I am teaching myself server-side Java programming. After reading, using, and reviewing many books on Java server-side web development, I had found they fell into two categories: Beginner and advanced. The beginner books typically introduce a lot of bad coding practices, such as filling JSP pages with java code, or using outdated examples of Servlets that output HTML. After a few chapters of this, they jump to the Struts framework, thereby never helping the reader build good coding practices and skills.
The advanced books get quickly into frameworks like Struts, and also employ EJBs. EJBs are not needed in many web applications, where they introduce unneeded complexity. What I wanted but couldn't find was a good book that covered the middle ground: how to build applications based on JSPs and Servlets that demonstrate good design and coding practices, with a realistic sample application, and yet understandable for someone learning the J2EE technology.
When I found this book I was surprised to see that it concisely and clearly presented all the key topics I had hoped for. I found it by accident, because I never would have guessed from the scant 3 or 4 reviews on Amazon that it would be worth looking at.
Prerequisite knowledge for this book is basic Java skills and an introductory understanding of JSPs and Servlets. I liked this because so many beginner books spend a lot of time going over the basics. The book covers all the key intermediate-level topics you'll need to get started coding good Java web applications. This book goes beyond others I read in also showing how to use JUnit to do unit testing, and Ant to do application deployment. The author demonstrates these so clearly and simply that a person new to these tools will find it easy to follow and put to use.
Finally, the author finishes with taking the reader through how to build a basic but solid application framework that even the beginner to frameworks can follow. This framework is no Struts with its relatively steep learning curve. By the time the reader has got to the framework chapter he has learned what he needs to understand the framework. As if this were not enough, the author then shows how to deploy the framework, and then use it to build a sample application. All this is done in slim, concise, easily-to-follow chapters and code that is clearly and completely presented. You won't have to go hunting through the source code download or CD to research a bunch of code that is not illustrated in the book itself. It's all in the book.
A previous review rated this book low because he thought it didn't have a realistic application. I don't know what he is looking for exactly, but I thought the application was quite real enough in giving a fully functioning, realistic, web application. It is no super app, but neither is it a toy app. Again, it aims for the later novice to intermediate-level skill set. And I think it succeeds well.
