Applied Java Patters by Stephen Stelting, Olav Maassen

<pre>Author/s : by Stephen Stelting, Olav Maassen
Publisher : Prentice Hall
Category : Design & Refactoring
Review by : Micheal Ernest
Rating : 9 horseshoes</pre>
If you're unsure how to apply design patterns to Java, this book provides a solid, methodical, but gentle introduction to the practice.
This guide uses the classic design patterns first decribed by the GoF book. For each pattern, the authors provide a fresh motivation (writing a Personal Information Manager application), and rationale for matching a program feature or function to an appropriate pattern. The book seems best suited for those who need to learn definition and application in Java by example.
There's no CD-ROM; bummer. At a $45 list price, I think code-intensive books should offer one. This code is available by FTP, but, since my local firewall prohibits that, I find fault with the publisher for the inconvenience.
In the interests of full disclosure, I know Stephen and Olav personally. It's a pleasure to see them do what a number of us have been avoiding. This book needed to be written, but doing it well requires the diligence of a methodologist and the patience of a researcher. They've done very good work despite the tedium of building the book. Any aspiring program designers will find their time reading it well rewarded.
More info at Amazon.com
More info at Amazon.co.uk
[ March 10, 2002: Message edited by: Book Review Team ]

Those interested in this topic may also want to consider Design Patterns Java Workbook
by Steven John Metsker which should be out around March 29th.
[ March 14, 2002: Message edited by: herb slocomb ]

I am interested in this book. However, I would like a book that takes a look at the J2EE technologies from a comprehensive build standpoint, and focuses less on the details of each. Something that would combine JSP, Servlets, XML, CSS, JMS, EJB etc... and walk you through a best practices and how to build with these component technologies.
Any suggestions!!!