Rating: 
Summary: Really Helpful Book
Review: Despite the fact that there were some problems with the exercises in Chapter 2 (which was solved by a quick email to the author, who sent me a zip file of revised exercises), I found this book very helpful.I am a web designer who recently took a crash course in java so that I could have the appropriate background to move into writing jsp code. I was pretty overwhelmed by the whole java/jsp thing until I started reading this book. What really worked for me was that Rinehart effectively pulled everything together by explaining how jsp, html and java work in relation to each other. Also, he often addresses java programmers and web designers separately, which helped define which aspects of java/jsp are important for me to know, and which are less important. Also useful was Rinehart's tendency, when explaining new concepts, not to assume that it sank in the first time. Instead, he revisited or rephrased concepts a few pages after introducing them. This was helpful. I would definitely recommend this book to other web designers.
Rating: 
Summary: Did any 'Dummie' test drive this book ?
Review: Fine intentions but needs to be tested/edited. KIS - Keep it Simple! Code/Examples don't work. Break up each skill into a simple easy to do session with code and examples that work. Why are the exercises mixing in complicated Java pages that don't work anyway! I was so anxious to get a book I thought would be written for a dummy like me but I get a book that requires troubleshooting & cursing. Please post updates/fixes to the dummies site. 1 star is for software, setup instructions, and some good explanations -- but i can't recommend, 'cause i can't use. NOTE: I found Marty Hall's "Core Servlets & JavaServer Pages" is super for beginners or anyone needing concise & working samples.
Rating:
Summary: Save yourself days of frustration -- don't buy this book
Review: I have bought many Dummies books on various subjects and have always been pleased with them until now. I am a web developer and gave up in frustration after being unable to get the first example running. This book has numerous typos, the copy of the Tomcat server included on the CD didn't work, forcing me to download from the jakarta site, the examples on the CD have typos in them, also, and are write-protected in some manner that Tomcat absolutely despises. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR SANITY.
Rating:
Summary: Save yourself days of frustration -- don't buy this book
Review: I have bought many Dummies books on various subjects and have always been pleased with them until now. I am a web developer and gave up in frustration after being unable to get the first example running. This book has numerous typos, the copy of the Tomcat server included on the CD didn't work, forcing me to download from the jakarta site, the examples on the CD have typos in them, also, and are write-protected in some manner that Tomcat absolutely despises. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND YOUR SANITY.
Rating:
Summary: Beginners -- Keep looking elsewhere
Review: I'm an experienced Java programmer trying to expand my horizons. I've spend many hours over the past few days trying to get the first example to work because of errors in the directions. Additionally, I found several code errors in the first java program. There is no errata on the web page and I can't find an e-mail address to e-mail the author like others have done. If you are a real beginner, this is not the book for you. If you are an experienced java programmer and like debugging code, go for it.
Rating:
Summary: Beginners -- Keep looking elsewhere
Review: I'm an experienced Java programmer trying to expand my horizons. I've spend many hours over the past few days trying to get the first example to work because of errors in the directions. Additionally, I found several code errors in the first java program. There is no errata on the web page and I can't find an e-mail address to e-mail the author like others have done. If you are a real beginner, this is not the book for you. If you are an experienced java programmer and like debugging code, go for it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Three Embarrassments
Review: Okay, I admit it. I have slept with weight challenged women, the only motorbike I have the guts to ride is a moped, and I bought a technical dummies book, JavaServer Pages for Dummies. I can't give it 5 stars because some of the code examples didn't work, and I'm guessing other code that was shown to demonstrate concepts was incomplete. I'm a java programmer and took the time to fix some, others I gave up on(however, I heard you can now download fixes from the website). That said, for many reasons, this is an excellent book. It's the only book I found that quickly and easily shows how to set up Apache Tomcat, MySQL, and how to modify Tomcat to recognize my java class files - that in itself saved me many hours. It does an excellent job of explaining concepts of a jsp application; the roles of the different technologies(jsp, html, javascript, javabeans, the database), much about jsp's including struts and custom tag libraries, application architecture, strategies for developing jsp applications in the workplace, and how to deploy the application. It also lists references to further continue your study of some of the concepts, and where to go for help. I bought one other beginners jsp book, and looked at many others, and after having finished this one, I think this one is the best.
Rating:
Summary: The Three Embarrassments
Review: Okay, I admit it. I have slept with weight challenged women, the only motorbike I have the guts to ride is a moped, and I bought a technical dummies book, JavaServer Pages for Dummies. I can't give it 5 stars because some of the code examples didn't work, and I'm guessing other code that was shown to demonstrate concepts was incomplete. I'm a java programmer and took the time to fix some, others I gave up on(however, I heard you can now download fixes from the website). That said, for many reasons, this is an excellent book. It's the only book I found that quickly and easily shows how to set up Apache Tomcat, MySQL, and how to modify Tomcat to recognize my java class files - that in itself saved me many hours. It does an excellent job of explaining concepts of a jsp application; the roles of the different technologies(jsp, html, javascript, javabeans, the database), much about jsp's including struts and custom tag libraries, application architecture, strategies for developing jsp applications in the workplace, and how to deploy the application. It also lists references to further continue your study of some of the concepts, and where to go for help. I bought one other beginners jsp book, and looked at many others, and after having finished this one, I think this one is the best.
Rating: 
Summary: First Impressions?
Review: So, here we are at the start of another in the "Dummies" series and I'm left wondering who's the dummy in question.
The book is pretty readable, but you would expect this from the Hungry Minds stable.
However, there are a few errors... And I'm only at Chapter 2.
I will battle on, but I'm left with the feeling that a conscientious editor would have picked up on the bugs in the example code, the directory path errors, dodgy illustrations and the mismatch between the example code on the CD and the text.
Would I buy it again?
Perhaps, but only after a few patches to the original release. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: Bugs/Typos in Example Code
Review: The first couple of pages were well written. Then the first example didn't work. Now I figured out how to correct the errors even though i'm only a new JSP programmer. I shouldn't have to do this! Nobody should. Terrible way to start a book. Who proofread and compiled the example source code? Demote or fire them. This error hurt the author and the reputation of the "Dummies" line of books.
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