First of all, let me correct any misconceptions you might be having about this book: It is not about general, three-tier web development using Oracle and Java - instead, it is focused entirely on in-database programming with stored procedures, using Java where PL/SQL either has no solution or lacks in some aspect.

For me, this book was very useful. Before I read it, I didn't see much use in Java stored procedures, finding PL/SQL a much better alternative. In short, this book tries hard to illustrate the role of each language within the Oracle database, and in the end, is successful in doing that. The issue of PL/SQL vs. Java - both in terms of performance and usefulness - is a concurrent theme throughout most of the book.

For me, that latter half was the real meat on the bone. The first chapters are thought for beginners to Java and JDBC, but I skipped them mostly. The chapters on security, OS resources and PL/SQL-Java interoperability were very useful. I actually found more than one case where Java would have made a great difference for a past project! Additionally, I appreciated the performance section at the back, which cleared up many of my initial misconceptions on the subject.

To summarize: If you are interested in extending your Oracle database applications by using the abilities of Java, this is the right book for you.

This book is a great guide to writing Oracle Java stored procedures. Of course, it has its cons and pros. On the bad side, there are the obvious differences in writing style and flavour of the different chapters (although not to the level of irritation), which is probably a result of so many authors.

Although I had some experience with Java, JDBC and SQLJ before, I really liked many of the chapters dealing with the fundamentals, especially the Exception chapter. I found much of the Oracle-Java specific material very useful, such as the chapters on Java and SQL performance, on using Java and PL/SQL together, and more. All in all, this book is packed with useful examples and practical solutions to real-life issues (mostly scalability and performance related), which made it very useful and pleasent to read.

As an Oracle developer, I found this book very helpful in my day-to-day chores. It is divided into four main sections, which I discuss further below.

The first section is a Java tutorial, for the Oracle developer. Having dealt a little with Java before, I found little new in this section. A word of caution, though: this book assumes some familiarity with PL/SQL (while no assumptions are made of Java knowledge). The material is divided so that you can just scan through, or skip, the first section (ca 100 pages), if you feel like it.

In part 2 of this book, we have a few chapters on both JDBC and SQLJ. Most emphasis is on Oracle-specific stuff and extensions. These chapters were different in quality, but served their purpose.

Part 3 is the heart of the book. This is where the authors delve into the details of Oracle Java, and illustrate how PRACTICAL problems may be solved by using Java or the joint efforts of PL/SQL and Java. I found some of the chapters in this section very pleasent to read, and I have already used some of the code presented in my own work. Highlights include the chapters on the Oracle JVM and the uses of Java utilities and OS resource handling (e.g. mail client that takes BLOB attachments).

Finally, section 4 discusses performance, both of Java and SQL, and compares Oracle Java with PL/SQL. Although this discussion is a little lightweight (this is material for whole books!), the emphasis on using bind variables is easily justified.

Overall, I greatly recommend this book for any Oracle developer seeking to use Java stored procedures in the database!