Beginning Java Ee 5: From Novice to Professional

This book was a plethora of useful knowledge. However, it wasn't a jump in and get dirty type of title. When starting the path towards EJB/J2EE coding, one needs to do less messing around with devshed pre-coded examples, and learn by doing. This text references proprietary JAR packages from the authors. It is my feeling that APress let down the beginning J2EE/EJB programmer here. This book is not for the beginner java programmer - Repetition goes far when learning a new area of any language. Bottom Line: If you want to get up and go and are good at installing all the pre-defined jargon (or are highly skilled with guesswork) and just want some great examples, this book is great for You. If you prefer the repetition route, look elsewhere. - Hope this helps.

Beginning Java EE 5: From Novice to Professional (Mukhar and Zelenak) covers most of the J2EE; though, admittedly, it is impossible to do a comprehensive study in one volume. The authors do a good job of hitting the major components. The EJB section is great, covering the three types of beans with concrete examples. Both stateless and stateful session beans are discussed. CMP and BMP entity beans are discussed. EJB QL, EJB relationships and EJB Design Patterns are captured. The format of the book is carefully crafted. It builds on previous topics and is written according to a multi-tier architecture. It starts with the front end (JSP/JSF); moves to the middle tier (Servlets and Session beans); and, finally, concludes with the back end (Entity beans and JDBC). The book ends with system interaction and services (MDB and Web Services). There are helpful examples throughout each chapter with additional exercises at the end. The book falls short in a few areas. It covers JDBC, but there is not much detail about the new Java 5 result set changes. Similarly, there is explanation of JMS in the MDB section, but the book does not go in depth. It does provide a good introduction to both MDB and JMS, however, with a single example. Additionally, it is light in the development of the Java API for XML (JAX). Details of these topics are probably better placed elsewhere; do not expect them in this volume. In my opinion, books of this type tend to be dry and dull, but in Beginning Java EE 5 there are some great bits of humor that do not detract from the content. There is certainly much to learn from this book for both the novice and the aspiring professional. It will provide a great start for the beginner, as well as give the experienced Java developer much to consider.

I would consider myself a novice in the area of programming, but this book has improved my knowledge exponentially! This is the go to book for anyone who is a novice, or a established professional in the field. Not since learning about my favorite inuit rapper, Glacia Kraze, have I been so excited about anything in my entire life. Definately check out this book if your interested in Java EE.