XML and Java, Developing Web Applications

WrinkledShirt writes: "There's a whole lot of posturing going on in the world on Internet programming right now, and with all of Microsoft's slick marketing for .NET there's never been a better time to remind the industry which platform got it right first. Enter XML and Java, Developing Web Applications (2nd Ed.) , a book that promises to show just how much of a heavy-hitter Java still is in the enterprise world. Because of the variety of technologies available for Java, Addison Wesley took the approach of bringing in a bunch of experts in the field to cover the different ways that Java and XML can work together. Considering the effort that went into coordinating this collaborative work, it couldn't possibly miss, right?" Read on to see how true that is, in Wrinkled's estimation. XML and Java, Developing Web Applications (2nd Ed.) author Hiroshi Maruyama, Kent Tamura, Naohiko Uramoto, Makoto Murata, Andy Clark, Yuichi Nakamura, Ryo Neyama, Kazuya Kosaka, Satoshi Hada pages 661 publisher Addison Wesley rating 6.5 reviewer WrinkledShirt ISBN 0-201-77004-0 summary An ambitious book, covers a fair amount of material, but lacks continuity.

Unfortunately, they might have put a little more thought into the bigger picture with this approach, because what they have ended up with is a book that reads like a play with two completely different acts: the second showing a wide variety of applications of XML for the Java platform, which works well enough, and the first, which attempts to teach the basics of working with XML and Java, which isn't quite so strong.

The Good

One look at the table of contents should convince you that the book rates pretty highly on buzzword compliance (XML, DOM, SAX, SOAP, XLST, WSDL, UDDI, JSP, EJB, etc.). When it comes to content that should impress your manager, you could do worse. The accompanying CD-ROM also comes with some neat stuff, like Tomcat, Jakarta and Xerces, and trial versions of WebSphere and DB2. As an added bonus, the code within has been tested on both Windows and Linux.

For the most part, the progression through the topics is well-directed, with in-depth discussion about the different means of XML parsing and generation using both DOM and SAX early on, and after going through the early chapters the reader should already have a decent idea about what techniques might fit their own personal projects. Tamura's chapters on DOM and SAX in particular stand out, not just for the coverage he gives the two, but also for his comparisons of one versus the other. They serve as a decent enough primer to prepare for the latter chapters, although the reader might be better equipped if they gained some extra foundation from other sources (more on this in a bit).

Despite the breadth of topics, they don't throw in the kitchen sink. Readers are expected to get their introductions to XML and Java elsewhere, and while one can probably get away with a surface understanding of XML and still get what they need out of the book, the same cannot be said for the needed Java knowledge. However, for someone who has a good understanding of Java and the various surrounding technologies (JavaBeans, Java Server Pages, and so on), there's some pretty good coverage of the different ways that XML can be incorporated. They've even taken care to provide appropriate supporting material, talking about where the various standards may be headed, some coverage on the theory behind Schema design, and there's even an appendix that explains JDBC, to serve as a counterpart to the chapter on XML and databases.

This book is in many ways an example of the way second editions should be. This book has double the chapters of the original, and efforts have been made to cover as much additional (but still relevant) material as possible, including XML Schemas, namespaces, messaging, web services with SOAP, and security. Some of these topics were in the first edition, but bunched together into a single chapter. In this book, they get individualized treatment.

The Not-So-Good

It's a hopeful endeavor to bring together nine authors and expect that there can still be stylistic continuity, and this book is a good example of what happens when the editor doesn't lay a heavy enough hand. There are inconsistencies from one chapter to the next in the way code snippets, method lists and diagrams are incorporated (in particular, the use of line numbering by Uramoto and others is unintelligible to the point of inspiring wrath). Furthermore, because each author handles their subject matter just a little bit differently, it's hard to get into any sort of a learning rhythm. In this case, the whole is probably weaker than the sum of its parts. A good section, like the one contributed by Tamura for instance, loses some of its luster if the chapters preceding it or following it aren't up to snuff, as is sometimes the case throughout the book.

To be fair, things do improve in the latter chapters when the authors are focusing on more specialized cases, and such expectations of continuity become somewhat moot. However, even then, the authors obviously have different opinions on how steep the learning curve needs to be. The chapter on JSP, for instance, eases you in and begins with simple examples, despite the fact that embedding programming code within HTML is pretty intuitive, comparatively speaking. The chapter on WSDL, on the other hand, makes no such assumptions of a beginner's audience, and it's trial by fire, with long stretches of code and in some cases nary a comment in sight. It's understandable that talking about distributed programming necessitates long code listings, but a newbie is going to experience some serious hymen-breaking here.

If there is any consistency, it's a pretty clear editorial bias towards Xerces over JAXP early in the book, including a special chapter on parser tricks specifically for Xerces. No real surprise there, as several of the others have been key contributors to IBM's open source project. Still, it's poor form to be using the pages of a learning guide to talk smack about one over the other, if for no other reason than the fact that it becomes a distraction to somebody who's trying to learn with an open mind towards all the possibilities. If a comparison is absolutely necessary, it deserves its own chapter away from the rest of the learning material. This brings up another problem, in that by mixing JAXP and Xerces techniques together early on, you run the risk of overwhelming a neophite who'd be glad to figure out just one way of doing things. There's already a marked difference between DOM and SAX parsing, and doubling this with the duality of JAXP vs. Xerces makes for an introduction that's a little too busy.

Also, what was mentioned in the previous section as one of this book's strengths is also a bit of an audience-limiter. If you try coming to this book without a solid founding in Java, there's a decent chance you'll find it difficult to get into this book. People who are already soured on Java will likely find their distaste further entrenched, and it's doubtful that anything beyond the most conceptual of the subject matter will be portable.

Conclusion

There's something to be said for bringing in the biggest authorities in the field to present a subject -- however, it's one thing to know a subject and another thing completely to know how to teach that subject well. John Madden once said that the best teachers are the ones who got C in school because they're the ones who best understand the intellectual bumps and bruises that can come from learning a new subject, and can help prepare and guide a student through them. There are no C students in this bunch -- readers are left to their own devices to keep up with the authors and fight through the numerous obstacles to get at the core knowledge within, which is admittedly impressive enough. Far be it for a lowly Slashdot contributor to tell the folks at Addison Wesley how to do their job, but on a third edition they might want to put the material through a stronger editorial filter to make things a little easier on the reader. This is definitely a book to preview in the bookstore very carefully before considering a purchase.

Table of Contents Preface.
1. Web Application, XML, and Java.
2. Parsing XML Documents.
3. Generating XML Documents.
4. Working with DOM.
5. Working with SAX.
6. Parser Tricks.
7. XPath and XSLT.
8. Bridging Application Data Structure and XML.
9. Working with Schemas: Datatypes and Namespaces.
10. XML Application Server.
11. XML and Database.
12. XML Messaging.
13. Web Services.
14. Security.
15. Data Binding.
16. Principles of Schema Languages.
Appendix A. About the CD-ROM.
Appendix B. Useful Links and Books.
Appendix C. XML-Related Standardized Activities.
Appendix D. JDBC Primer. Related Links Addison-Welsey website
W3C's XML page
Sun's Java page

You can purchase XML and Java, Developing Web Applications from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to submit yours, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Stored Procedures

[ulbador]

Java is the ONLY way to do efficient stored procedures in Oracle. PLSQL is nice for strict data chunking but anytime you need to do something useful like opening up a socket, Java is the way to go

bah

[Anonymous Coward]

3l33t 0p3n S0uRc3 d00dz always have and always will use C!

OO is just crap. The only people who care about speedy development are sell outs trying to meet a deadline for the man!

And buffer overflows that are always a part of C programs are important becuase it keeps fascist sysadmins from keeping root power from the users!

Java is just a tool of the man.

Programming languages should be frozen in time like it's 1969 forever! C forever!!!