraries such as Prototype and JQuery. But, if you are not already familiar with using those libraries, the examples will not make much sense. And considering the typos in the straight JavaScript examples, it left me wondering about the validity of the library demos. Written in the style of a blogger where the author expects you to follow a link to a library's web page and then come back before you can understand the example. If I'm paying for a book to cuddle up with to read on a winter's night, I want it to be self contained - and not expect me to reach for the laptop to read up on the syntax of another library. It also didn't even touch upon one of the more difficult to grasp "Pro" techniques - scoping of "this" when using object methods during AJAX callbacks in the author's own code examples or the various libraries he touts.


  3. This was an excellent book two years ago, (and still is), but it's now outdated. I bought it based on its nearly five-star rating; I wish I'd done my homework, since I immediately needed to buy other books to supplement this one.


  4. Pro JavaScript Techniques by John Resig is probably the best resource on the language I've encountered to date. I'm one of those web developers who has had something of a mental block when it comes to JavaScript. Despite its ubiquity, it always seemed like a toy language to me. It didn't help that JavaScript's syntax plays a bit fast and loose to my tastes, and that virtually all of the other resources on the language I've encountered barely scratched the surface on what the language can actually do. If you're like me - familiar with the basics, but knowing that you're not proficient enough to use it in a professional setting - then this book is for you.

    First, the bad news. Like all aPress books I've encountered, this one suffers from a few small, but glaring, editing errors. Small things - variable names that change between examples for no good reason, in-text refrences to things the author didn't mention (no doubt something missed between drafts), that sort of thing - crop up. It's not enough to break the book, but it is annoying.

    Also, the first section of the book moves at break-neck speed. While some of it is review, for those of us who have been toiling in web tutorials and older books, a few re-reads are necessary to truly understand what's going on. Thankfully, Resig addresses things in a logical manner, so each topic flows nicely into the next, making returning to those parts as painless as possible.

    Finally, in the chapter where he discusses public, private, and privledged object properties and methods, he completely glosses over how private properties and methods function. Instead, he merely tells the user to visit Douglas Crockford's site on the matter. It's a bit of a cop-out, and I figure that since I'm spending ~$30 on the book, the least he can do is briefly condence Crockford's ideas.

    All that said, though, the positives outweigh the negatives by far.

    Despite the quick pacing of the book, the information (ignoring editing inconsistencies) is delivered in a straightforward manner. Resig addresses most, if not all, of those little things which are important in the real world (testing/debugging, how to work with libraries, how to ensure your code doesn't interfere with someone else's code, etc), but are often ignored in other resources.

    In particular, the early chapters (chapters 2 and 3) on dealing with JavaScript objects are well done. While Resig doesn't go into all of the details (most notably with the link to Crockford's site I mentioned earlier), these chapters form the foundation of just about everything you'd want to do with the language. Indeed, these chapters address most of the pitfalls that create those pesky JavaScript errors we've all dealt with before: scope, closures, and context. Understanding how those three concepts work in unison is fundamental towards understanding modern, professional JavaScript as a whole.

    Being a JavaScript book, this particular volume visits topics we're most likely all familiar with: DOM scripting, event handling, and even a bit of AJAX. Thanfully, Resig stays true to his mission of creating inobtrusive JavaScript, and keeps his HTML separated from the scripting code. This is a far cry from other self-proclaimed professional tomes that embed their JavaScript function calls within their HTML tags.

    To conclude (and reiterate), Pro JavaScript Techniques is the perfect book for those developers caught in the middle. It's a resource aimed at those of us who have had experience with the language, but have never been pointed in the right direction to use it in a professional manner. Despite its annoying flaws, this book fills the rather large gap between beginner's JavaScripting and creating robust AJAX applications. It's worth owning if you ever want to do serious work with the language.


  5. John Resig never fails to amaze and his latest book is no exception. I highly recommend it to everyone interested in javascript; it is a must have.


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Posted in Java (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)

Written by Terracotta, Inc. . By Apress. The regular list price is $44.99. Sells new for $28.15. There are some available for $48.53.
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1 comments about The Definitive Guide to Terracotta: Cluster the JVM for Spring, Hibernate and POJO Scalability (The Definitive Guide).
  1. A must have book to buy to understanding Terracotta Best Practices,I personally was an early adopter and has had much success, Terracotta has proven over the years to help ease the development of HA systems, that scale from the start...this book has real world examples (not just Hello Worlds! Programs) ..to build and deploy systems backed by Terracotta for your enterprise.


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The Definitive Guide to Terracotta: Cluster the JVM for Spring, Hibernate and POJO Scalability (The Definitive Guide)

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Last updated: Wed Jul 9 03:49:08 EDT 2008