Java Web Services in a Nutshell

milaf writes "Surprisingly many people have absolutely wrong ideas about Web Services. I think that the hype and perceived simplicity of everything having to do with the Web are to blame. Well, that, and the wide-spread 'confidence through ignorance' among us." Read on for milaf's review of the O'Reilly-published Java Web Services in a Nutshell, which he says displaces hype with good information. Java web services in a nutshell author Kim Topley pages 642 publisher O'Reilly rating 9/10 reviewer Alex ISBN 0596003994 summary Excellent book on Web Services for Java developers, related standards and technologies

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!

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