Rating: 
Summary: Best Book on the topics of JSP and Servlets
Review: The author has put in a lot of effort into introducing the topic in a very lucid and 'immediately try it out' manner. His sense of humor also shows through in many parts of the book making an otherwise dry topic a very interesting one. I find this book to be the best one to start with and to keep as a reference for Web application development using JSP and Servlets.
Rating:
Summary: Best Servlet/JSP book out there!
Review: Marty Hall has a way of writing that makes materials very easy to understand. I'm actually applying alot of his code samples in my current web application. The book first explains key topics and follows up with very practical examples. The book isn't over bloated with text, but just the right amount to help you grasp the concept. Definitely a must have book whether you're new to servlets/jsp or just want to review.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, made better in follow-on "More Servlets and JSP"
Review: Some reviews have suggested that this excellent book is due for a face-lift. The good news is that this can now be found in Marty Hall's follow-on book, "More Servlets and JSP" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130676144/). The book takes the topics in this book much further adding several topics, updating them for the servlet 2.3 and jsp 1.2 standards, and even showing how to do things in 3 different servers (Tomcat, JRun, and ServletExec). Interestingly, it also digests most of this older book into its 2nd and 3rd chapters (about 200 pages), so some readers may just want to jump to that book. There's more detail on basic subjects in this book though, so it certainly still has value.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks depth
Review: Yes, this book teaches how to write a servlet/jsp but you are still going to need to look at a professional level book such as
Java Servlet Programming (O'Reilly) by Jason Hunter. Hall's book
leaves too many details out. I have the same criticism of the
More blah blah book as well. Get the O'Reilly book to begin with
and save the time for reading Hunter.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, well-written in a logical way
Review: If you need an introductory book on JSP/Servlets that will explain those technologies in a clear, straight to the point way, this is the book. You will find interesting examples that you might use working on your JSP/Servlets applications. The book gives you a solid foundation that you can start digging into JSP/Servlets with better understanding on what is going on behind the scenes.
I recommend this book very much based on my experience as a Java programmer and trainer teaching JSP/Servlets courses.
Rating: 
Summary: Core Servlets needs a facelift
Review: Like most of the Sun books, this one is good but really has some problems with the dated material. It is time for a face-lift. Some of the examples use deprecated methods and some just won't work with the new 1.2 specification. The book was written with Tomcat 3.0 (3.1 in beta) and the world has moved on. One other annoyance (though not limited to Mr. Hall), when an author develops his or her own utility class, he should keep it a dark secret and never put it in a book. The reason is that the author almost always uses it with the examples. That is simply not a good thing to do. Stick with the API and develop standalone examples, please!
Rating:
Summary: Clear Writing, No Fru Fru, and Good Value
Review: Marty provided solid leadership and confidently
led me through the Servlet and JSP technology. If you like the efficiency of a Honda engine, this
is its equivalent, in book form. --NKM
Rating:
Summary: Solid Book, good tutorial for the exam
Review: Best web programming book i've ever bought. Simple, concise and explains everything important that you should know to use Servlet and JSP in a production environment. I also passed the Sun Certified Web Components Developer exam last week just using this book and reading the Sun's specs. Can't wait for the new version covering Servlets 2.3 and JSP 1.2. Thank you Marty, keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: The most balanced book among many
Review: Each page of this book comprises only useful information and not only for a beginner. Sometimes it is a new look at well-known things. And it is the most balanced book among many.
Rating:
Summary: The best primer for learning about servlets and JSP
Review: This book does a great job performing the balancing acts necessary for a computer book, or any technical book for that matter, to succeed. It is able to speak about the technologies from both a high level and a low level, so that you don't get too bogged down in details to lose sight of the overall goals, but is still a great technical reference for the details. And it succeeds as a reference to the technologies from both a specification and application standpoint. In other words this book would be useful to both an expert and a novice, and is handy for both reference and examples. I work on an eBusiness project at IBM with six other developers. When we started using Servlets and JSPs, we were given this book and another book. If you go to each developer's office now, the other book is as good as new, and Mr. Hall's Core Servlets book is getting worn out from use.
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