5 comments about Filthy Rich Clients: Developing Animated and Graphical Effects for Desktop Java Applications (The Java Series).

1. Libraries that cater to Java programmers will find an excellent guide in FILTHY RICH CLIENTS, which refers to rich applications that teach how to build better, more effective desktop applications that enhance user experiences. Graphical and animated effects are the focus here, with a bow to performance: chapters teach how to create, customize and translate special effects with Filthy Rich Clients and come from a client architect of a Java group at Sun Microsystems. Any advanced programming collection needs this.



2. This book is fantastic - so many tips and tricks that I was unaware of. I want more!! I hope a sequel is in the making!! Check it out!! You won't be disappointed!!



3. I want client-side java very much to succeed, especially now that it is open source, but the java.com site itself uses flash instead of applets, and the first author of this book no longer even works for Sun on java stuff - he now works on Adobe Flex:
   http://graphics-geek.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-hello-world.html



4. To push java's ui capabilities has in the past been a bit of a struggle due to the many ways of dealing with Swing, repaints, events, animation etc. This book is an absolute life saver in terms of presenting a unified best practice strategy for everything a ui developer would wish to do in java. It creates very simple applications with solid explanations of what the code is doing, from the low level to the high level. It is also written in a very personable style and the book moves easily and logically through the related material. I wish I had read this book 4 years ago.



5. I have also enjoyed this book very much. Many of these techniques, such as using of intermediate images, were known to me, but numerous details escaped my attention. For example, using of 'compatible images.' I had no idea that this notion exists. I also enjoyed the timing experiments with wait and disclosure of its granularity. Their description of Animators is probably the best and most comprehensive of everything what I saw so far, its a real value-add for me.
   
   I will not repeat the positive accolade summarized here by others, I have one very substantial objection, which is really well summarized in the title used by someone else's comment:
   
   "Practice what you preach."
   
   The book preaches performance, efficiency and style, and yet the authors implement some enormous convoluted scheme around their own code sniplets!
   
   Of course, interested in all the timings and performance of the examples, I wanted to run and watch them. And... I failed at first. I have spend, or wasted rather if you so want, a lot of time in an attempt to achieve this goal.
   
   This sounds so easy nowadays to provide Webstart Java, or merely to deliver some *.java or *.class files, separate or in a *.jar archive.
   
   Not so for Chet and Romain: Their own web page claims that you can download a plugin for Net-Beans and run the examples. Net Beans has proven to be a product, a specific development environment, with which you may or may not be familiar. I never used it and I cannot operate it. Nor am I interested in learning it, being perfectly happy with my own Java setup. But be it as it may, I installed it in the hope to run these demos. It flooded my disk with some 125Mbytes and thousands of files, the usual mayhem, but we have now Terabytes at home, don't we? I also downloaded the plugin, and started to click around to get anything running. Lost in unfamiliar windows and menus I found nothing, no way to start any demo.
   
   I must be getting old. My rusty PhD Dr.Evil brain is too stubborn to crack usage of NetBeans, I failed the IQ test. All right than, I give up. Lets download the source code, run javac and be happy. What can be so difficult, wouldn't you think Minime?
   
   Nope! The adventure has just begun!!
   
   Click on Chapter 2, Swing Rendering Fundamentals. You will get an archive frc-chapter2.zip, in which root directory is no Java code at all. I see merely two folders and two empty files with the same name. On a hunch, step down into the directory SwingRenderingFundamentals, only to find another set of folders and a set of empty files, each with the same name like one of the directories. On a hunch lets step down into HighlightedButton, where we find a bunch of alien looking files and 3 more directories, with you guessed it, 3 more empty files carrying the names of these directories.
   
   Among them is build.xml. XML eh? Hmm... what do I do with that? None of my systems can do anything with XML, this book is not about XML, I do not need to use XML, do I? It's a practitioners book about a specific aspect of Java. I would be happy to stay with "javac" and "java" only, please.
   
   On several places I see a directory called CVS, this may or may not be a name of some source code managing tool. For example, a CVS directory (accompanied again by an empty file with the same name) contains 3 files. Each seem to have some generated content, like this file called Entries: /HighlightedButton.java/1.1/Tue May 01 22:48:46 2007/-ko/
   Hm... It most probably serves a project tool of a sort. But how this relate to the book and to the task at hand?
   
   But one directory name is "src". Source, hurray, the treasury hunt might be close to an end! Indeed, this is how you can 'fish' for Java files, best done with a script of a sort to copy all java files into one single place. You will be fine, most of them do not has any package specification corresponding to the directory they were found in. Once you get these files filtered out, you will even find among them Java files containing mere 2-3 lines of code, accompanied by the monster 30-lines Sun copyright node. Vive la lawyers!
   
   Equally convoluted is the way to access these files on Java.net. In a hope for an easy one-click demo, boy I am a lazy spoiled individual, and not willing to give up just yet, I registered an account with Java.net and dived into filthyrichclients.dev.java.net, only to find the same convoluted way of keeping here and there a Java file among a forest of directories and sidecar files. Here however, I got finally educated that CVS is a repository system, and the web pages provide some comprehensive help in its use.
   
   Please do not take me wrong: I do not want dismiss usability of any tool, like NetBeans or CVS, but pardon me, I was happy with my setup. "If it isn't broken, do not fix it," I do not need to get hundreds of megabytes of some unrelated software in order to find a few demo lines of Java, do I?
   
   Authors of a book teaching practitioners in minimality of algorithmic and best application of a graphical API, claiming to provide code examples of merit, should be focussed strictly on the implementation of just such philosophy, and not on their tools. A use of a language like Java can be explained and demo'ed using strictly the Java compiler and its own Java Virtual Machine. Compare this convoluted delivery with other Sun Java tutorials and their one-click demos. I hope that the authors would use "find" of their vast repositories of files to make a tiny set of *.java files, maybe even of class files. That would be all what a reader would need.

5 comments about J2EE Web Services: XML SOAP WSDL UDDI WS-I JAX-RPC JAXR SAAJ JAXP.

1. just started reading it.easy to read ,has a good flow,clear explanation.i think it will be a good resource for my current web services project and if i take the certification exam too.



2. Perfect book for a beginer. The book starts from basics to leads complex points in a balanced manner.



3. I got everything i need in this book. This is very helpful for the sun exam also....in one word, this is the bible of webservice.



4. This book is not a book teaching you programming WS step by step. It is ideal for Enterprise and Soultion architecs, who need to familiarize with the technology stack under SOA and WS*. It is an encyclopedy, which covers these standards and technologies in a very intelligible way. It covers the concepts and principles, not coding details.



5. This is a useful book. In one project that I worked on I was a consumer of a web service and had to learn very quickly how to process a SOAP message. The chapter dealing with the SAAJ api was quite useful in this respect.
   I've skimmed through other chapters on a 'need to' basis and found them instructive also. If there's one criticism I'd say it's short on solid complete working examples. Other than that, I'd recommend it to anyone trying to understand the Web Service labyrinth.

5 comments about Pro EJB 3: Java Persistence API (Pro).

1. Anything that requires getting a bunch of jars on the server classpath was deemed unsuitable for automated deployments. I wonder how people manage automated deployments and configurations, especially in a multi-server clustered environment.



2. Pro EJB3 is a great book. Having been using it for over last 6 month on my recent project, I can definitely say that this book is invaluable.
   
   Have been worked on EJB 2.x for many years and on several projects with different application servers (Weblogic, JBoss, WebSphere), I understand the basics of EJB. So I want not only understand the basic how-to in EJB3 and JPA, but also want to understand the in depth explanations on transaction, persistence context and different behavior in the new system.
   
   The book explain all these topics very well. I had brought other book (hibernate in action with JPA pdf version), but found that book was too focused on hibernate (even I was a fan of the previous edition of hibernate in action book). This book is well focused on JPA,and I really likes JPA APIs.
   
   The book author is really nice and accessible. I have emailed Mike questions and he consistently replied promptly.
   
   This book worth the money !!!
   
   Chester



3. This is the best book out there that explains in detail how JPA works with some good examples. I found the book to be well structured and easy to read.
   
   I would recommend this book for anybody who is looking to work with JPA.



4. This book is a joy to read. Object relational mapping is explained in a very simple manner. What I like about this book is that it explains a certain concept and then immediately talk about the specific use-cases when that concept/design may not be the best choice. The authors then give excellent suggestions and alternatives.
   
   Very good reading material, simple examples used to explain complicated concepts. Writing style of the authors is also very engaging.
   
   A very good buy.



5. This books seems to achieve the goal it has in mind, that of providing the user with the information necessary to use the Java Persistence API. Unfortunately there are real problems in the execution of this book.
   
   A book like this should not only be full of examples, but it should be structured in such a way that it is easy for someone using the book to duplicate the examples on their own system. This book fails to do so.
   
   In chapter two we are promised a complete application using the new API by the end of the chapter. The source code is provided for the application discussed and it is a pretty good example of the API discussed up to that point. Unfortunately there isn't enough information for the reader to build and run the application on their own computer. There is no reason for this kind of omission this early in the book.
   
   The problems with the book continue as one moves on. I recognize that the target audience for this book includes only professional programmers of reasonable skill. I consider myself a very good Java programmer. That doesn't mean that I want to waste my time filling in gaps that should have been covered by a book I already spent my money on. It isn't any excuse for the omissions in this book.

No comments about Real-Time Java Platform Programming: Second Edition.

2 comments about Beginning JSP™, JSF™ and Tomcat Web Development: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional).

1. From what I have read so far, this book is really good. It starts with a good introduction then moves into a thorough explanation with a useable example.



2. Okay, I haven't touched JavaServer Pages in some time and this book got me back up to speed pretty quickly. Adding in JSF was easy, which I hadn't used before. It does start a little too basic for my needs and doesn't go quite as deep as I'd like, but overall will have you using JSP and JSF with MySQL within Tomcat pretty quickly. The title is Beginning JSP..., so not going as deep as I'd like is not the book's problem, but more now its time for me to go to the next level and probably look into one of the Pro books.
   
   One complaint with the book is the excessive appendices, almost half. Maybe it is just me, but I think eight pages to specify HTML characters and another 40 pages for an HTML reference seems excessive for the book's topic. With Beginning in the title, I was thinking more beginning JSP and JSF, not beginning HTML.

5 comments about Flexible Rails: Flex 3 on Rails 2.

1. The author goes into great detail on how to efficiently get Rails and Flex working together. The book is updated for the latest version of Rails as well as the upcoming Flex 3 release. I've found the book easy to follow along with and enjoy the author's humor spread throughout the book.
   
   As a developer I'm often tasked with making "things talk to each other". Typically if I can I'll use a tool like Flex Builder for a project and if I have a choice I'll pick Java, .NET or Ruby for the server back end - whatever is the best fit. This book only backed up my belief that Rails and Flex really do work very well together. I've learned a lot going through the code both on Rails and Flex.
   
   I also liked how the author is continually refactoring the application (called "Pomodo"), that is where your learning kicks into overdrive. He uses the Cairngorm framework and even RubyAMF. I didn't have any experience in either up until this point. Now I can say I do and it all fits together nicely.



2. I wasn't sure whether a mixed-technologies book would be adequate for both reading and reference, especially with two technologies. As both a software engineer and a moonlighting instructor this book was an easy read from the start. Mr. Armstrong explores both Flex 3 and Rails 2 with enough background information on both technologies to get a reader ready to code--and that was just Chapter...err...Iteration 1. The second iteration begins with coding (Hello World) and it doesn't stop. This is a must for your coding library and makes a great textbook for students who enrolled in courses geared toward building web and Rich Internet Applications.



3. This is a great book. Peter is the #1 expert in Flex + Rails.



4. I have used Flex for about a year and I have only dabbled in Ruby/Rails development. I have been curious how I might back a Flex front end with a simple service layer that isn't hard to create, maintain or host. So far I have only worked with Java/Spring/Hibernate backend services which can take a little while to build and integrate (Grails is MUCH faster).
   
   After about 100 pages I'm in interation 4 building an interesting RIA with a Rails backend that I can host on relatively inexpensive server if I wanted to. My only struggles thus far was getting MySQL going properly. But that was only because I forgot a step in installing it.
   
   If you have little exposure to Rails and/or Flex and you feel at home on the command line as well as you do in an IDE like Eclipse, this is a great "project" book for you. I'd say you probably want a primer in Ruby, Rails and Flex before you get going but it is pretty easy follow and has a lot of free professional advice from someone that has obviously been around the block a few times. Peter is very upfront about some things that he has done in the book that should not be considered "best practice".
   
   I am hoping to get some good insight how I might do something similar for Flex and Grails. Regardless, I am confident this is going to be a fun journey!



5. I found it best technical book till date but you should know Flex & Ruby before you can jump into this..

5 comments about Simply JavaScript.

1. Any computer library or general-interest collection strong in Javascript needs SIMPLY JAVASCRIPT: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO LEARN JAVASCRIPT FROM SCRATCH. Color examples accompany a step-by-step introduction to Java programming which teaches how to use JavaScript to solve real-world problems, track user events, and even design animations. From using Jax and the DOM to blending Java into an existing website, SIMPLY JAVASCRIPT is packed with plenty of easy details perfect for newcomers.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. I've been exposed to very little JavaScript, so I was very happy to get a review copy of this sent to me. First off, I'm a big fan of SitePoint's other books, and secondly I was looking forward to a book which would hopefully give me some good ground-up fundamentals. I'm not completely through the book yet, but I'm very impressed with it so far.
   
   The book starts out with some good software design tenets by emphasizing the need to keep content, style, and behavior separated out, then moves into some very basic steps for programming in JavaScript. The programming intro chapter starts out completely for beginners by laying out what variables are, what conditions and loops are, etc. Later chapters hit the DOM, JavaScript libraries, events, debugging, Ajax, and a few other topics.
   
   The authors do a very good job of laying out their topics, and I enjoyed their clear, enjoyable writing style. I think they do a pretty good job of discussing good development, and they're all over things like browser compatibility issues and other "Gotcha!" type issues. They've got a nice set of sidebars for tricks and tips as well as things to look out for.
   
   I also like that it's another SitePoint book with loads of color throughout. I'm not sure how SitePoint does it, but their continuing journey with all the color books is absolutely great to behold.
   
   On the downside, I'm not a fan of some of the example code I saw, which in several cases was more convoluted than good design would dictate (multiple nested for loops, return statements from other method calls being used as return values themselves, etc.). I also would have liked to see some discussion of testing via tools like Selenium or JsUnit.
   
   Overall I really like the book a lot. They talk standards, they talk cool tools like FireBug, they make some headway with good decisions about separation of code, content, and style.



3. I love the fact that the book is easy to read and understand, particularly for a newbie to Javascript.



4. The Sitepoint guys have great articles on their site and emails but I found this book very difficult to read. It didnt seem that the examples made sense, or flowed together to make sense.
   
   As Im pretty new to JS, adding that to my php work, I really had a difficult time understanding all the syntax - and that is made more difficult by now having clear, easy to follow examples.
   
   I cant and wont say that I wouldnt recommend this book because its not a bad book, I just feel that if you are as new to JS as I am, this might not be the best book to start with.



5. When i bought the book i had read from overviews of the book that all i needed to know was html/xhtml but so far, after 2 chapters, i havent been able to understand anything. i feel like im reading jiberish. im not sure and it maybe just my understanding but i have NO idea what its saying. try the book and maybe u may understand what its saying and whats going on. but if you do i would REALLY appreciate it if you can email me letting me know whats up with the book and if its really JUST my understanding. i was looking really forward to the book but unfortunatly it isnt as exciting as i was hopin it to be. :(

5 comments about Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer (Pragmatic Programmers).

1. Venkat does a fantastic job of explaining what Groovy is, how it evolved, why you would want to use it, and how to integrate it with your Java projects.
   
   He has a fantastic sense of humor, which really shows through in this book. If you ever get the opportunity to see him speak, take it. He's an incredibly intelligent, articulate programmer, and probably the most language-agnostic programmer I've ever met.
   
   One caveat: if you are a Java zealot, this book may send you into little fits. In the first section of the book, he converts standard Java code (groovyc can compile most Java code, so it's actually Groovy code that looks like Java) into Groovy. There are a lot of comments that may make Java zealots throw little fits.
   
   If you're stuck using Java, get this book.



2. Overall, a very good book on Groovy. Great simple examples to work from. I was very impressed with the chapter on Closures which can be a difficult subject for those coming from primarily a Java background. Wanna learn Groovy? Get this book. [...]



3. With 'Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer', Pragmatic has quickly become THE choice for Groovy and Rails resource books on the market. This book is another fine release in the Groovy set of books (Pragmatic has released a few previously) and I can easily recommend this if you program with Java + Groovy.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED



4. I can't add much more to Neal Ford's great comments but I just want to say that I also am truly enjoying Venkat's book. I have seen him and Neal in several NoFluffJustStuff conferences and this book honors that tradition. He does a great job at introducing language features without any unnecessary stuff.
   
   I started reading his beta copy in PDF from the Pragmatic Bookshelf and being relatively new to Groovy I now feel quite a bit more prepared to tackle problems that are difficult and a bit clunky with Java. I suddenly feel like I have a chance of doing some of that 'cool stuff' that the Python and Ruby dudes are always bragging about.
   
   Thanks Venkat!



5. Groovy - it's not the philosophy of the 1960s, it's a programming language, and a good one too. "Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer" is a thorough and educational guide to this programming language, which can bring developers many things they need and want to do in their programs. With tips on how to effectively mix both Java and Groovy, and with plenty of advanced programming techniques, "Programming Groovy: Dynamic Productivity for the Java Developer" is a top pick for community library computer collections and for any Java programmer.

5 comments about Java(TM) Programming Language, The (4th Edition) (The Java Series).

1. If you want to understand Java inside out, this is the book for you. It is equivalent of "The C++ programming language" by Stroustrup and the original "K&R" for Java.
   I would recommend you to read this book rather than the Java Specs unless you are writing a compiler.
   It will also give you an insight on the why's of language design which helps you understand it better and also appreciate it.



2. This book presents the basics of the Java programming language. Java is an object-oriented programming language, with a syntax inspired from the C and C++ programming languages [1, 2]. An important distinction must be made between the different parts of what is traditionally referred to as Java. Java is made of four parts: Java the programming language [3], Java the virtual machine [4], Java the standard set of libraries [5], and Java the specifications [6, 7]. This book is about the programming language.
   
   The Java language basics covered in this book include classes and objects, fields, constants, constructors, methods, parameters, variables, arrays, strings, character sets, comments, garbage collection and memory management, inheritance, access controls, method overloading, interfaces, exceptions, packages, object cloning, primitive data types and their wrapper objects, type conversion, literals, arithmetic and conditional operators, statements and blocks, multithreading, file and network input/output streams, collections, observables, date and time, randomization, string tokenization, system properties, system calls, security, mathematics, and Java-to-C/C++ mapping. Additions to the fourth edition include the new J2SE 5.0 features, including generics, enums, annotations, assertions, and regular expressions. With so many bacics and the latest features, this book establishes as a comprehensive coverage of the Java programming language essentials, as for the 5.0 version of the Java 2 Standard Edition platform.
   
   The authors of this book are also the co-founders of the Java language. Therefore, their authorship makes the book a de facto reference. Nevertheless, the discourse register hesitates between authoritative descriptions and the will to explain. The latter inclination of the register makes the content easier to understand, although the book cannot be considered as a tutorial. Simple examples illustrate the concepts presented, and a few exercises are progressively proposed with the reading. This unexpected combination of authority and pedagogy makes the book a valuable contribution to any computer scientist willing to learn the Java language from an authoritative reference. Beginners should however consider reading a dedicated tutorial book [8].
   
   [1] L. H. Miller, A. E. Quilici, The Joy of C.
   [2] B. Stroustrup, The C++ Programming Language.
   [3] B. Joy et al., Java Language Specification.
   [4] T. Lindholm, F. Yellin, The Virtual Machine Specification.
   [5] P. Chan, The Java Developers Almanac.
   [6] Sun Microsystems, API Specifications, Sun Web site.
   [7] The Java Community Process Program, Java Specification Requests.
   [8] M. Campione, K. Walrath, The Java Tutorial.



3. I thought I have fine Java knowledge, actually I already knew most stuff in this book exception some new things from Java 5. But the way these authors present Java language in such a simple, clean way make me felt I was overconfident about my Java knowledge. I believe this book benefits more for experienced Java programmer than newbie. It's terrific for beginners too, save you lots of fluff.



4. every programming language supposedly has two books: one tutorial, and the other a reference manual. the tutorial's strength lies in illuminating examples and progressive organization of the materials, while the reference book should shine with conciseness and rigorousness.
   
   this book organizes the topics in a weird way, and the examples lack insights. one can judge this by looking at the "exception" chapter: verbose and not to the point.



5. and would like to learn Java, then this is the book for you. It provides a very good discussion on all important topics in Core Java at a level that would suit a person who understands the basics of object oriented programming and wants to learn Java. There is a nice discussion on threading and even the Reflection API which is not usually covered in introductory texts in Java finds a place here...furthermore it is written by the founder of Java and it shows..the text is lucid without running the risk of being terse, and there are enough examples to illustrate the key points. Overall I would highly recommend this book to any programmer wishing to learn Java.

5 comments about Swing Hacks: Tips and Tools for Killer GUIs (Hacks).

1. Along with Swing Hacks I bought Swing Second Edition by Robinson and Vorobiev. What a contrast! Marinacci gives concise, fascinating, and useful examples. He leaves out the junk that you can get from reading the API. His hacks are short and remarkably clear. And if a hack doesn't interest you, you can just skip it.
   
   In contrast, R&V dump a ton of junk on you, and you have to sift through it. Most of it is a rehash of the API, plus deadly boring chit-chat about what extends what. You can read and read and read and not learn anything useful.
   
   I'd rank Marinacci up at the top with the Effective Java, the Swing Tutorial and Thinking in Java.



2. This book had ways of implementing all the useful features that users expect such as drag and drop, transparent/non-rectangular frames, and lots of other things. Well worth the money



3. This book gives a good set of more in depth approaches to building GUI in Swing. While reading it I had a lot of 'that's interesting' moments. However, a lot of the examples feel more like an idea of what needs to be done to achieve something rather than a complete (and robust) implementation. What is more disappointing, I found that some advice in the book is misleading. For example Hack #57 demonstrates how to use the glass pane to intercept and riderect mouse events. Unfortunately, as demonstrated, this approach doesn't work at all in the applications that use any components that have menus. A very significant shortcoming, in my opinion, that is not mentioned in the book.



4. Lacking some up-to-date information is usually not a problem that impacts most books. You can usually pull out one or two decent tricks, methodologies or pieces of information you didn't know before. This book, however, falls flat on its face.
   
   Filled with completely useless "hacks", use of extremely common knowledge/practices and general lack of content make this book a complete waste. Beginners may find the information interesting, but in terms of use in their professional lives, useless. Advanced users will find that other methodologies and "hacks" out there are much more useful and function much more efficiently.
   
   Aside from the uselessness of the information provided for use within enterprise GUI front-ends, what bothered me most was the inefficiency of the data provided. With some simple tweaking, complete rewrites based on the ideas presented, etc. you can come up with much more efficient and powerful components and component extensions yourselves.
   
   Don't waste your time.



5. It met my test because what I needed to know was easy to find and I was able to make a quick fix while maintaining Java software and I knocked out a couple of problems that way. It was easy to read, a good index and had sample implementations. The only problem I found is that it seems out of date and I would gladly purchase a more recent edition.