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Java Web Services in a Nutshell
I expected this book to be similar to other "Nutshell" books that I like and am familiar with: a very accurate and concise description of the domain, followed by a huge API reference. Well, I was pleasantly surprised: this book reads more like a tutorial, yet it is a reference in the sense that you can easily read its parts independently, and its index is quite useful and complete.
The book covers all technologies necessary for defining, implementing, and deploying Web Services for both client and server sides:
- WSDL (Web Services Definition Language), the XML-based interface definition language (and more); CORBA folks: this is your IDL for the Web Services platform, only not as easily read or understood. Not to worry: there are GUI-based editors for this thing, many of them are free. Plus the book explains WSDL format and structure in a great detail.
- JAXR, a client-side interface for extraction of business and service information from the compliant Web Service registries.
- JAX-RPC (two chapters: basic and advanced); at the application level this technology is similar to CORBA using Java.
- JAXM, a high level standard-based generic interface to messaging that is implemented by a messaging provider. It offers the benefits of asynchronous messaging, robust message delivery, and message profiles (use of SOAP message headers).
- SAAJ is a low-level Java interface to SOAP; under the hood some of the mentioned technologies use it.
For each of these technologies the author dedicates enormous effort to showing intricate but very relevant technical details without obscuring the big picture. There is a necessary but not overwhelming amount of Java code and XML. You will be able to reuse the examples since they are very clear.
The book has a chapter on Web Services tools and configuration files. This is a very helpful chapter: the business of defining deployment descriptors by hand is a messy job; presence of this chapter makes the job a bit easier. A small but helpful API reference may be found at the end of the volume.
If you need to understand the details of how to build, implement, and deploy Web Services, you will not be disappointed. There is absolutely no hype in this book! Considering the topic, nowadays this alone is an achievement.
Web Services technology is not the "Web Stuff," it is not related to browsing the WWW, and it does not pertain to the services offered by the WWW vendors (unless Web Services is what they sell). It is a fast-growing technology for programming in the distributed computing environment. Judging by the hype and money being spent on it by the leading powerhouses, it is going to be very prolific and important technology in the near future. Want to know more? -- Read the book!
You can purchase Java Web Services in a Nutshell from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
It's not just you. That was a real pain in the ass to read.
Someone want to fix that?
What next? A duplicate article posting?
I wish they had managed to call it something besides "Web Services" when it doesn't have a lot to do with the "World Wide Web". That's been the biggest point of confusion I've found trying to explain web services to semi-technical people.
The services part hasn't been much better than the Web part, but at least it's mostly fitting.
The book reviewed is a pretty good overview. I just wish they had spent more time on typical internal corporate uses and tools to convert/interact with existing legacy software products.
You can find some similar related books at BUR - Web Services/Soap. I am looking forward to the days when standards like this combined with older stuff like XML and CSS make combining and processing data from disparete sources becomes a lot easier than it typically is now!
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
Mebbe I'll review "HTML formatting in a Nutshell" for them.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
So, I found it interesting that the author has chosen to include JAXM in his book. I have no beef against JAXM, it works as stated. But the threat of abandoned developments concerns me... Does JAXM have some life left in it yet? Does the author know something we don't?
libTurtle SDK on the Half Shell.
WINE in a Cask.
The freshmeat.net Handbook from the Butcher.
I love all the silly food/drink references we deal with every day in the IT field.
/* * pope1 */
You think that they'll get the hint?
Where's your damned 'Preview' Button now?
in a computer case? I mean, size and insulation of a nutshell are going to lead to overheating quite quickly.
Wow, why bother typing out that review when you could have just posted a link to ORA's description. ;)
Can anyone explain the differences between "Java Web Services in a Nutshell" and "Java Web Services" both published by O'Reilly? Look very similar with the latter probably a bit outdated seeing as it was published March 2002. Is this Nutshell book just a rehash of the other book but with updated API's?
I expected this book to be similar to other "Nutshell" books that I like and am familiar with: a very accurate and concise description of the domain, followed by a huge API reference. Well, I was pleasantly surprised: this book reads more like a tutorial, yet it is a reference in the sense that you can easily read its parts independently, and its index is quite useful and complete.
The book covers all technologies necessary for defining, implementing, and deploying Web Services for both client and server sides:
* WSDL (Web Services Definition Language), the XML-based interface definition language (and more); CORBA folks: this is your IDL for the Web Services platform, only not as easily read or understood. Not to worry: there are GUI-based editors for this thing, many of them are free. Plus the book explains WSDL format and structure in a great detail.
* JAXR, a client-side interface for extraction of business and service information from the compliant Web Service registries.
* JAX-RPC (two chapters: basic and advanced); at the application level this technology is similar to CORBA using Java.
* JAXM, a high level standard-based generic interface to messaging that is implemented by a messaging provider. It offers the benefits of asynchronous messaging, robust message delivery, and message profiles (use of SOAP message headers).
* SAAJ is a low-level Java interface to SOAP; under the hood some of the mentioned technologies use it.
For each of these technologies the author dedicates enormous effort to showing intricate but very relevant technical details without obscuring the big picture. There is a necessary but not overwhelming amount of Java code and XML. You will be able to reuse the examples since they are very clear.
The book has a chapter on Web Services tools and configuration files. This is a very helpful chapter: the business of defining deployment descriptors by hand is a messy job; presence of this chapter makes the job a bit easier. A small but helpful API reference may be found at the end of the volume.
If you need to understand the details of how to build, implement, and deploy Web Services, you will not be disappointed. There is absolutely no hype in this book! Considering the topic, nowadays this alone is an achievement.
Web Services technology is not the "Web Stuff," it is not related to browsing the WWW, and it does not pertain to the services offered by the WWW vendors (unless Web Services is what they sell). It is a fast-growing technology for programming in the distributed computing environment. Judging by the hype and money being spent on it by the leading powerhouses, it is going to be very prolific and important technology in the near future. Want to know more? -- Read the book!
Ref: Amazon has it for $4 less and with free shipping!
http://www.cgisecurity.net/ws/
http://www.cgisecurity.net/development/java.shtml
I have to go buy a side-scrolling mouse, brb
Scurvey!
I have to implement a set of web services here on (I know, I know, not my choice) MS SQL 2000 Server. I have the option of using ASP (gack), Perl, or PHP, or any combination thereof. At first, probably mostly HTTP GET and POSTs, but eventually we'll implement SOAP.
What books (O'Reilly?), if any, are a 'must have' for this type of work, and these tools? I know my way around PHP reasonably well, Perl at a not-quite-amateur-not-quite-pro level, and ASP / Java not at all. I've got two months, give or take, so I don't want to take the time to get up to speed on a whole new language.
Any first-hand recommendations would be much appreciated; I've got to order books today (found out yesterday)...
Argh.
THANKS!!!
geek. lawyer.
I think web services are a great idea, but from my understanding of them, it really is an all or nothing concept... either everyone has to use them and supply them or they are (mostly) useless to the general public...
"I expected this book to be similar to other "Nutshell" books that I like and am familiar with:
a very accurate and concise description of the domain, followed by a huge API reference."
Which is exactly what I'm looking for when buying a Nutshell book and expect to get.
"this book reads more like a tutorial"
Which is precisely what I don't want when buying a Nutshell book.
Thanks for the review, you may have saved me grave diappointment.
KFG
I have the book "Web Services Essentials", also from O'Reilly. I'm curious how the Nutshell book differs. The review makes it sound quite similar.
At any rate, the Essentials book is a good overview of all the relevant technologies and can help you start to see the "forest". I would actually recommend it for PHBs who have 1/2 a technical clue.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
This field is still embryonic. Thus far, few (none?) commercial mission-critical applications exist. Also, the standard for secure Web Services is still jelling. True, there is always HTTPS. But it doesn't seem to allow for finer grained encryption and the field is casting for a better answer. So the choice is yours. Wait a year or so till some of these issues get resolved. Or, more pertinently perhaps, you want make an impact in this field now?
Not just you. And I didn't see a page widening post that could have been the culprit.
It looks like typical assholeism from the janitors.
Y'know, Web Services may--may--be an absolutely wonderful thing, but this review has done slightly less than nothing to convince me otherwise. I'll readily admit that I look askance at Web Services because all I read or hear about them comes from four-color glossies loaded with as many new acronyms as hyperbolic business-speak. I will admit that I know next to nothing about these services from the technical standpoint, and I will further acknowledge that if I were to read these books, I could very well be won over by them.
That said, this review did absolutely nothing to make me want to pick these books up. The main body of your review consists of bulleted list of acronyms that does little more than define them by using other, more commonly recognized acronyms. You then go on to tell us that it's a good book without giving us any reasons beyond a nebulous "the author dedicates enormous effort to showing intricate but very relevant technical details without obscuring the big picture". Well, gosh, that sums up just about any technical manual worth it's salt, man! What makes this one special? What about this book is going to fix the "wrong ideas" I have about Web Services?
You talk about how the book contains no hype (I do hope you appreciate the irony of ending that sentence with an exclamation point, by the way.) You then close the review with "Judging by the hype and money being spent on it by the leading powerhouses, it is going to be very prolific and important technology in the near future." If you're trying to correct misconceptions about Web Services, I can only assume that you want more and more technical people to view Web Services as the Fad-Of-The-Week for PHB's worldwide and not a useful, powerful technology.
This isn't a review, it's an outline of the book, and a rambling one, at that. Tell us what makes it a good book, dammit! Tell us why we're wrong about Web Services being little more than marketing fluff and flashy buzzwords!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
9 - good
8 - average
7 - poor
The last ten book reviews on slashdot have ratings that all fall within this range. The lowest had a rating of 7, the highest, 9.
Does anyone know if they cover JAX-OFF?
No. This API has not been shown to scale well into a team environment making it unsuitable for "enterprise" deployments. It also has problems where projects that use it tend to be exhausted before fully satisfying the requirements. Even further diminishing this API's future is its tendancy to get very little real work done in spite of its network bandwidth consumption.
JAX-OFF is slated to be replaced, soon, by a better ground-up implementation of the Java API for Occidental Rectilinear Groupware Interfacing. This new API promises much better scaling potential, where any number of people and businesses can join into the web services phenomenon. It also has a very low learning curve, where practically anyone is capable of making money with it.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
You have to do XML-requests to open it.
:wq!
I have two words for you: compress and encrypt. :-)
Business-critical XML should be sent over SSL or something similar...
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait
its a hidden trick to make you switch to konqueror!
Check it out
Hey, it does work in Konqueror!
-Tri.
Does anyone know if they cover JAX-OFF?
No. This API has not been shown to scale well into a team environment making it unsuitable for "enterprise" deployments.
You must be new here. Slashdotters use the token ring based technology known as the circle jerk.
I do webservice programming myself. and to make it short: this is one of the best books on the topic ever
".Sig Stealer" was here
Slashdotters use the token ring based technology known as the circle jerk.
That must be why Slashdot goes off-line every so often. Someone passes the token and, then, realizes they don't want it back, so the token gets taken away, cleaned, and the circle is rebooted.
Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
Want to know more? -- Read the book!<nobr>
That is causing the following horizintal rule and "buy it here" line to expand the page. How rude.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
I think the "Web Services" is not a buzzword any more.
What slashdot readers feel about "Web Services", is it still cool?
My good sir, you have amused me. Well done.
See, you're reading it! Now that's marketing!
"Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest that I am hard to turn" -- A Scots-Irish prayer
nice try. However, the referrals are for bn.com! Anyone know for sure if the referral goes entirely to slashdot or if they kickback to the author?
One of the few times geeks use soap.
O'Reilly's latest offering, FOO in a Nutshell, dispells many of the myths surrounding FOO and shows it to be a worthy contender in the BAR arena. Even though BAZ, QUX, and QUUX have been proposed as alternatives to FOO, only FOO provides the full power of SNERGLE to MUMBLE programmers.
Chapter 1 is the introduction, chapters 2-73 are the stuff that comes after the introduction, and then comes the index, which has some really good stuff in it.
So, in short, FOO in a Nutshell is better than anything else at explaining why you should incorporate DWEEZIL into your FLARK.
Rating: 9.5/10
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
Nice job with the line breaks there, buddy!! Because of your mistake (and the editor's) anyone who is really interested in this topic will have to suffer through horizontal scrolling (big deterrant).
Don't the editors have a preview button (or common sense for fsck's sake)?
Corporate Gadfly
Jonathan Archer: the most beaten up Enterprise captain in Star Trek history
- Castor is a free tool which allows you to convert XML to Java objects and back. If you build a servlet that returns the XML string that represents an object then you essentially have a Web Service.
- Apache Axis a free implementation of SOAP and web services. Oddly enough, if you browse the source code of Axis you'll see Castor packages.
Just two technologies that wern't mentioned in the article. You might find them more useful than the ones that were.- For the -wsdl2java option there isn't any documented way to set an http-proxy host (I think my workaround was to call after calling Ant's setproxy target first and then calling wscompile in an Ant target)
- the "config.xml" documentation or even the DTD can't be found anywhere!
Sun did a poor job of making the whole web services creation easy (ugh!Of course real developers would only use SSL where it makes sense :)
We don't want to serve our public product catalog from a SSL server, now would we...
RESTful web services are the services primarily in place today: they utilize existing WWW security standards, are easy to implement and debug, and are available today.
it looks just fine in safari, but quite a mess mozilla 1.4 on mac os x.
"Other bands play, but Manowar KILLS"
There is also secure SOAP, so things can continue to run on whatever protocol they were designed for.
We don't want to serve our public product catalog from a SSL server, now would we...
I was using "business critical" to mean concealing important company information such as credit card numbers.
You might as well complain about the bandwidth wasted by all that nasty HTML flying around out there.
The backbone-level carriers should be losslessly compressing everything at that level if compression is actually cheaper than adding more bandwidth.
However, I also understand there is quite a bandwidth surplus these days (on an Internet-wide scale) so it may just not be an issue. I also found the prediction out of MIT that network bandwidth would vastly exceed other computing resources going forward due to widely available optical fiber quite interesting.
There, I win the run-on sentence contest for today. Time for another cup of coffee. ;-)
Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
Score: -1 100% Flamebait