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Java Frameworks and Components
The book works through a logical progression, starting with a discussion of what a framework is (and, of course, what it isn't) before moving on to an examination of the benefits that they bring to development efforts. The meat of the book is in the next couple of chapters where a framework (no pun intended) is explored to select and compare frameworks. A list of current frameworks is given, each being described, with strengths and weaknesses highlighted.
The trailing chapters cover aspects of development that are affected by the use of frameworks, including the obvious ones like IDE support and methodologies.
What's To Like The aspect that most impressed me was the depth of research that has obviously gone into this book. I think most of us know that frameworks are good, and a reasonable number of us could list several reasons why they are good, but I suspect that very few of us could generate such a comprehensive and cogent rationale for using a framework.The information density in this book is quite high. Normally, I read technical books quite quickly, but this one took a while, because every good point prompted much thought and consideration. This was impressive to me after seeing so many books coming to the market that have simplification as their rationale for existence. The selection of an appropriate framework for web application development is not a simple task and this book takes it very seriously.
While non-free frameworks might be a non-issue for some of the Slashdot crowd, those of us working in corporate I.S. have to be very aware of the differences and our local management's attitudes concerning it. The book does come out strongly in favour of open-source and free software, but does not let this bind the discussion in any way. Commercial and free software are judged equally and fairly throughout.
Pragmatic is a much over-used word these days, but I would describe this book as pragmatic. The advice given concerning framework selection, urged people to consider many factors, including existing frameworks used in-house, the type of project, the degree of accordance between the services provided by the framework and the requirements for the system being written. I have seen many a framework selected because it was buzzword compliant, so this advice was a refreshing change.
What's To ConsiderAfter enjoying the book, to reach the case studies and be disappointed was, well, disappointing. The case studies seemed rushed and lacking in substance. The idea of comparing and contrasting the four leading frameworks to solve the same problem was a good one, but somehow it didn't quite come off. The Struts case study got to me the most: I have conniptions everytime I see business logic in actions! Perhaps the case studies could be dropped in a future edition?
SummaryA tour de force! With only one quibble, this is the definitive work on Web application frameworks.
Table Of Contents1. Components and Application Frameworks
2. Components: The Future of Web-Application Development
3. Application Frameworks: What Do They Provide and What Are the Benefits?
4. Choosing an Application Framework
5. A Catalog of Application Frameworks
6. Comparing Frameworks
7. Open Source and Components/Frameworks
8. Development Methodologies and Design Patterns
9. Integrated Development Environments
10. Strategies for Using Frameworks: Best Practices
11. Conclusions: The Future of Frameworks and Components
Appendix. Case Studies
You can purchase Java Frameworks and Components: Accelerate Your Web Application Development from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
Who writes the frameworks? HAL 9000? Nanomachines?
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
With all of the high-quality frameworks available today, it's no longer necessary to even think about writing low-level code.
And all this time i've been writing all my bytecode with a hex editor, like a sucker.
I smoke GNU/Pot that I roll myself.
Your're hired! Welcome to StupidTech. We chose you for your burning desire to re-invent the wheel for the purposes of security through obscurity and the belief that your code is better than anyone else's and that code re-use is for morons who can't write their own file load routines. Get cracking! We will be paying you based on how much code you don't re-use!
Why is an ATM vulnerable to an RPC worm? Because the people who made the ATM were dumb enough to run it on Win2k, which was running DCOM _by default_, they did'nt know it was a security problem until it was too late. "Lets just run all our ATMs on Win2k, that should be safe..."
Ximian is using 1.7% memory currently. I've never found it to be a memory hog.. mozilla on the other hand..
The MS ASPX interpreter sucks. No question. PHP has problems, no question. If you are going to insist on using crappy frameworks, then this book is probably not for you. Had your read it, you probably would have found some insight into selecting *good* frameworks, and when/where to use them. For those of us who don't have all the time in the world to write every layer of every application we need to create, frameworks are a necessity.
TallGreen CMS hosting
Bollocks Bollocks Bollocks. As someone who has recently started working with a large code base in Python, I can assure you it is possible to write unreadable code in python.
Having Readable code depends entreily on the programmer who wrote the code and very little on the language they use.