More Servlets and JavaServer Pages

Rating:
Summary: There is no "More" in More Servlet
Review: Happy with the author's Core Servlets book, I bought this book hoping that I could learn more. However, I was disappointed and felt ripped-off. 50% of the content is the same as the first book. To be fair to the author, there is some new material, such as JSTL. However, having 2 books with almost identical content is really a waste. I think the cover should warn potential buyers of the similarity with the Core book. Sorry Marty, last time I gave you five stars, now I think I am generous enough to give you 1 star.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to understand
Review: Having done a little work in Servlets and Java Server Pages, I found this book to be very easy to understand and apply to my current projects. I was able to read the book from front to back understanding the majority of the concepts. I highly recommend this book if you are looking to learn more about Servlets and Java Server Pages.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT learning tool!
Review: Having only a basic knowledge of the Java2 language I was able to read each chapter and easily learn the clear and well presented constructs, principles, and procedures which were presented. I used the skills I obtained from this book to build my first completely Java driven forum. An excellent choice for any level Java Developer

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT learning tool!
Review: Having only a basic knowledge of the Java2 language I was able to read each chapter and easily learn the clear and well presented constructs, principles, and procedures which were presented. I used the skills I obtained from this book to build my first completely Java driven forum. An excellent choice for any level Java Developer

Rating:
Summary: A great sequel to the book "core..."!
Review: I am a very enthusiastic reader of this book. It is written in a clear precise style and covers all information that you need to know about the latest standards in servlet and jsp delevopment. While reading you always feel that the author has excellent knowledge and experience! A very important companion in my daily work!

Rating:
Summary: great book for projects & SCWD certification test
Review: I am an intermediate-level Java developer. I find this book great for me.

Several months ago I tried to find a "tutorial book" for jsp/servlet. I chose "More Servlets and JavaServer Pages" after extensive research on amazon before buying. I like the author's style in explaining concepts, which is easy to follow. However, this book is not an introductory/grammar book by any means. The author keeps very good balance between efforts of reading and depth in technical details.

This book helps me a lot in my projects. What's more, the author is responsive. He answers questions promptly and his knowledgeable answers really save me lots of time in my projects. (I don't think it is fair for the author to answer my project questions. I always ask the questions in the way that it is related to a particular part in the book.)

Just a little more than a month ago, I came up to the idea to take certification test of Sun Certified Web Component Developer for J2EE. Initially I wanted to buy another book, "professional jsp", as a backup in case more details are needed occasionally. It came out to my surprise that, this book covers 90% contents for the test. Alternatively, I got the free copies of jsp/servlet specifications as the backup reference. Finally I got a score of 88% in the test after reading the book only two times within very short time, one in details, another just in brief. (I read the author's previous book "Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages" once in detail before.)

I don't want to mislead people who only need a test-cram book for the test. This book is for jsp/servlet design, not specifically for test. Around 25% contents of this book have nothing to do with the test.

Here I list the missing parts in the sequence of importance for those who want to use this book to take the test:
1. Design patterns is missing
2. log() methods are not discussed for exception/error handling
3. distributable web application is over-simplified

To be fair, I need to mention the part I don't like about this book, if there is any. Generally authors try to conform to new specifications throughout their books, and only mentioned compatible problems to old specifications with "Warnings" scattered around. However, the author does just the opposite. I REALLY don't like this approach.

In a word, this book is great for readers with java background to develop jsp/servlet projects. It is sufficient for SCWCD certification according to my experience.

Rating:
Summary: Very Up To Date and Comprehensive
Review: I found this book very useful and up to date. It was an easy read and the examples worked. The book gave you enough detail, but not too much. Marty Hall is a very good author and knows how to convey complicated material into an easy to understand format.

Rating:
Summary: Very good book, for learning and certification purposes
Review: I gave it 4 starts because:

1. Custom Tags, introduced in chapter 3, are based on the old JSP1.1 version , instead of explain it directly based on JSP1.2.

2. Chapter 12, "The JSP Standard Tag Library", is out of date, so you should better ignore it.

3. There is almost not a word about web patterns.

4. Didn't find a way to report minor mistakes. Also didn't find any source for errata information.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent JSP/Servlet book; using as a course textbook...
Review: I have used Marty's "Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages" book in the past as a textbook for an intro servlets/JSP course I teach. I am now upgrading my course curriculum to use this updated version. In addition, I will also be using this as the foundation text for an advanced JSP/servlets course!

The book is one of the few JSP books that is current with the JSP 1.2 and Servlet 2.3 specifications, including several chapters devoted to new features introduced in these specification levels. I also appreciate the chapters devoted to deployment and web application configuration issues (Ch 4 & 5), as well as application security (Ch 7 & 8). These topics get ignored all too often.

Marty's writing style lends itself well to someone looking for a self-study guide, or to someone simply seeking a reference book with solid examples. (If you want to check out his style before purchasing, Marty has made his Core book available online...

Rating:
Summary: THIS is the JSP/Servlet book you are looking to buy.
Review: I searched at a great many titles including a couple of duds before I finally settled on Marty Hall's book. Perhaps it was the "More" part that made me wonder if I would be missing something....like this was part two.

As it turns out, that could not have been further from the truth and IMHO, although the titles is correct, it is a bit of a misnomer due to that misperception.

This really is the book you've been looking for if you want to learn JSP/Servlet programming, particularly with Tomcat (or ServletExec). Marty takes you through a full tour of JSP in case you are a beginner as I was, but he also ensures he tells you about many features of the spec/language to a level of completeness that far exceeds many other titles I looked at. He also explains how to get up and running with several servers (but especially with Tomcat) in a way that REALLY gets you up and running...almost every book had a Tomcat section, but this one really does describe usability approaches for your workflow. That, alone, is worth the price of the book, not to mention the many great other things you will learn along the way.

Furthermore, Marty is very approachable. I have e-mailed him on several occasions...one turned out to be an issue I misunderstood and another turned out to be an apparent change to the Tomcat default specs. But he typically responded to me within a matter of hours and got me up and running again on those few occasions where I became "stuck" (sure, I could have skipped the spot, but then I wouldn't UNDERSTAND it...he made sure I did understand it and replied with the WHY in each case).

You may still be wondering about that "more" part...on his website for the book, he makes the full older book available as a PDF...on occasion, he refers to it in the newer book for areas that can optionally go into further detail. This avoids repeatedness, but also gives you access to yet another excellent resource even if it is only partially out-of-date.

More Servlets, by contrast, is up-to-date as of the latest specifications (2.3/1.2) that have officially been released. Furthermore, he takes great care in pointing out items that are specific to the latest specification...he also points out items that are specific to certain browsers in those applicable instances.

This is definitely a book that teaches you JSP/Servlets, but it also teaches you approaches, workflow, and much much more.

There is a prerequisite that you need to know Java, and I readily agree with that statement...you do need to know Java (and for that, I strongly recommend HeadFirst Java by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates!!), but given even basic Java knowledge, you can be off and running with this book and I can tell you it is very difficult to put down once you've picked it up.

Ross Goldberg