Head First Servlets and JSP [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

It is a good book but to get the J2EE 5 Web Component Developer certificate you must use other resources. Nevertheless, I would say that I learned a lot reading this book and it wouldn't be fair to grade it with 4 stars. I recommend this book for people who don't know nothing about web development using Java. However, if you want to be an expert you should read other books for complementing the knowledge.

The recently released edition of the book is a great improvement - there is less errata and the Q&A is much more tied into the Sun Web Component Exam.

One of the challenges with picking up Servlets & JSPs is the mass of acronyms and figuring out how it all relates to Java. The Head First book is here to help pick-up the technology as fast as possible and in a fun way.

This book has some of the best tutorials to get from zero to a working web application - and have fun learning along the way. Many readers will probably also want to use the book to cram for Sun's web component exam.

I would highly recommend the book but please do your due diligence: Have a look at the content section. Evaluate if the contents cover what you hope to learn. Read through some of the sample pages and make a decision.

I used Kathy Sierra's "Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide" to pass both of those certification exams with flying colors. Although the overly jokey format of that book was more cringe-worthy than engrossing, the book contained solid information and was somewhat easy to review, reference, and study with.

I already have a solid working knowledge of servlets and JSPs, so I wanted to find a book that was geared only for certification. I was very hesitant about purchasing this SCWCD book after seeing that it followed the useless Head First approach to teaching, but hoped that the actual information in the book would outweigh the shortcomings. I read the entire book, and took every practice exam but still came away thoroughly disappointed.

PROS:
- The authors are also involved in writing the actual exam, so they have solid observations about the specific types of questions you will see, and offer tips on areas requiring memorization, as well as possible trick questions.

CONS:
- The book tries to be both a "learn servlets and JSP" text and a "prepare for certification" text. These objectives are completely at odds with each other, and the book loses focus when trying to fulfill both. The certification thrust will confuse new developers just learning JSPs, and the learning thrust is extra fluff to wade through for the cert-minded (900 pages of fluff at that).
- Even at 900 pages, the book is not a comprehensive certification source. There were several instances where I encountered mock exam questions that had not been discussed in the text. Instead, the answer key referred me to the Sun specifications (free online). For example, the text devotes 2 pages to RequestDispatchers, and then poses 2 mock questions about query strings that aren't even covered. Later, the book provides a list of the commonly used ServletRequest methods along with the note "// MANY more methods". Of course, one of these unlisted methods is the answer to a mock question at the end of the book.
- There is no way to quickly review the contents of each chapter. I don't necessarily need a reference book, but the Head First approach takes you on several paths through related information, but doesn't step back and show you all the information at once. Some sub-chapters have bullet lists, but this is not consistent throughout.
- The humor is only funny in a "look at me, I'm funny!" way. Tech books can use subtle humor effectively (see Russ Olsen's "Design Patterns in Ruby") but the humor here really turned me off.
- The Head First approach adds a lot of fat that could have been trimmed. For example, the book takes you through 13 pages of examples on dynamic tag attributes before informing you that the approach is tedious and incorrect (the last page tells you to use the built-in DynamicAttributes interface instead).
- Typos abound, not all of which are in the published errata. Particularly egregious were the mock questions with completely wrong answers. The online errata showed nothing wrong, but loading the online copy of the book on the Safari O'Reilly site showed the answers magically correct. Another multiple choice question doesn't even have the options listed.
- For me, the Head First approach to teaching (visual learning, conversational style, keeping the reader's attention, and touching the reader's emotions) fails completely. Your mileage may vary, but a clear, concise lesson on these topics would have been much more effective than endless pages of bad cartoons and captioned kung fu movie screen caps.

As a comparison, I also read "Professional SCWCD Certification" by Jepp and Dalton. This book was perfect -- concise, easy to consult and review, and covering everything in a tome just 1/3 the size of the Head First book. Unfortunately, it covers an older edition of the SCWCD and does not cover SimpleTags, EL, or Tag files (the Filters section is smaller too). If they ever release a new edition, I'd recommend it with 5 stars in an instant.

Bottom Line: The fact that the authors of this book can give you an "inside look" at the style of the actual exam is all that keeps this book afloat as a certification text. Unfortunately, there aren't many other options that cover the most recent iteration of the exam. I got an 89% on the exam, but I equate this more to the free materials on JavaRanch and my pre-existing knowledge than this book.