Rating: 
Summary: Great book - but Rod's own framework?
Review: This is a great book - by far the best J2EE design book I have read to date. Approximately the first half of the book contains not just the HOW, but the WHY of J2EE design - this is exactly what I was after, and this book certainly provides it.My only (somewhat minor) dissapoinment with the book was the fact that a lot of the examples were not built around existing frameworks, but were based around Rod's own frameworks. For example, instead of using Struts, Rod uses his own MVC web framework. Even though Rod's frameworks are probably *better* than some that are out there - it would have been nice to read "portable" examples that can be plugged into existing frameworks. Having said that, I still think the book is an excellent buy, and a must for any serious J2EE developer/designer/architect that wants to understand WHY you should architect your J2EE system in a particular way - not just HOW.
Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional in Every Way
Review: This is exactly the book I needed to design a wJ2EE based web delivery system - Rod Johnson has done the developer community an *exceptional* service by sharing/communicating his experience and insights in J2EE development so effectively. The "working through" of the various design alternatives and the decision process in a thoughtful and balanced manner is essential to the success of the book - in particular I found it most useful to consider the pros and cons (in some detail) of the various options in the "universe of possibilities" before making a final decision on specific implementation technologies - Rod Johnson has distilled his experience in the field so that senior developers such as myself may build on his experience rather than repeating it. My sincere complements to him for a job well done.
Rating:
Summary: I agree with all the other 5-star reviews
Review: This is one of the best technical books I've ever read, regardless of topic. Johnson has an amazing technical mind and is a great writer, to boot. It has achieved the nickname "the red book" (as in "go see what the red book says") on my team, because that's where I send people for ideas and examples. On the strength of this book, I selected the Spring Framework (an open source project based almost in whole on the concepts and code from this book) for my current team's project, and I have not one qualm about the decision. The team really loves Spring as well, and have become better programmers by having seen it in action. A couple of weeks ago I preordered "Expert One-on-One J2EE Development without EJB", which should prove to have more up-to-date coverage on Spring and more great ideas from Johnson and Hoeller. I'm very much looking forward to it.
Rating:
Summary: I agree with all the other 5-star reviews
Review: This is one of the best technical books I've ever read, regardless of topic. Johnson has an amazing technical mind and is a great writer, to boot. It has achieved the nickname "the red book" (as in "go see what the red book says") on my team, because that's where I send people for ideas and examples. On the strength of this book, I selected the Spring Framework (an open source project based almost in whole on the concepts and code from this book) for my current team's project, and I have not one qualm about the decision. The team really loves Spring as well, and have become better programmers by having seen it in action. A couple of weeks ago I preordered "Expert One-on-One J2EE Development without EJB", which should prove to have more up-to-date coverage on Spring and more great ideas from Johnson and Hoeller. I'm very much looking forward to it.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book!
Review: This is the best book I have yet run across for J2EE architecture. This book is a treasure trove of practical advice and examples. Rod also debunks and corrects many of the classic myths and misunderstandings of J2EE.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for J2EE Developers, and Solution Architects
Review: This is the one if not the only book on the market that can truly serve you as a comprehensive manual for J2EE solution architectures. Every line in this book is worth of gold. It personally helped me justify, reinforce, discover or solidify some very important architectural desicions in my practice.
For instance there is a whole section on presentation tier technology choices. That section covers all of the popular frameworks and technologies (JSP, Struts, XSLT,...).
Each technology is described in terms of what it is, and what are its benefits and drawbacks. Then there is a very good code samples section. Author uses one application throughout the book, and then implements it using various technologies.
Moreover, he suggests you when does it make sense, and when does it not to implement the technology as a solution. It is amazing how much wisdom is built into this book. Of course some of the APIs covered in the book will be outdated (EJB 2.1), but that does not bother me much. The wisdom is what matters. Writing in general is very thorough, very practical and reinforced with some very strong real life examples.
Author obviously posseses the maturity and experience that
is so rare to find.
It is a great professional resource, and career builder.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable resource for any serious user of J2EE
Review: When I first heard about my coworkers talking about this book, I thought "oh great, another J2EE book!" Much to my surprise (& delight), this book is not a how-to recipe book at all, but rather a collection of valuable suggestions on how to use J2EE and build high-quality J2EE applications. What sets this book apart from other run-of-the-mill Java/J2EE books is it gives you suggestions distilled from lessons learned in the battlefield (not regurgitated marketing shpiel from vendors), and it tells you exactly WHY. Moreover, it tells you what the tradeoffs are for each design option you take, which is almost never mentioned in any technical books and only obtainable from work experience. I'm just glad I'd bought and read this book, because it really helped me to raise my game, and I can now design apps with much more confidence.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable resource for any serious user of J2EE
Review: When I first heard about my coworkers talking about this book, I thought "oh great, another J2EE book!" Much to my surprise (& delight), this book is not a how-to recipe book at all, but rather a collection of valuable suggestions on how to use J2EE and build high-quality J2EE applications. What sets this book apart from other run-of-the-mill Java/J2EE books is it gives you suggestions distilled from lessons learned in the battlefield (not regurgitated marketing shpiel from vendors), and it tells you exactly WHY. Moreover, it tells you what the tradeoffs are for each design option you take, which is almost never mentioned in any technical books and only obtainable from work experience. I'm just glad I'd bought and read this book, because it really helped me to raise my game, and I can now design apps with much more confidence.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable resource for any serious user of J2EE
Review: When I first heard about my coworkers talking about this book, I thought "oh great, another J2EE book!" Much to my surprise (& delight), this book is not a how-to recipe book at all, but rather a collection of valuable suggestions on how to use J2EE and build high-quality J2EE applications. What sets this book apart from other run-of-the-mill Java/J2EE books is it gives you suggestions distilled from lessons learned in the battlefield (not regurgitated marketing shpiel from vendors), and it tells you exactly WHY. Moreover, it tells you what the tradeoffs are for each design option you take, which is almost never mentioned in any technical books and only obtainable from work experience. I'm just glad I'd bought and read this book, because it really helped me to raise my game, and I can now design apps with much more confidence.
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