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Grover is so entertaining as we follow him through 1) THE THINGS YOU SEE IN THE SKY ROOM, 2) THE THINGS YOU SEE ON THE GROUND ROOM, 3) THE THINGS YOU SEE ON THE WALL ROOM, 4) THE THINGS YOU SEE UNDER THE WATER ROOM, 5) THE LONG THIN THINGS YOU CAN WRITE WITH ROOM, 6) THE CARROT ROOM, 7) ALL THE VEGETABLES IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD BESIDES CARROTS ROOM, 8) THINGS THAT MAKE SO MUCH NOISE YOU CAN'T THINK ROOM, 9) THE SMALL HALL, 10) THE TALL HALL, 11) THINGS THAT CAN MAKE YOU FALL HALL, 12) THE HALL OF VERY, VERY LIGHT THINGS, 13) THE HALL OF VERY, VERY HEAVY THINGS, 14) THE THINGS THAT CAN TICKLE YOU ROOM, 15) THE THINGS THAT ARE CUTE AND FURRY ROOM where Grover decides to display himself.
I know that all the above sounds like alot of reading but I'll let you in on a little secret: [whispering] it is not everything in the whole wide world! [Ha!] Grover notices this too and says "Where did they put everything else?" He comes to this giant double-door with a sign above it that of course says "EVERYTHING ELSE." "AHA!" says Grover and enters.
This is one of the best, funniest books we own that my daughter and I BOTH enjoy. There are plenty of objects for her to learn and it is great entertainment reading a book with the charming, loveable Grover in it and laughing at all of his antics! Every family should own this book! I wish more books were this funny and entertaining yet a learning experience at the same time! 10 STAR BOOK FOLKS; IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS! BUY IT!
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However, I am somewhat disappointed by the lack of substances (i.e., code, code, code to a developer like myself!) in the later chapters that deal with design strategies. It will have been a lot better if the book used an integrated sample to illustrate how to implement the design principles layed out in chapters 24 and 25. Instead, we have a chapter (30) which basically borrows a canned sample from Orion Server release, which in itself is OK but is not tightly related to earlier chapters. So if you already have servlets and JSP experience and would like to add EJB/JMS to the mix, I wouldn't recommend this book. Pick up the new book from Wrox on BEA WebLogic Server instead.
This thick tome weighs in at over a massive 1600 pages, far more material than would normally be expected for a book of its price. So what do you get for your money?
Well, this is more than just a book on a single Java technology, like servlets or RMI, or JavaServer Pages (JSP). With contributions from twenty one (21) authors, you've got the most comprehensive guide to Java server technologies, as well as related topics like XML, CORBA, RMI, Jini and JDBC. Then there's the extra material, on Enterprise JavaBeans, JavaMail and other core J2EE technologies.
This book covers the entire gamut of server-side programming, linking one technology to the next. If you're in a hurry, you won't want to read the book cover to cover. Instead, you can jump right in to the technologies you're interested, picking and choosing as you please. This approach works well, and is an important decision for commercial developers working to a schedule. It's a big book, but it's easy to select the sections you need, as you need them.
Like many books of its type, there's plenty of examples, but the authors strike a good balance between theory and practical applications. Unlike most books on server-side programming, there's also case studies for different technologies. I particularly liked this feature - it's something that is generally lacking from most books. Whether you're a fan of case studies or not is really a personal preference, but I found it a refreshing change and one that I believe many developers and managers will likewise welcome.
The writing style is very good, though you'll notice a difference from chapter to chapter as many authors contributed to the book. As far as length goes, 1600+ makes for a long title, but chapters need not be read sequentially to understand the various technologies involved, and it's fairly good value for such coverage. Some readers might prefer an introductory book on servlets (a good idea if you're only interested in small scale web development), but when it comes to coverage of all aspects of advanced server-side programming, Professional Java Server Programming J2EE Edition beats other titles hands down. If you've read the previous edition, but want the updated J2EE coverage, it might still be worth your while purchasing the new title for the updated material. -- David Reilly, for the Java Coffee Break
So here is my evaluation:
1. Read a tutorial or two from Javasoft on a given topic (including EJB). Then go through this book on that topic and you will find it much easier to follow.
2. Once you know the absolute basics you will know which sections to skip or read in detail. You will notice that they try to cover every little detail even though in some cases it may require a little more explanation.
3. Understand the fact that each topic can be a book of its own size.
4. I have seen some grammatical errors but given the difficult subject matters and the recentness of them I can definitely ignore them.
5. The book would have been better if a quick introduction was given with a simple but good example then if it went into the detail.
6. They probably should have given a bit more examples as they dove into the details but as it is the book is too thick to the point that it is bit difficult to handle. I wish they made it a multi-volume book and not a hard cover.
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