<pre>
Author/s : Jim Farley, William Crawford, David Flanagan
Publisher : O'Reilly and Associates
Category : J2EE and Distributed Computing
Review by : David Vick
Rating : 8 horseshoes</pre>
This most recent �in a nutshell� offering from O�Reilly hardly seems like it�ll fit into a nutshell, at least not any nutshell I�ve ever seen. Despite the increase in size (almost double the size of the 1st edition), this book still manages to deliver a concise introduction to Enterprise
Java. Part of the increase is the addition of chapters on
JSP, XML, JMS, and Java Mail. Many of the chapters carried over from the 1st edition have been updated to the most recent specifications;
JDBC 2.0,
Servlets 2.2 and 2.3, and JSP 1.2.
The entire book is an excellent reference to Enterprise Java, I would not advise it as the only book you have on the subject because it is very concise and an alternative source with different explanations would be very helpful (you can say that about almost any programming book though, so that is hardly any failing). The condensed API at the end of the book is very helpful and its expanded explanations of the different APIs makes it easier to understand them, as opposed to going straight from the Java Docs.
Packed with both snippets and full length, compilable code, the examples are very helpful and help to illustrate all of the key concepts of Enterprise Java and go along way to improving the readers understanding. Even if you already have the first edition the additional, and updated content made this second edition a valuable edition to my reference collection.
More info at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596001525/javaranch rel="nofollow"> More info at Amazon.co.uk