Editorial Review :

Pure JSP gives a very concise conceptual overview of the JavaServer Pages technology and its related components. Once you have a firm foundation with the JSP technology, related topics such as JavaBeans, JDBC and Servlets are covered at a very high level. The book moves on to explain a large number of JSP techniques, which were determined by studying problems faced by JSP users in the professional world. The final section covers the more technical aspects of the JSP technology. Topics include related API's, server configuration, and charts and diagrams related to developing JSP applications.

Customer Review :

This book rocks!

Great examples, quick and too the point explanations make this a very good book to hit the ground running learning JSP.

If you are a professional developer like me, and you don't want to deal with a lot of lengthly overwritten explanations and books written by twenty different people (i.e., Wrox publications) this is the book to get. Goodwill knows his stuff when it comes to Java and he is able to convey it to the reader in an understandable way.

Also, check out "JavaServer Pages Application Development" by Ben Forta another very good JSP book.

Rating :

Short, but very usable.

Perfect little book for starting with Java Server Pages. I love small examples that actually work. There are a bunch in here. I learned a lot in a small amount of time with this book.

Rating :

Only for reference

Don't expect great things from this book. Just use it for reference. If you are doing JSP project then Web Development with JSP by Duane & Mark Kolb is excellent one.

Rating :

Very Easy Reading

I'll list the pros and cons from my perspective:

PROS:
1. Very short - Sometimes size does matter. In this case, there was no over-extensive analyzations of the code. Only key portions.

2. Covered some of the essentials of JSP programming. JDBC, Connection pooling, XML, Servlet integration, JavaMail. As short as this book was, it still did a nice job giving examples of the usage which is what most books do anyways.

3. Covers basic tags used in JSP and also usage of JavaBeans.

Cons:

1. Did anybody else notice that the cover says it covers ASP, HTML, and Servlets? (NOTE: ASP?????)

2. No mention of Tag Libs which are a big part of JSP. It does require a lot of detail but at least a small taste of it would be nice.

3. It would have been nicer if the author moved the setting up of the Tomcat server section to the beginning so that the examples could be tried as you went.

Other than the above mentioned items, this is definitley a good book to purchase. The price is kinda hefty but it does provide a nice overview of the JSP technology and the basics of what you would need to know.

Like a reader mentioned before, pretty much, this book covers all that you will need to know for JSP.

I have already worked with JSP so I was able to fly through the book in 2 hours without typing all of the examples. Just thought I'd throw that out there just in case anyone was wondering on how much time it would consume.

Rating :

all code no explanation

I only skimmed the book but the impression I was left with was, that the book is all code and no overview explanation. No indepth details just a bit of how to handle forms, how to send a mail with javamail, how to get startet on JDBC - stuff you easily can extract from the Java API.

All the interesting stuff as how to structure taglibs, servlets etc. was by far left out (I can't recollect ever seeing anything about taglibs at all in the "book")

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Editorial Review :

Special Edition Using JSP and Servlets starts by detailing the evolution of web servers that led to the creation of ASP and JSP. It explains both the limitations of previous technologies and the benefits that JSP provides including platform independence. Includes coverage of: organizing applications with multiple files and client-side objects, generating well-formed XML using JSP, storing data in cookies and sessions, interacting with Enterprise Java Beans, displaying dynamic graphics with Java 2D, and using RMI and Corba to enhance JSP applications. The final chapters demonstrate advanced JSP & Servlet techniques, including using JSP to create wireless & XML-based applications. Appendices provide an overview of popular JSP & Servlet runtime environments, including Jrun, Tomcat and ServletExec.

Customer Review :

Fabulous Book

I've never been so happy to find a book as I've been to find this one! If you're like me, this is the perfect book for you, and from what I can tell, it's one of a kind.

I'd seen books on Java (servlets), books on JSP, books on XML, and understand the concepts of presentation/application/data layers for web applications. Unfortunately, all the books seemed to treat these techonologies as if they were stand-alone solutions. The clear focus of this book is how to get these technologies to work together to provide an elegant, modular, and easily maintainable solution to application problems.

Even in the first chapters (basic JSP application), the book is already laying out it's primary theme. It specifically draws your attention to the way the JSP's use Java in two basic areas. The first half being the creation and manipulation of objects, and the second half being the presentation of the data. It then explains that in a few chapters you'll learn that the top half should be in a servlet and the JSP should focus on the second half.

IRT some of the other reviews I've read...

Yes, you need to know some Java. This book isn't going to explain classes, polymorphism, inheritance, or interfaces to you -- it expects that you know what they mean. But simply working through a few Sun trails or a Java-in-24-hours type book will be enough.

Also, if the phrase "multi-tier application architecture" sounds like a foreign language phrase, then this book isn't really focused toward the obstacles that you're currently dealing with. A good chunk (about 1/2, I'd say) of the book is meant to clear up how to use these technologies in a multi-tier environment. If you don't know what one is, then a lot of the book is going to seem irrelevant.

But if you do know what "multi-tier" means, and you have understanding of the technologies, this is the book that fills in the gaps involved with integrating them together in a single solution.

Rating :

All for developing a Web Application

Correct cover of Servlets and JSPs issues and the relationships between them. How to work with each one, and how to combine them in different architectures. Also a good and useful explanation of the MVC paradigm and good examples of web applications develpment.

Rating :

Fabulous Book!!

I've never been so happy to find a book as I've been to find this one! If you're like me, this is the perfect book for you, and from what I can tell, it's one of a kind.

I'd seen books on Java (servlets), books on JSP, books on XML, and understand the concepts of presentation/application/data layers for web applications. Unfortunately, all the books seemed to treat these techonologies as if they were stand-alone solutions. The clear focus of this book is how to get these technologies to work together to provide an elegant, modular, and easily maintainable solution to application problems.

Even in the first chapters (basic JSP application), the book is already laying out it's primary theme. It specifically draws your attention to the way the JSP's use Java in two basic areas. The first half being the creation and manipulation of objects, and the second half being the presentation of the data. It then explains that in a few chapters you'll learn that the top half should be in a servlet and the JSP should focus on the second half.

IRT some of the other reviews I've read...

Yes, you need to know some Java. This book isn't going to explain classes, polymorphism, inheritance, or interfaces to you -- it expects that you know what they mean. But simply working through a few Sun trails or a Java-in-24-hours type book will be enough.

Also, if the phrase "multi-tier application architecture" sounds like a foreign language phrase, then this book isn't really focused toward the obstacles that you're currently dealing with. A good chunk (about 1/2, I'd say) of the book is meant to clear up how to use these technologies in a multi-tier environment. If you don't know what one is, then a lot of the book is going to seem irrelevant.

But if you do know what "multi-tier" means, and you have understanding of the technologies, this is the book that fills in the gaps involved with integrating them together in a single solution.

Rating :

Good for syntax, bad for "Using Java"

This book has an excellent first few chapters. It really introduces the Java language, explains how it works, and makes it fairly easy to keep up. Once you start getting into the technologies that surround Java, such as database connections and CORBA, this book gets tough to follow. There is code example after code example with little or no explanation of what the code is doing step by step. I know that I like when the author walks me through code so I can understand the first time, and not have to look at more examples. This book does not do that. Overall I think there is material to be learned from this book, though I'm not sure if it's easily extracted. I haven't read the WROX JSP book, but from what I have seen, that might be a better way to go.

Rating :

Must have for serious developers

I normally don't write book reviews but I saw this book had some poor reviews and felt it necessary to add my two-cents worth. This is probably the best servlet book I've ever read and I've read several. The book explains obscure points that aren't entirely clear in the specification itself and cautions against problems that aren't obvious unless you're a very experienced programmer. It also provides lots of invaluable suggestions for those of us trying to figure out exactly how the J2EE architecture should be implemented. If you're just learning servlets, Java, or web programming you probably want to start with a simpler book.

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Customer Review :

not for Java programmers

Excellent writing style. BUT, I concur with another reviewer - too many details are left out of the first few chapters and there is an over-reliance on the O'Reilly tag library. I like books that do not require me to download sample code and sit in front of a PC to understand. The writing should be self-contained.

Overall - it reads quite well. But my frustration peaked after chapter 8.

Rating :

Examples are very good

This second-edition is very good...provides excellent coverage
of all JSP topics. The examples are VERY helpful. (I also use
the free Tomcat V4.x application-server to host the book
examples and example code that I've developed.)

Rating :

Excellent Book!

This book really gets you up to speed with JSP / JSTL! Clear information on the concepts and the background, lot's of real world examples that allow you to build your own application faster than you ever thought.

Rating :

A great book to learn JSP

This book is by far the best book to JSP - the latest version. It gave me some ideas. This book is loaded with useful code. This book is great for two kinds of programmer: a beginner and for the experienced developer. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn JSP.

Michael

Rating :

An essential reference text...

Review
So, you're surfing a web site and hit a web page that ends with the extension .jsp. Looks like a regular web page to you, and if you view the source, it still looks like regular HTML. So what is a .jsp page, anyway? This book will tell you everything you need to know, both as to what they are, how they work, and how you can start using the technology in your development projects. Provided you have a basic understanding of Java, this book will work well for you.

The book starts off with an explanation of what JSPs are and why you would use them. Basically, it provides a way to generate dynamic web pages using snippets of Java code. Logically, it's much like ActiveServer Pages (ASP) code as provided by Microsoft, only using Java instead of Visual Basic. It then goes into the benefits of generating content in this fashion, and how it's a superior method to other technologies such as CGI and ASP coding. The rest of the book then goes into great detail (with a large number of examples) on the specifics of JSP syntax. The author does an excellent job of meshing the approach of a tutorial with actual detail that can be referenced after you start developing applications.

The author assumes the use of the Tomcat J2EE server package to learn JSP technology. Tomcat is a free download from www.apache.org, and it's easy to load and configure. But don't dispair if you are using a different web server. The examples are very generic and portable, and with very little effort you can adapt the information to whatever platform you use. In my case, I was using the Websphere platform and had no problems using that server to work my way through the book.

Ok... You're a Notes/Domino developer who is wondering why you should care about this stuff. It's not Notes, and you don't know Java, so why bother? Well, there is a whole area of Domino development now codenamed "NextGen" that will allow you to access Domino data and application components within a J2EE environment. Much of this new approach to developing applications based on Domino will involve the use of servlets for business logic and JavaServer Pages to display the traditional forms and views. Furthermore, Domino 6 provides custom tag libraries that do much of the "Notes-y" stuff for you when you are working with JSPs. In order to start moving in this direction with Domino, you'll need to start learning about JSP technology, and this book will start you in that direction. And if you are thinking about working with portals, you HAVE to learn this stuff. Portlets are nothing more than an extension of servlet classes and JSPs to display the data.

Conclusion
If you want to keep moving along in the IBM/Lotus world, servlet and JSP technologies are in your future. While you may not need it right now, you WILL need it. I highly recommend this book as a great starter text on the subject that will grow with you as you learn and work with JSPs.

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Customer Review :

Practically Useless

This book is subtitled, "A practical guide for designing and building dynamic web services". Yeah, right. Although the book is aimed at beginning to intermediate JSP developers, the authors fail miserably to communicate to their target audience. Basically, you'll find yourself re-reading section after section, wondering what the authors are trying to say, and why the book is so chock full of Java code listings, with only a smattering of JSP. Other books handle the learning curve of JSP much more effectively. In fact, you're better off just using any of a number of tutorials on the Internet for learning the basics and intermediary aspects of JSP. What the authors should have done is follow the lead set with 'PHP and MySQL Web Development'. In this case, the "practical guide" was practically useless.


Rating :

Best JSP book

This has been a very good buy for me. It explains all the JSP concepts well and also has very good information on javabeans. If you're a beginner with little or no knowledge in JSP, then this is a great place to start with.

Rating :

Entirely too technical

This book is exactly what I *didn't* need. I have a project due in 2 weeks, I don't know JSP and need to create something Yesterday. This book seems to want to tell me everything I don't want to know upfront and saves anything useful for chapters 16+. Reading the first 10 chapters, I don't know if I can make it through the next 6 in order to get to something helpful. Don't buy this book.

Rating :

Amazing JSP introduction book

This book can also be used as reference.

Great care is also shown in providing lot of code examples that are on the point in each chapter.

My favourite chapters are "Filters and listeners", "design choices in case of an enterprise system"(whole chapter is dedicated for this) and "how to build custom tags".

Authors approach not only enriches a programmer's mind with JSP details but also in a way that is longlasting.

Rating :

Gets better as it goes on

I've been coding JSP professionally for nearly a decade, and all I've ever actually read about the topic was what I found on the Sun website. I picked up this book to round out my knowledge as well as to pick up a few pointers.

I was actually getting a bit nervous about this book when I was five chapters in or so... it looked like nothing but a rehash of the publicly available JSP documentation, albeit presented in an easier-to-read, conversational style. However, once the authors get past the "here are the details" part, they start presenting examples, which turned out to be excellent. In fact, the discussion of "back button" issues in chapter 9 was worth the entire price of the book - it turned out to be a useful solution to a problem I was having the day I read it.

One thing I particularly liked about this book was that it stayed almost "laser-focused" on the topic of JSP. Other than a brief foray into JDBC, the authors managed to fill up 500+ pages with JSP details and examples. Of course, the treatment of the syntax is encyclopedic and authoritative, but the examples make the book.

Unfortunately, the best feature is also the worst feature, as the example code is riddled with syntax errors. If you're going to try to follow along, be prepared for some rough going - you'll be debugging frustrating syntax errors (which are 10 times worse in a JSP page than in a Java program, since there's no compiler to help you out). Also, I can see this book being very frustrating to somebody new to JSP, because although there's quite a bit of code presented, there aren't many pointers on how to run it. If you already know how to get a JSP application up and running, you won't particularly notice, but I wouldn't recommend this as an "introduction to JSP" book.

I would, however, wholeheartedly recommend this to anybody with a bit of familiarity with JSP who wants to make sure they've gotten the whole picture.

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Customer Review :

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