No comments about Beginning Database-Driven Application Development in Java EE: Using GlassFish (From Novice to Professional).

5 comments about Java(TM) Platform Performance: Strategies and Tactics (Java Series).

1. Well-written, very technical, and without the useless filler that you see so often in computer books.



2. It's a shame that Sun fellows can only come with so little material about Java performance.
   Even JavaWorld articles contain more information about the subject. For example, when
   talking about optimizing the serialization process all authors can offer is to set more
   fields to be transient. Is that all you can think of ? How about custom writeObject, folks ?
   When discussing data structures and algorithms all authors can say is "choose accordingly,
   it depends". Oh, thank you, I didn't know that ..

   Well, it seems to be that this books was written in a couple of days without any serious
   research. Too poor and shallow. All I got from this book is a couple of facts
   regarding GC, HotSpot and some other things I didn't know before. And first chapters described
   the general tuning strategy pretty well, actually. But that's it. Shame on you, folks.
   Just read "Java Performance Tuning" by Jack Shirazi if you have nothing to say.
   Or at least make some Web-reserach before publishing a book.




3. I would definitely reccomend this book to someone who is not at all familiar with performance tactics in Java, but this book does not adds much to the much known tactics/tips/tricks used in everyday programming or found on web.

   Since this book was from Sun Press I definitely expected more from this book considering the depth provided by other books from them. But this book embarrased me by reiterating the tricks already known and introducing the esoteric concept of benchmarking and not providing much details with it.

   Being a java developer since last 5 years, I didn't learn anything new from this book except the concept of benchmarking which this book brushes lightly without really explaining it well.
   Sincere advice: Don't spend your money on this one.




4. Although this is a nice-to-have book (for bookworms like us which isn't after all?), I wouldn't really recommend it as the book to buy for Java performance any more, other than for people that are doing Swing, for whom it would indeed be greatly beneficial. Jack Shirazi's "Java Performance Tuning" is becoming the de facto standard Java performance book, and a second edition of it has come out, which is pretty up-to-date. On the other hand, Wilson's book is starting to show its age.
   

   Wilson (the main author) has worked on Sun's Swing team and then on the performance team in the late 90's and that is where he draws his experience from. This book is not geared toward people that do server-side Java (which I believe to be the great majority).




5. OK, so my initial impression of this book was similar to many others. It seemed thin and only provided a shallow treatment of the topic. After reading it I put it back on the shelf.
   
   Having said that, the couple of times I have hit a brick wall with performance problems that I couldn't solve with my own experience and skill, I have reached for this book and found an immediate and effective solution. You can't ask for more than that.
   
   If you are rewriting the Quake engine in Java, you will definitely need a book that covers the subject in more depth. If you are like me and only have the occasional need for performance tuning,this book may be all you need.

5 comments about Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP).

1. I started a new job 9 months ago, the assignment was to write several large scale web applications in JSP. I am an older female with a new computer science degree in a world of 20 something peers. They refused to give me ANY tips about JSP configuration or Tomcat...heck, they even put a few obsticles in my way in hopes of watching me fail. I HAD java experience, I Had perl experience I HAD HTML web develoment experience and I had a strong desire to suceed. I hit amazon and purchased a few books one of which was this one.

   9 months later my applications are center stage and receiving RAVE review and this book played a huge part in that success. No, it doesn't take you by the hand if you're not already fluent in programming of some sort, but if you already know how to build websites and program in java, this book is a great tool. It doesn't force you to use some preconceived bean idea to build a cookie cutter application, it just gives pertinent examples and comprehensive explination of the most important and frequently used parts of JSP programming.

   The index could be better, but over all it's a great book for new JSP programmers!!




2. the first edition of this book is available as a free download from http://pdf.coreservlets.com/. I have not read this book but heard it is good. I gave it 3 stars since it is an older version



3. I've found this book great for getting a quick grasp of JSP and Java Servlets. While I had a little bugger of a time setting the development environment setup, I was breezing through using this book. I'd highly recommend it for beginner to intermediate programmers. I used a coupon from UnderTag.com, so it was almost free for me too.



4. overall good ref book.. but is not real interesting to read!!!



5. muy basico pero claro en los conceptos y los ejemplos, una buena herramienta para empezar con la tecnología en ese momento

5 comments about AspectJ in Action: Practical Aspect-Oriented Programming.

1. I have got this book at local Austin Java User Group meeting. First impression: different cover. Most of Manning books are either greenish or almost black-and-white. This one is yellow.

   Part 1 provides really good introduction into AOP. This is the first book I have read on AOP; all stuff I have seen before was online or magazine articles. One interesting fact is that this book took a while to consume, compared to the usual two-week cycle I have for technical books. I guess the reason is that the book has more substance than most of the techincal books and Mannigs does not try to pad their books with API references and other stuff that can be easily found online. After the chapter goes through AOP concepts, it explains AspectJ in application to those concepts. Basic syntax as well as some advanced techniques are explained.

   Part 2 has examples of basic applications of AspectJ. Of course it starts with the mandatory logging implemented using AOP. Not a very good example in general, since logging is not really a cross-cutting concern, but works for illustration purposes. Other two application areas discussed in this part are implementation policy enforcement and optimization (pooling and caching examples). Policy enorcement part is really interesting, especially if you are into call patterns.

   In general, every part follows the same pattern: first the author discusses the conventional approach, then explains challenges of the conventional solution, provides AspectJ-based solution, and gives one or two examples. Very clean language, easy to follow.

   Part 3 discusses advanced applications of AspectJ. First it delves into design patterns and idioms of AOP; it's not by any means AspectJ-specific, so would be useful for any AOP implementation. Examples of patterns are providing thread-safe implementations using AspectJ, implementing security (very interesting discussion on JAAS), transaction management, and implementing business rules using AspectJ. The part ends with AspectJ usage in different development phases.

   Two appendices: description of AspectJ compiler and Ant integration - only 15 pages for both. Useful as a reference.

   Overall impression: an excellent book. Definitely worth reading, even if you are not into AOP yet.




2. I met the author of this book this weekend, and saw him give a presentation on this material. Finally, a book that shows real uses for AOP.
   I have been watching AspectJ since I first saw it about a year ago. My first impression was that it was 'cool', but was worried about giving developers more rope with which to hang themselves. Yes, it was cool, but the most practical examples you would see in demos were thing like 'logging'. I was worried that it would just lead more more ways for junior engineers to 'convolute the code', without bringing much benefit for that risk.
   The material in this book, ALONG WITH the support the author had from the Eclipse IDE changed my mind. Finally, there were some real examples involving transaction support, JAAS, exception handling, and more. Furthermore, he addressed these topics in the real-world sense of refactoring existing code to prove his points.
   If you aren't using an IDE that gives you some support, then I still have my concerns about 'convoluting' your code; but I am more convinced than ever that AOP concepts are worth putting into my mental toolkit. I have no doubt that the way aspects 'inject' behavior into code will reduce our development time, and make our code behave more consistently (no errors because of inconsistencies in the way common things are handled). If you can add one more ball to the things you 'mentally juggle' while developing, add AOP concepts. This book will help.



3. AspectJ In Action is a great book to use as an introduction to Aspect-oriented Programming. However, AOP is not for developers to whom Java and OO are still new. Without a comfortable understanding of classes, polymorphism, and encapsulation AOP will only further confuse things.
   
   With that said, AspectJ In Action is a wonderful book filled with plenty of examples and explanations about the well-lit areas of AOP as well as many of the dark corners. I enjoyed reading this book because it starts out with the fundamentals and works its way to more and more complex uses of AOP without getting bogged down in language tangents. Also, the direct application of AOP in real Java design areas is very helpful in getting a better feel for when and how AOP can be applied.
   
   I am looking forward to Ramnivas Laddad's next book!



4. I loved this book, first of all the introduction is the most interesting presentation of AOP that I ever read.
   
   The other chapters are very good too since based on use-cases very easy to reproduce on projects...
   
   A book to have is you want to learn abour AOP (even if not interested by AspectJ per se...)



5. This book is an excellent resource for learning AspectJ. It is perfectly organized to take you from beginner, novice, to expert as you move through each of the chapters, just as you might expect if you were taking a class in AspectJ.
   
   The author's presentation of the material is straightforward and easy to follow, and his examples are not too involved that you lose track of what's going on. Furthermore, the author has an excellent grasp of the language and is really able to show off the power AspectJ has to offer.
   
   What I really appreciate about the book is that he focuses not just on coding, but also on design; I'm a software engineer and am very pleased that the author discusses an aspect as something to be used elegantly, as part of a well-designed system, rather than just another tool that can be abused. He even discusses several new design patterns that AspectJ makes possible.
   
   I truly recommend this book!

No comments about Introduction to Java Programming Core Vision (5th Edition).

1 comments about Introduction To Computer Science Using Java, Student Edition.

1. This overpriced book teaches java at a high school level. Or rather, it teaching computer programming, using java as the language of instruction. A good choice, given java's popularity. In a related way, if you get fluent enough in java, it helps in finding programming jobs.
   
   The book explains what object oriented programming is. Java is written as a fully OO language, unlike C++, so this helps. Of course, the book covers aspects of java that are also true in non-OO languages like C or Fortran, like if-else and for loops.
   
   Graphical programs are also shown to be easy to write. Which also involves changing the mindset to a user-driven view, which is inherent in such programs.
   
   Now if only the book was cheaper.

5 comments about JAVA 2 Network Security (2nd Edition).

1. Supplied essential Java security and cryptography information. Introduced how and where the potential attack may happen and several techniques to avoid attack. Detailed information how to use Java signing tools (for Netscape Signing Object and Microsoft Authenticate Code)and security APIs.

   However, from the developer's point of view, some very important topics such as Public/Hybreed Encryption, SSL, EJB, Servlet topics are way too light. Almost no touch on CORBA and RMI. Some of the contents can be obtained directly from SUN's site and most of the examples in the book are not ture client/server, and also borrowed from SUN's tutorial.

   The Author may not target the audience as developers but the architects of network security. However he spends a lot of chapters to explain the security features (i.e class loader, file verifier and security manager) coming with Java programming language and how to customize/modify them. Anyways, as a developer, I am disappointed with the examples given (no innovation from the author but basic copies from SUN and very trivial).

   Since I am new to Java programming language let alone security issues, and there is very limited resources available both on the book market and net, I still obtained valuable information from the book, I gave it four stars. For real world security developer guru, the book only introduced basic java network security and cryptography APIs.




2. This book suffers from horrible editing. The book starts by repeating itself with the same information on class loaders and verifiers, then continues on to repeat itself on javakey and jarsigner. They actually appear to have copied the text from one chapter to another.

   Later, the book has a 26 page description on servlets and their uses. Only six pages are used to describe the security model for servlets, which, by the way, is the same model that all java programs run under, and is described in several other chapters.

   After continously repeating itself, the book finally settles down into insulting your intelligence. They actually tell you what to type in to compile and run each example. The book actually says "We compile this code using the java compiler: javac Count.java". I may be wrong, but I think people reading an advanced java book know how to compile and run programs.

   There is even one example where they give you a screenshot of a program's output, then give a written description of the program's output.

   There is still some good information in this book, but the bad editing makes it hard get.




3. This is the greatest computer book I have ever read.

   The first three chapters of the book are an introduction to Java security, and they are very helpful to people who are new to Java security, just like me. The same concepts are covered later in the book in greater detail, so it may appear that there are some repetitions, but in reality the author informs you many times that if you are an expert, you should probably go directly to Chapter 4, and read the advanced topics.

   In fact, this is an advanced book. Nevertheless, you will not get lost even if you are a beginner. The author covers advanced topics with a very simple approach and even tells you how to perform the simplest operations. While this can be sometimes boring if you already know Java programming, I guess that basic information is always useful, especially if readers are not very familiar with the topic.

   In this book you will find the architecture of Java security as well as advanced topics such as cryptography, SSL, Java and firewalls, Netscape and IE Java security, Java plug-in, and many other things. There are many examples and screen captures that help a lot. The final result is that, after reading this book, you will feel like a Java security expert.

   There are some imperfections, but overall, this is a great book. If you are interested in Java security, buy this book. You satisfaction is guaranteed.




4. there are few books, which really explain deeply the security with all its issues. With the examples in this book, you can understand quickly how the SecurityManager and JVM work, how to write security policies. Cryptography, Firewalls, SSL and Java Plug-In are very good covered, too.



5. It is a very detailed one! Well explained, could be a practical guide. A lot of imporvement on the first version. A drawback is that some parts are repeated a few times.

1 comments about Grade Aid Workbook with Practice Tests for Lifespan Development.

1. This book wasn't assigned for the class in Developmental Psychology I'm taking. I just kind of stumbled on it. At $20 it's well worth the price.
   
   You can't buy this workbook and not buy the main textbook. You need the primary textbook to help you complete this book. The Grade Aid helps you focus on the chapter objectives, reiterating the major points. It also contains practice tests, major term crossword puzzles and related materials.
   
   I purchased this book a week before my first exam, used it to help focus my study and I earned the highest grade in the class on that exam. Some of the questions from the workbook also show up in the question testbank Pearson lets instructors use, which show up on the exams. So you might just see the questions again.
   
   A word of caution: Just "owning" this book won't help you; you actually have to read it, fill in the blanks and take the tests. Education by "osmosis" doesn't work. But if you put in the extra time on the book, you'll get the help you seek.

5 comments about Java 6 Platform Revealed.

1. I'm usually pleased with apress titles, and if asked to pick books on a subject "sight unseen" would go with them because of that. This book is an exception, and I'm going to return it. It's a completely trivial cover of the material and so shallow that it's no better than available online stuff. And to price this lightweight a book at $40 is ridiculous.



2. O'Reilly has a a "Developer's Notebook" series that I love. This book is very similar however, the writing style, examples, and editing is much cleaner. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a book that describes the new features and changes to the Java language version 6. The author writes in a why that I was able to read the book cover/cover without falling asleep.
   
   I learned a lot about he new version, what libraries to look for changes, and how major the changes are.
   
   My plan is to look for other titles by John Zukowski.



3. This great, little overview of a handful of the Java 6 features is a quick, easy read with some concrete examples. Definitely written for the mid-to-advanced audience out there, this should provide you with some core concepts and information about what's included in Mustang without going into painful detail.
   
   What makes this Apress fall short of a 5 is the author's pick-and-choose nature of "in-depth" coverage. You can tell which topics the author likes to cover and which ones he just doesn't get into. It shows his core strengths and competencies, but it would have been nice to possibly have a co-author to cover some of the things he skimmed over and also some additional material.
   
   Worth $40? I'm not sure. But I am happy that I got it. Being able to step away from the computer to study a little was valuable, and this book was a wonderful addition to my reading material.



4. You'll love this book if you are already a pro up through the current Java release and don't want to - once again - wade through Gary Cornell's excellent but complete treatise on the Java language just to figure out what is new to the language in Java 6. You'll hate this book if you want to learn Java for the first time, starting with Java 6, and decide to start with this book. Zukowski assumes you know the current state of all of the APIs he is talking about and just want to know what is new. He does an excellent job explaining what has changed and shores up his explanations with non-trivial examples. I highly recommend it to current Java programmers. If you are not already a Java programmer, wait for Horstmann and Cornell's "Core Java, Volume I-Fundamentals (8th Edition)" to be released in September and learn Java 6 and Java programming the right way and from scratch.



5. The title of this review pretty much says it all. Not a good book, though I suppose necessary at the time. I was really hoping for a follow up from O'Reilly to their excellent "Java 1.5 Tiger - A Developer's Notebook". As the man said "I just need the facts ..."

5 comments about Programming Wireless Devices with the Java(TM)2 Platform, Micro Edition (2nd Edition) (Java Series).

1. The market for small devices (cellphones, PDAs, watches,...) with computational ability, but much less so than a standard PC or laptop is potentially vast. No one disputes this. Its allure is enhanced by there being no overly dominant player hoovering up over 50% of the profits, like Microsoft and Intel collectively in PCs.

   Logically, Sun sees growth here and this book is part of its frenetic rollout. It differs from the first edition because of significant upgrades to the 2 standards its describes. The Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) went from version 1 in 1999 to 1.1 in 2002. It added more features that the book describes in detail. Basically, they give a richer compatibility with standard java (J2SE). The other standard, Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) went from version 1 to 2 in 2002. To developers the key additions were APIs for sound and games. In retrospect, MIDP 1 was indeed primitive, to lack these.

   Commercially, the MIDP 2 changes in the book may be more important than the CLDC changes. It means that you can now develop games and other applications using sound, at a high enough level of abstraction that they can be run on a broader range of hardware. Well at least that is the idea. I have not done so. But the book's explanation seems logical and thorough enough to make this plausible. Undoubtedly, if you and others follow this path, gaps or insufficiencies will be found, leading to the next increments of the standards.

   If you are still clutching the first edition of this book, or any other book that only covers CLDC 1 or MIDP 1, then drop it. Obsolete. Upgrade here.




2. So I have been programming with J2ME and DOJA for a while on various Japanese Cellphones. The Japanese cellphones that do support the full MIDP/CLDC combination do not yet support the MIDP 2.0 that this book is covering, but I thought it would be a good idea to check out what I might be able to use when they do, and also try and clear up my own confusion about what precisely the CLDC and MIDP actually are.

   Having read the book I think I have a better idea of the distinction between CLDC and MIDP, but still don't feel wonderfully sure. The impression I come away with is that the CLDC is about ensuring a basic level of functionality and the MIDP describes a wider range of functionality such as GUIs and Advanced communications features. This would make sense then if the Japanese Docomo Java framework was CLDC and AU/Vodaphone framework was both CLDC and MIDP.

   The book itself was reasonably informative as to the new MIDP 2.0 features, and I was interested to see some good code samples for things like the MIDP Game and Multimedia API - however the code samples don't yet appear available for download. I hope they'll be up soon so I can check them out.

   Overall I found the book a little difficult to read - it is kind of more of a reference book - I would imagine myself dipping into it to get things I need, rather than reading through it to get an understanding of J2ME. In some ways the book would almost be better as a more condensed reference work. There are a number of good wireless programming tips such as making all communications run in a separate thread to improve user experience, but these are a little thin on the ground and the book is dominated by working through each detail of each of the APIs. I think is an important book to have if you are working against the MIDP2.0 specification, but I don't think I 'd recommend it to a beginner trying to learn J2ME.

   I would imagine that successive iterations of this book will lead to major improvements, such as breaking the book into a Reference work, and a J2ME programming tips guide. I think another couple of years of explosive growth in J2ME wireless devices and programmers will make the latter work possible.




3. This is NOT the book to learn how to programming in J2ME! You need a great imagination to learn the content of this book, if you have never experienced J2ME before, beacause it contains little code example. In spite of this, the book contains only 7 compileable code example, all others are code segments -- that is you need to do a lot of tedious coding your self to get it running.
   
   This book should more likely be used as a reference manual by experienced J2ME programmer. The structure of this book is clear, so it is easy to retrieve information. But the authors of this book seems have a tendency to fill pages, as they use "Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition" and "Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition" (and other similar) instead of "J2SE" and "J2ME" through out the book, as if readers can't remember an acronym!
   
   If you are looking for a book for learning "how to program with J2ME" you should not choose this one. [...]



4. In short, this an excellent J2ME reference book, but not very good for average programmers. You will be disappointed if you are looking for a run-of-the-mill programmer's recipe book. This is not a software development oriented book.
   
   Look for it only if you need accurate J2ME reference or if you are intested in an overview which goes into detail for implementation aspects, that is, if you need to understand the
   underlying support of CLDC/MIDP by a device. This means the average programmer will be disappointed but a software architect will find it quite useful. Make sure you buy the 2nd edition.
   
   The book is written by people who are actually involved in drafting the J2ME specifications.
   The text closely follows the CLDC and MIDP 2.0 specifications in every aspect. It can be defined as a summary of the MIDP and CLDC specifications.
   
   By the way other APIs such as CDC, WMA, File API, etc, are not covered by the book.



5. It is a realy good book for beginner. I like this book.