To the Author!

[Jim Bracks]

Hi Thomas,

Who is the target audience of this book? Is it Architects, managers or developers?

Thanks,
Jim

[Ko Ko Naing]

IMO, the target audience is architects and Web Services Developers might gain some important knowledge from reading the book as well... But I'm not quite about what you mean by "managers". Would it mean to "architects" in web services context?

BTW, it's better for us to wait for Mr.Thomas and hear the comments from him...

[Jim Bracks]

quote:Ko Ko Naing

But I'm not quite about what you mean by "managers". Would it mean to "architects" in web services context?

Managers are the decision makers!

[Ko Ko Naing]

Anyway, Jim, I extracted these from the interview of FTPOnline with Thomas Erl...

FTPOnline: You subtitle your book a "Field Guide." Who is most likely to benefit from it, and why?

Thomas Erl: This book covers a lot of ground. It addresses the integration of XML, Web services, and service-oriented architecture individually by providing separate sets of tutorials, strategies, and best practices. Integration of these technologies into application environments is discussed separately from the use of these technologies to enable integration between applications. Traditional Web services technologies (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI) are also addressed separately from the second-generation or WS-* technology set (WS-Security, WS-Coordination, WS-Transaction, BPEL4WS, etc.). It therefore allows organizations to take what they need for whatever evolutionary stage their technical environment is in.

Despite the separation, there is an alignment throughout all the chapters, in that each addresses a key part of contemporary SOA. For instance, establishing a quality XML data architecture lays a solid foundation for the incorporation of a Web services communication framework. Similarly, designing distributed components with service-oriented principles allows for a low-impact transition toward Web services and SOAs.

As a result, I think this book will appeal to a range of IT professionals. It contains both technical and conceptual integration, as well as design strategies that will be useful to developers and analysts. It also explores numerous legacy and enterprise architectures, by contrasting traditional and service-oriented approaches. These parts will be of interest to architects and other IT analysts responsible for designing solutions, and evaluating and positioning new technology.

Finally, although not a tutorial-oriented book, it does provide 16 individual tutorials, including several that cover the new WS-* standards. These chapters were included to give readers the necessary background information to understand the strategies, architectures, and best practices provided in later chapters.

With regards to the "Field Guide" subtitle, the idea was to create the type of book you'd take into the trenches with you�a strategic reference guide offering advice, options, and lots of ideas.

If you are interested in that interview, you might wanna have a look at this URL. Hope it helps you...

[Jim Bracks]

Thanks Ko Ko

It seems that this book is about architecture and integration issues which are vital in understanding this technology. It is my understanding that it will complement the book "Web services: A Managers Guide" by Anne Thomas.


Jim

[Dave Knipp]

It does sound like this book would be for developers and architects. If you say its more of an integration type book, does that mean it will still teach the basics of the technology, or does this book assume you have a solid knowledge of web services, soa, etc??

Dave

[Lasse Koskela]

Originally posted by Dave Knipp:
It does sound like this book would be for developers and architects. If you say its more of an integration type book, does that mean it will still teach the basics of the technology, or does this book assume you have a solid knowledge of web services, soa, etc??

Based on the Amazon reviews I quickly scanned through, I'd say this is a typical integration book in terms of technical depth. I don't think it shows you how to develop web services or XSL stylesheets. I think it shows you how different technologies work together on an architectural level.

[J. Acc.]

Yes, this book is more of an integration guide than a tutorial. It covers integration on two levels: integrating common SOA technology into application architecture, and using SOA technology to achieve cross-application integration. Supplementing that are chapters providing best practices, migration strategies, design strategies, and a set of feather-weight technology tutorials (intended only to give readers a brief conceptual overview). It�s worth noting that the last chapter contains a more in-depth tutorial on SOA modeling. I felt this was necessary, because there isn�t a lot out there yet on this topic.

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Lasse Koskela:

Based on the Amazon reviews I quickly scanned through, I'd say this is a typical integration book in terms of technical depth. I don't think it shows you how to develop web services or XSL stylesheets. I think it shows you how different technologies work together on an architectural level.

Then the book must be for architects and developers who intend to move their position to architects... Developers who know how to develop web services well will gain knowledge such as how different technologies are integrated each others in architectural level like Lasse said. It's kind of bird eye view from the top and linking the things that are working well in their own ways into a complete application...

So by now we can imagine whom the contents of Mr.Thomas' book intend to...

[Pradeep bhatt]

I dont think there are code samples in the book, so it is targeted for Architects.

[Jim Bracks]

Thanks Thomas!

[Sal DiStefano]

Some Architects like code too! Actually, I prefer the ones who understand code, it's the ones who don't that scare me. :')

Sal