Rob's bookshelf: java en-US Tue, 14 Mar 2023 09:52:30 -0700 60 Rob's bookshelf: java 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Java in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell)]]> 298113 The Barnes & Noble Review
With each new version of Java, it gets tougher to fit this language in a "Nutshell." Java 2 Standard Edition 1.4 is some 50 percent bigger than its predecessor: 2,757 classes in 135 packages. Fortunately, David Flanagan and his coauthors are up to the challenge. Java in a Nutshell, Fourth Edition, fully updated for J2SE 1.4, contains some 250 pages of new coverage.

What's new? For one thing, lots of XML stuff -- from the new JavaBeans XML-based persistence mechanism to support for XML processing with DOM Level 2 and SAX 2.0. There are new I/O APIs, which improve Java performance in buffer management, network and file I/O, and other key areas. There's JAAS, Sun's toolset for authentication and authorization, part of the core J2SE platform for the first time. There are improvements to the collection classes, designed to simplify programming and -- again -- improve performance. There's textual pattern matching with regular expressions. There's a new API for managing user preference and configuration data.

Flanagan covers all this and more. And, as in previous editions, the comprehensive reference material is supplemented by an exceptionally concise and well-thought-out overview of Java programming. You'll crack this Nutshell -- every day.
(Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer with nearly 20 years' experience in helping technology companies deploy and market advanced software, computing, and networking products and services. He served for nearly ten years as vice president of a New Jersey–based marketing company, where he supervised a wide range of graphics and web design projects. His 15 books include and .

]]> 992 David Flanagan 0596002831 Rob 2 2010, technical, java 8 years ago." My answer? "It was what my library had. And it covered what I needed to learn."

I suppose I should have known better, considering the O'Reilly "Nutshell" format. A couple hundred pages of "nutshell" overview material to digest some high-level concepts -- but you're wading through generic code samples. Then several hundred more pages of what is basically an index of core API stuff. And so almost all of it makes your eyes glaze over. It isn't bad or badly written; it's that the book has a target audience of which I am not really a member.

But that didn't stop me from getting out of it what I needed. (Which was just enough. The rest of those gaps I expect to fill with and ]]> 3.29 1996 Java in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell)
author: David Flanagan
name: Rob
average rating: 3.29
book published: 1996
rating: 2
read at: 2010/05/12
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves: 2010, technical, java
review:
I know what you're thinking... "Why did you read the 4th edition in 2010? It only covers up to Java 1.4 - and it was published 8 years ago." My answer? "It was what my library had. And it covered what I needed to learn."

I suppose I should have known better, considering the O'Reilly "Nutshell" format. A couple hundred pages of "nutshell" overview material to digest some high-level concepts -- but you're wading through generic code samples. Then several hundred more pages of what is basically an index of core API stuff. And so almost all of it makes your eyes glaze over. It isn't bad or badly written; it's that the book has a target audience of which I am not really a member.

But that didn't stop me from getting out of it what I needed. (Which was just enough. The rest of those gaps I expect to fill with and
]]> <![CDATA[Pro Spring 5: An In-Depth Guide to the Spring Framework and Its Tools]]> 35466453 Experienced Java and enterprise Java developers and programmers. Some experience with Spring highly recommended.]]> 878 Iuliana Cosmina 1484228073 Rob 3 2020, java, technical Effective Java -- alas! this one here...)

ANYWAY: I'm pumping the brakes on this one because of the aforementioned book club going on hiatus. That said, a few thoughts:

FIRST: It's a worthy recommendation. I don't know that this will get you up-and-running with Spring fast necessarily -- but it WILL help you get a pretty thorough understanding of what the framework(s?) is doing, and how to apply it, and WHY to use it vs. "traditional" Java programming methods.

SECOND: and maybe this is just me but -- part of the reason I picked it up and decided to participate in the book club was to get a deeper understanding of Spring itself. And the authors do a good job of laying out concrete cases for why you would want to use Spring as opposed to [FILL IN THE BLANK "TRADITIONAL" JAVA PROGRAMMING METHOD]. But that said -- I've been using Spring for so long (without a specific focused study of it) that I was like: "Why would you do this any OTHER way?" And so on that note, I kept thinking: "Half of this chapter can get cut, because I really don't need the hard sell here."

THIRD: In its effort to be exhaustive (i.e., show us ALL that Spring has to offer!) I wound up finding myself glossing over large chunks. With the team I'm on now (and teams I've historically been on) -- we definitely prefer the in-code DI with annotations and Java config files etc. So seeing all the discussion of setting stuff up with XML was tedious to say the least.

FOURTH: I will be finishing this one eventually. But for now I'm much more likely to skip around in it, and opportunistically pick off the parts that I need to know more about, without necessarily making a linear study of every last little bit. (For example: I can just skip RIGHT OVER all the task scheduling stuff for the foreseeable future...)]]> 3.84 Pro Spring 5: An In-Depth Guide to the Spring Framework and Its Tools
author: Iuliana Cosmina
name: Rob
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2020/10/07
date added: 2023/03/14
shelves: 2020, java, technical
review:
It's a thorough treatment of Spring 5. I picked it up to participate in a book club at work, but said book club sorta fizzled out after a while. (No one's fault; even Coronavirus couldn't stop our momentum on Effective Java -- alas! this one here...)

ANYWAY: I'm pumping the brakes on this one because of the aforementioned book club going on hiatus. That said, a few thoughts:

FIRST: It's a worthy recommendation. I don't know that this will get you up-and-running with Spring fast necessarily -- but it WILL help you get a pretty thorough understanding of what the framework(s?) is doing, and how to apply it, and WHY to use it vs. "traditional" Java programming methods.

SECOND: and maybe this is just me but -- part of the reason I picked it up and decided to participate in the book club was to get a deeper understanding of Spring itself. And the authors do a good job of laying out concrete cases for why you would want to use Spring as opposed to [FILL IN THE BLANK "TRADITIONAL" JAVA PROGRAMMING METHOD]. But that said -- I've been using Spring for so long (without a specific focused study of it) that I was like: "Why would you do this any OTHER way?" And so on that note, I kept thinking: "Half of this chapter can get cut, because I really don't need the hard sell here."

THIRD: In its effort to be exhaustive (i.e., show us ALL that Spring has to offer!) I wound up finding myself glossing over large chunks. With the team I'm on now (and teams I've historically been on) -- we definitely prefer the in-code DI with annotations and Java config files etc. So seeing all the discussion of setting stuff up with XML was tedious to say the least.

FOURTH: I will be finishing this one eventually. But for now I'm much more likely to skip around in it, and opportunistically pick off the parts that I need to know more about, without necessarily making a linear study of every last little bit. (For example: I can just skip RIGHT OVER all the task scheduling stuff for the foreseeable future...)
]]> Effective Java 34927404 In this new edition of Effective Java, Bloch updates the work to take advantage of these new language and library features, and provides specific best practices for their use. Java's increased support for multiple paradigms increases the need for best-practices advice, and this book delivers.
As in previous editions, each chapter consists of several "items," each presented in the form of a short, standalone essay that provides specific advice, insight into Java platform subtleties, and updated code examples. The comprehensive descriptions and explanations for each item illuminate what to do, what not to do, and why. Coverage includes:
Updated techniques and best practices on classic topics, including objects, classes, methods, libraries, and generics How to avoid the traps and pitfalls of commonly misunderstood subtleties of the platform Focus on the language and its most fundamental libraries, such as java.lang and java.util
]]> 412 Joshua Bloch 0134685997 Rob 4 2020, java
It gets pretty technical in places and by necessity can get into the weeds, but most of the content should be accessible to journeyman developers, as well as committed novices.]]> 4.59 2001 Effective Java
author: Joshua Bloch
name: Rob
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2020/05/06
date added: 2020/05/06
shelves: 2020, java
review:
Recommended for anyone who is doing full time professional Java development. Bloch well-codifies a lot of the otherwise cargo-culted tribal knowledge and conventions that are out there, as well as shedding light on many of the weird cases that we run into everyday. And/but/so then there's a bunch of items that are NOT a part of my everyday ... though I'm sure that's just a matter of circumstance, and for someone out there: they are.

It gets pretty technical in places and by necessity can get into the weeds, but most of the content should be accessible to journeyman developers, as well as committed novices.
]]> Play Framework Essentials 23314313 200 Julien Richard-Foy 1322166145 Rob 3 technical, java, scala, 2015
I learned quite a bit about Play, though most of what I learned feels like "guess I need to go learn Scala?" As the title suggests, the book does a pretty good job of laying out the essential parts of Play Framework (the foundational components, tools, and techniques), but I feel like you're only going to get a "scratch the surface" view of Play unless you're already familiar with Scala. Granted: Play also comes in a "plain Java" flavor, and the author includes equivalent examples (where possible) that are in Java, but these wind up feeling more like a distraction -- like you keep context switching.

I really feel like this book could have been made much better by two things:

(1) A quick introduction to Scala -- just like the quick introduction to Groovy that shows up as Chapter 2 of Grails in Action .

(2) Drop the Java examples -- or move them into some kind of appendix. They just feel like they distract from the main point. (And honestly, I just skipped most of them.)

As the book stands right now, it seems like it's a pretty good introduction to Play (again: I learned most of what I was hoping to learn) but it does gloss over some points, and (more importantly) if you don't know Scala, you're probably going to feel a little lost.]]> 3.33 2014 Play Framework Essentials
author: Julien Richard-Foy
name: Rob
average rating: 3.33
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2015/01/25
date added: 2015/01/25
shelves: technical, java, scala, 2015
review:
3 stars is generous; more like 2.5?

I learned quite a bit about Play, though most of what I learned feels like "guess I need to go learn Scala?" As the title suggests, the book does a pretty good job of laying out the essential parts of Play Framework (the foundational components, tools, and techniques), but I feel like you're only going to get a "scratch the surface" view of Play unless you're already familiar with Scala. Granted: Play also comes in a "plain Java" flavor, and the author includes equivalent examples (where possible) that are in Java, but these wind up feeling more like a distraction -- like you keep context switching.

I really feel like this book could have been made much better by two things:

(1) A quick introduction to Scala -- just like the quick introduction to Groovy that shows up as Chapter 2 of Grails in Action .

(2) Drop the Java examples -- or move them into some kind of appendix. They just feel like they distract from the main point. (And honestly, I just skipped most of them.)

As the book stands right now, it seems like it's a pretty good introduction to Play (again: I learned most of what I was hoping to learn) but it does gloss over some points, and (more importantly) if you don't know Scala, you're probably going to feel a little lost.
]]> Java Cookbook 231268

You have a choice: you can wade your way through lengthy Java tutorials and figure things out by trial and error, or you can pick up Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition and get to the heart of what you need to know when you need to know it.

With the completely revised and thoroughly updated Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition, Java developers like you will learn by example, try out new features, and use sample code to understand how new additions to the language and platform work--and how to put them to work for you.

This comprehensive collection of problems, solutions, and practical examples will satisfy Java developers at all levels of expertise. Whether you're new to Java programming and need something to bridge the gap between theory-laden reference manuals and real-world programs or you're a seasoned Java programmer looking for a new perspective or a different problem-solving context, this book will help you make the most of your Java knowledge.

Packed with hundreds of tried-and-true Java recipes covering all of the major APIs from the 1.4 version of Java, this book also offers significant first-look recipes for the most important features of the new 1.5 version, which is in beta release. You get practical solutions to everyday problems, and each is followed by a detailed, ultimately useful explanation of how and why the technology works.

Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition includes code segments covering many specialized APIs--like those for working with Struts, Ant and other new popular Open Source tools. It also includes expanded Mac OS X Panther coverage and serves as a great launching point for Java developers who want to get started in areas outside of their specialization.

In this major revision, you'll find succinct pieces of code that can be easily incorporated into other programs. Focusing on what's useful or tricky--or what's useful and tricky--Java Cookbook, 2nd Edition is the most practical Java programming book on the market.

]]> 829 Ian F. Darwin 0596007019 Rob 3 java, technical, 2014 Java Cookbook is out and it's a great resource for developers working in Java that are out there and scratching their heads asking "How would I go about...?"

The thing that makes Java Cookbook stand out is its comprehensive scope. Darwin has done an excellent job of gathering a wide array of common problems faced by Java developers and presenting solutions to those problems that are decipherable using just the language's standard library features. (Which isn't to say "ignore libraries" -- just that there are few (any?) recipes in this cookbook that require external dependencies.) By and large, the recipes are practical and are organized into sensible categories. This isn't a book that I'd recommend you read front-to-back, but if you're programming in Java, it's worth having it handy to help kickstart your thought process on a number of different problems. (Plus, 3rd edition has been updated to include solutions that highlight Java 8 features.)

In addition to the above, it's worth noting that while Java Cookbook isn't a great book to learn from, that if you have stumbled your way into Java with an otherwise solid software engineering background, that you could use it as a leg-up or crutch while you're otherwise getting up to speed.]]> 3.65 2001 Java Cookbook
author: Ian F. Darwin
name: Rob
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at: 2014/10/09
date added: 2014/10/09
shelves: java, technical, 2014
review:
Ian Darwin's Java Cookbook is out and it's a great resource for developers working in Java that are out there and scratching their heads asking "How would I go about...?"

The thing that makes Java Cookbook stand out is its comprehensive scope. Darwin has done an excellent job of gathering a wide array of common problems faced by Java developers and presenting solutions to those problems that are decipherable using just the language's standard library features. (Which isn't to say "ignore libraries" -- just that there are few (any?) recipes in this cookbook that require external dependencies.) By and large, the recipes are practical and are organized into sensible categories. This isn't a book that I'd recommend you read front-to-back, but if you're programming in Java, it's worth having it handy to help kickstart your thought process on a number of different problems. (Plus, 3rd edition has been updated to include solutions that highlight Java 8 features.)

In addition to the above, it's worth noting that while Java Cookbook isn't a great book to learn from, that if you have stumbled your way into Java with an otherwise solid software engineering background, that you could use it as a leg-up or crutch while you're otherwise getting up to speed.
]]> <![CDATA[The Well-Grounded Java Developer: Vital techniques of Java 7 and polyglot programming]]> 11975718
The Well-Grounded Java Developer is a unique guide written for developers with a solid grasp of Java fundamentals. It provides a fresh, practical look at new Java 7 features along with the array of ancillary technologies that a working developer will use in building the next generation of business software.]]> 462 Benjamin J. Evans 1617290068 Rob 4 2014, java, technical
Required reading for anyone doing anything more than just dabbling in the JVM.

---

[1] And on that note, you probably already read all that Scala and Clojure stuff in Tate's Seven Languages in Seven Weeks anyway.]]> 3.92 2012 The Well-Grounded Java Developer: Vital techniques of Java 7 and polyglot programming
author: Benjamin J. Evans
name: Rob
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2014/09/24
date added: 2014/09/24
shelves: 2014, java, technical
review:
Disclosure: I didn't read it cover-to-cover as I have most other technical books over the past... couple years? (Always?) Regardless: I read the GC bits in-depth and skimmed a lot of the rest of the text. There is a ton of useful information here -- some of it (like the sections on alternate JVM languages [1]) is mostly just for curiosity's sake, but there's also lot of really good stuff about the JVM itself (like the performance tuning bits). With the recent release of Java 8, this book (which was new when Java 7 was new) feels a little bit dated. But only a little bit.

Required reading for anyone doing anything more than just dabbling in the JVM.

---

[1] And on that note, you probably already read all that Scala and Clojure stuff in Tate's Seven Languages in Seven Weeks anyway.
]]> <![CDATA[Learning Java: A Bestselling Hands-On Java Tutorial]]> 15815191
You’ll learn powerful new ways to manage resources and exceptions in your applications, and quickly get up to speed on Java’s new concurrency utilities, and APIs for web services and XML. You’ll also find an updated tutorial on how to get started with the Eclipse IDE, and a brand-new introduction to database access in Java.]]> 1007 Patrick Niemeyer 1449319246 Rob 4 technical, java, 2014
Overall a good introduction to the Java language and its standard library. I quipped throughout that the book was as verbose as the language, but this is a good-natured jab, especially considering that the authors have done an excellent job in organizing and presenting the material, and in showing good concrete examples.

The book itself covers Java through version 1.7. One of the things that I really appreciated about the text (and have seen mentioned in many other reviews) is that it is not a guide to basic syntax or computer programming fundamentals. There's an assumption coming in that you already know about variables and if statements and for loops etc. They're only talking about things that are specific to Java so as to help you learn idiomatic Java. They also build a really strong case for why Java is a "good" or "productive" language, taking the time to talk about its philosophy, the language design choices, and other underpinnings (e.g., JVM bytecode) -- helping one to understand the why of Java and not just the how. (There's also a pretty sweet glossary in the back to help you get through some of the language's more arcane keywords.)

What didn't I like? A couple things jump out:

(1) Better coverage of the JVM eco-system. I realize that the book is about Java (the language itself) and not "the JVM", and I realize that the book is already 1010 pages long but I could really have used a little more about "the JVM eco-system" and less about Swing. Again, I get it: Swing is part of the core Java platform, and things like Groovy and/or Tomcat are not but... still. I don't know anyone programming in Swing, and we got basically half a chapter on servlets. Maybe that's all it needs but it seems like the biggest part of Java these days is "JVM eco-system" and not "Java by itself".

(2) More on garbage collection. Maybe I'm expecting something too low-level here but we got about... 4 pages (?) worth of coverage on GC. And what we got was basically just an explanation of what GC is. I'm as in the dark as ever about the actual GC settings, Eden, Young and Perm gen, survivors, etc. And "heap" doesn't appear in the index at all?

So I guess... a few more things at the high-level? and a little bit more at the lowest-levels? The former is definitely an expectation on my part that the book doesn't even promise to fulfill, but would have been nice to see a bit more of (though it does have pointers to good resources); the latter just seems like the editor came through and said "let's not go there".

All in all? A worthwhile book for learning the language (if you already have a solid programming and/or CS foundation), and it provides a good layer of "why Java" on top of "how to Java", but expect to use it as a springboard for further learning depending on where your work Java actually takes you. I would recommend it to any competent developer that's looking to add Java to their toolkit.

----

PS - So. Much. Swing. 3 chapters... 148 pages of it. And plenty of references to it in the 2 chapters that follow. And then a chapter on applets. Who does this anymore?

PPS - JavaBeans chapter winds up feeling like tautology. ("The following bean class example is considered a bean because it follows the bean class paradigm." Yay!)]]> 3.81 1996 Learning Java: A Bestselling Hands-On Java Tutorial
author: Patrick Niemeyer
name: Rob
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1996
rating: 4
read at: 2014/08/26
date added: 2014/08/27
shelves: technical, java, 2014
review:
Short version of what may turn into a longer review:

Overall a good introduction to the Java language and its standard library. I quipped throughout that the book was as verbose as the language, but this is a good-natured jab, especially considering that the authors have done an excellent job in organizing and presenting the material, and in showing good concrete examples.

The book itself covers Java through version 1.7. One of the things that I really appreciated about the text (and have seen mentioned in many other reviews) is that it is not a guide to basic syntax or computer programming fundamentals. There's an assumption coming in that you already know about variables and if statements and for loops etc. They're only talking about things that are specific to Java so as to help you learn idiomatic Java. They also build a really strong case for why Java is a "good" or "productive" language, taking the time to talk about its philosophy, the language design choices, and other underpinnings (e.g., JVM bytecode) -- helping one to understand the why of Java and not just the how. (There's also a pretty sweet glossary in the back to help you get through some of the language's more arcane keywords.)

What didn't I like? A couple things jump out:

(1) Better coverage of the JVM eco-system. I realize that the book is about Java (the language itself) and not "the JVM", and I realize that the book is already 1010 pages long but I could really have used a little more about "the JVM eco-system" and less about Swing. Again, I get it: Swing is part of the core Java platform, and things like Groovy and/or Tomcat are not but... still. I don't know anyone programming in Swing, and we got basically half a chapter on servlets. Maybe that's all it needs but it seems like the biggest part of Java these days is "JVM eco-system" and not "Java by itself".

(2) More on garbage collection. Maybe I'm expecting something too low-level here but we got about... 4 pages (?) worth of coverage on GC. And what we got was basically just an explanation of what GC is. I'm as in the dark as ever about the actual GC settings, Eden, Young and Perm gen, survivors, etc. And "heap" doesn't appear in the index at all?

So I guess... a few more things at the high-level? and a little bit more at the lowest-levels? The former is definitely an expectation on my part that the book doesn't even promise to fulfill, but would have been nice to see a bit more of (though it does have pointers to good resources); the latter just seems like the editor came through and said "let's not go there".

All in all? A worthwhile book for learning the language (if you already have a solid programming and/or CS foundation), and it provides a good layer of "why Java" on top of "how to Java", but expect to use it as a springboard for further learning depending on where your work Java actually takes you. I would recommend it to any competent developer that's looking to add Java to their toolkit.

----

PS - So. Much. Swing. 3 chapters... 148 pages of it. And plenty of references to it in the 2 chapters that follow. And then a chapter on applets. Who does this anymore?

PPS - JavaBeans chapter winds up feeling like tautology. ("The following bean class example is considered a bean because it follows the bean class paradigm." Yay!)
]]> <![CDATA[Client-Server Web Apps with JavaScript and Java: Rich, Scalable, and RESTful]]> 20578304 260 Casimir Saternos 1449369332 Rob 3


Long version: ()

Having just wrapped up Client-Server Web Apps with JavaScript and Java by Casimir Saternos (O'Reilly, 2014), I'd say that I mostly got out of it what I wanted, and that it serves as a good jumping-off point for developers that want to build "modern" web applications on top of the JVM. More than anything else, Saternos' book is a thumbnail sketch of the architecture and tools needed to build those kind of apps, but it does not go particularly deep on any one of those items. As it says in the preface, it's probably best suited for developers who primarily work in Java and want to build a scalable web application with modern technologies -- not that front-end developers don't stand to gain something as well, but they may have more catching up to do (more on this in a moment...).

Saternos' basic approach here is to describe "modern" web applications as RESTful, API-based back-ends that primarily serve JSON to a rich front-end that is built around something like AngularJS. However, he doesn't limit himself to just the API and front-end layers here. Even a glance at the table of contents will reveal that he goes for breadth in his discussion: there are chapters on REST fundamentals and API design, API implementation with tools like Jersey, testing strategies with JUnit and Jasmine, build and deployment tooling, virtualization strategies, and more. The book's coverage is fairly shallow, but Saternos provides many references to other sources for richer coverage, and he also provides sample code with example implementations for each relevant chapter.

Was there anything missing? Yes and no... Again: the book is a shallow survey of these technologies, and as such it elegantly fulfills its main mission: to give an overview of the technologies that you would use when constructing a modern web application in the JVM. And again: there are plenty of references to solid foundational texts for those instances where you need to go deeper on some particular subject. But there are also seem to be some gaps.

First, some front-end developers may feel a bit lost coming into this; working in the JVM can be a bit daunting to the new-comer, and piling dynamic languages on top of this can be a bit eyebrow-raising. Part of me thinks that this is absolutely the right move -- I know a lot of front-end developers that are right at home in Ruby or Python, and so using JRuby or Jython as the introduction to the JVM makes sense. But there are also esoteric complications that come along with that which are not really addressed in the book. Not that a survey such as this is the right place to cover that kind of edge-case trivia, but a footnote to that effect may have been useful.

Second, the chapter on "Packaging and Deployment" focused exclusively on the server side of the web application with no substantive mention of how to package the front-end assets. Where was the discussion of minification and concatenation? Considering the depth of the discussion on REST and HTTP earlier in the book, I would have expected to loop back around on that here for a discussion of CDNs or Expires headers. This seemed like a lost opportunity to me.

In the grand scheme of what Saternos set out to do however, those critiques are pretty minor. That he assumes the reader has more familiarity with the JVM than with front-end technologies is evident, but not a detriment. The book is a good look into what technologies and techniques make up a "modern" web application, and though there is plenty of room for disagreement about some of his recommendations, it is also a great "conversation-starter" for your project, and chances are that you'll learn about a thing or two that you'll want to chase down further.



DISCLOSURE: I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review.]]> 3.71 2014 Client-Server Web Apps with JavaScript and Java: Rich, Scalable, and RESTful
author: Casimir Saternos
name: Rob
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2014/04/28
date added: 2014/04/29
shelves: 2014, java, javascript, technical
review:
Short version: good survey of building modern web apps in the JVM eco-system, and/but more oriented toward Java developers, and hardly enough JS to put it in the title.



Long version: ()

Having just wrapped up Client-Server Web Apps with JavaScript and Java by Casimir Saternos (O'Reilly, 2014), I'd say that I mostly got out of it what I wanted, and that it serves as a good jumping-off point for developers that want to build "modern" web applications on top of the JVM. More than anything else, Saternos' book is a thumbnail sketch of the architecture and tools needed to build those kind of apps, but it does not go particularly deep on any one of those items. As it says in the preface, it's probably best suited for developers who primarily work in Java and want to build a scalable web application with modern technologies -- not that front-end developers don't stand to gain something as well, but they may have more catching up to do (more on this in a moment...).

Saternos' basic approach here is to describe "modern" web applications as RESTful, API-based back-ends that primarily serve JSON to a rich front-end that is built around something like AngularJS. However, he doesn't limit himself to just the API and front-end layers here. Even a glance at the table of contents will reveal that he goes for breadth in his discussion: there are chapters on REST fundamentals and API design, API implementation with tools like Jersey, testing strategies with JUnit and Jasmine, build and deployment tooling, virtualization strategies, and more. The book's coverage is fairly shallow, but Saternos provides many references to other sources for richer coverage, and he also provides sample code with example implementations for each relevant chapter.

Was there anything missing? Yes and no... Again: the book is a shallow survey of these technologies, and as such it elegantly fulfills its main mission: to give an overview of the technologies that you would use when constructing a modern web application in the JVM. And again: there are plenty of references to solid foundational texts for those instances where you need to go deeper on some particular subject. But there are also seem to be some gaps.

First, some front-end developers may feel a bit lost coming into this; working in the JVM can be a bit daunting to the new-comer, and piling dynamic languages on top of this can be a bit eyebrow-raising. Part of me thinks that this is absolutely the right move -- I know a lot of front-end developers that are right at home in Ruby or Python, and so using JRuby or Jython as the introduction to the JVM makes sense. But there are also esoteric complications that come along with that which are not really addressed in the book. Not that a survey such as this is the right place to cover that kind of edge-case trivia, but a footnote to that effect may have been useful.

Second, the chapter on "Packaging and Deployment" focused exclusively on the server side of the web application with no substantive mention of how to package the front-end assets. Where was the discussion of minification and concatenation? Considering the depth of the discussion on REST and HTTP earlier in the book, I would have expected to loop back around on that here for a discussion of CDNs or Expires headers. This seemed like a lost opportunity to me.

In the grand scheme of what Saternos set out to do however, those critiques are pretty minor. That he assumes the reader has more familiarity with the JVM than with front-end technologies is evident, but not a detriment. The book is a good look into what technologies and techniques make up a "modern" web application, and though there is plenty of room for disagreement about some of his recommendations, it is also a great "conversation-starter" for your project, and chances are that you'll learn about a thing or two that you'll want to chase down further.



DISCLOSURE: I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review.
]]> <![CDATA[Beginning Java 7 (Expert's Voice in Java)]]> 13173713 940 Jeff Friesen 1430239093 Rob 3 technical, java, 2012, 2013 3.85 2011 Beginning Java 7 (Expert's Voice in Java)
author: Jeff Friesen
name: Rob
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2013/03/16
date added: 2013/03/16
shelves: technical, java, 2012, 2013
review:
This is probably about as good of a "beginning"-level Java book as any other out there. It's a little bit of a language reference, a little bit of a guided tour, and a little bit of discussion. A little bit dry, but it suits the book's aims. I don't really recommend reading it front-to-back, but if you're new to Java then it's worth at least reading the first 250-ish pages, and then cherry-picking the rest of what you need. (It didn't blow me away, but I'm glad I read it, and it gave me some of the foundational knowledge I needed.)
]]> Maven by Example 8695816 138 Timothy O'Brien Rob 2 2012, java, technical is an online version...) I got enough out of it; enough to get started at least. It is a decent introduction. By the end of it, you will at least have a good idea of what Maven is and (kind of) how it works; and if you work really hard and pay attention you might also be comfortable saying those things to other people.]]> 3.46 2010 Maven by Example
author: Timothy O'Brien
name: Rob
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2010
rating: 2
read at: 2012/07/30
date added: 2012/07/30
shelves: 2012, java, technical
review:
I read the online version. (I believe that there only is an online version...) I got enough out of it; enough to get started at least. It is a decent introduction. By the end of it, you will at least have a good idea of what Maven is and (kind of) how it works; and if you work really hard and pay attention you might also be comfortable saying those things to other people.
]]>