If you are a Java developer (which I am) and want to develop Web Applications and learn Servlets and JSP, you can't go wrong with this book. In fact, in my opinion, this is one of the best Java books on any subject that you can buy. Much has been written on the subjects of servlets and JSP, but it is rare that the key concepts for truly understanding these subjects are put in sufficient context to grasp the big picture of developing full featured web applications. What separates this book from the rest is the well structured way each concept is clearly presented and put into the larger context to explain the relevance of the concept to the larger picture of developing web applications.
In particular, for each concept, the reader is led through a typical developer path of first getting the technology to operate, and then shown how initial quick and dirty development patterns are improved by more sophisticated design patterns. Patterns for error handling, filters, security, internationalization, and especially the user presentation model view controller (MVC) pattern are clearly explained, and their use in web application development is demonstrated.
The issues of where to place functionality: in servlets, filters, tags, JSPs, scriplets, EJB(!), etc. are brought out in such a way that the reader can learn the relevance of each technology that has emerged in the Java web application development universe, which has been characterizedby fast evolving releases of approaches to dealing with the integration of Java and HTML/XML components. It is demonstrated that these technologies have finally converged to a set of tools that can enable the Java developer to have full command of web application development. In summary, I highly recommend this book and believe it is a milestone, in that it shows that Java has now evolved into a truly powerful web application development platform.
