Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: I am a book maniac, so I know them all.
This one is very good. It doesn't cover the topics in depth, but it's what makes it a very light reading. It, however, offers a lot of resources for people who have little or none experience in the Web programming field.
If you know Java and would like to apply it to the Web technologies, this is the book.
The Websphere chapters are very good.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning: does not cover Websphere 4.0!
Review: I bought this book for the following reasons:
* Seemed to cover J2EE including J2EE, including EJB development for WebSphere
* Included a chapter on WSAD (Websphere Studio Application Developer)
* High customer reviews
* Low price (for used book)
My biggest mistake was not to realize that the book was based on Websphere version 3.5 and the chapter on WSAD is based on version 3.5 as well, so this book was barely useful for me.
It does have a good overview of J2EE, EJBs and Websphere, so I think that's what explains the high ratings: it is a good book if you're looking for introductory material on how to develop J2EE applications on Websphere, as long as you're developing on version 3.5. If you're using version 4.0 I recommend staying away from this book.
Rating:
Summary: Good for All J2EE Developers
Review: I had the good fortune to be given a pre-release version of this book. I have found it a great guide for coming up to speed on WebSphere 3.5 and VisualAge for Java 3.5 and for understanding the design and architecture issues of J2EE. As a consultant, I will highly recommend this book to any of my clients using WebSphere. I will also encourage clients using J2EE with other tools to read the technology and design chapters of this book.The book's core value goes far beyond the WebSphere and VisualAge specific content to provide application architecture and design guidance for J2EE applications. The book winds it's way through the complexity of J2EE to highlight the key issues and choices in designing a JSP, Servlet, and EJB application. It provides clear examples of various complexities that can provide a starting point for developing your applications. Of particular value are discussions on when to use EJBs, scaling considerations in handling client session, and design patterns for multi-tiered applications. The book provides clear, concise introductions to the key technologies you need to build J2EE applications: HTTP, Servlets, JSP, client session management, JDBC, and EJB. It teaches the reader how to use the key aspects of VisualAge and WebSphere to build applications. The authors made excellent choices on which aspects of VisualAge and WebSphere to focus on. No one developing WebSphere applications should be without this book!
Rating:
Summary: A must read for both beginners and intermediate developers
Review: I have been developing, teaching and architecting WebSphere solutions since WebSphere 1.0 days. Often I am asked the question what is the best WebSphere book. I did not have an answer in the past. Now I do. This book would help both beginner and intermediate developers. I would recommend this book in the following situations: 1. As a book for beginners getting started with VisualAge and WebSphere development 2. As supplemental reading material to IBM WebSphere classes 3. As a good source of websphere best practices 4. As a reference book for all intermediate WebSphere developers I wish this book was published one year ago. It would have helped a lot of developers. Especially with the release of WebSphere 4.0 and the new set of development tools, some of the material covered in this book is not applicable anymore. If you are developing for WebSphere 3.5 or if you would like to know how to design multi-layered J2EE applications, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A soup-to-nuts architecture/design book for WebSphere!
Review: I reviewed the pre-publish version. The book's examples and tutorial thread are built around the IBM WebSphere toolset -- a huge advantage for those who've made the commitment. Kyle addresses many common issues in web development by proposing "best practices" solutions, plus rational behind other alternative approaches. This "why is this the better way" style appeals to me, avoiding the simple "here's how you do X" approach so prevalent in today's technical litterature. I've made this book a must-read for my WebSphere consulting engagements. It certainly saves me LOTS of time explaining how to use the WebSphere products -- and most importantly explaining *WHY* its suggested approaches work best!
Rating:
Summary: Finally!! A Websphere book you gotta have
Review: I've been doing Internet development for years and have been waiting for a book that describes Websphere application development thoroughly. The only worthwhile resource until this book was IBM's redbook "Servlet and JSP Programming with IBM WebSphere Studio and VisualAge for Java" which I rate as 4 stars. This book, however, describes a recommended approach for application development using the IBM toolset. It shows you how to install and configure the WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Studio, and VisualAge for Java with its WebSphere Test Environment. It shows you how to develop servlets and JSPs in VAJ, how to test them using VAJ WebSphere Test Environment, and how to deploy on the WebSphere Application Server. All this information in one place. If that weren't enough, the author then provides architectural recommendations showing an effective and maintainable way to build a J2EE site using JSP, servlets, and EJBs. He even references design patterns from the Gamma book and everything. This book and the IBM Redbook together are must haves for serious J2EE developers using IBM technologies.
Rating: 
Summary: Great on design principles, somewhat dated at this point.
Review: Since the IDE has changed considerably from v3.5 ( to an IDE built on eclipse ) - this book would really only be useful for learning how to apply good design practices ( MVC, UML etc ) in a WebSphere development environment. For that it's first rate - so actaully 5 stars if that's your area of interest.
Rating: 
Summary: Really bad book
Review: This book does not tell you anything useful.
I am an experienced J2EE developer and spend 2 days
on it and do not find anything helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Not Worth It
Review: This book had several problems that made me want to put it down. First of all, the organization of the chapters of the book is quite confusing: the different chapters don't seem to fit together or leverage each other. Perhaps due to several authors involved in the book or bad editing. It makes this book *very* difficult to read. It also merely scratches many important details about the WebSphere server. If you're writing a J2EE book, that is one thing, but there are so many much much better books available for that. One that specializes to a single server should show how that server works in detail. This book seems to completely miss its target and audience: neither a good generic J2EE book, nor a solid WebSphere book.
Rating: 
Summary: Enterprise Java Programming with IBM WebSphere
Review: This book has very good instructions and examples on how to use Visual Age for Java and develop Servlets, JSP, EJB, etc. The problem is the organization of the book and its relationship to what's on the CDs and when to look at 'what' is terrible. The initial chapters' titles (1 - 4) do not describe what is actually included in the chapter. If you are a designer, developer or application programmer and just want to know what you need to know to get the job done, you will be reading a lot of unnecessary information that will do more to scare you off and overload an already overly difficult set of development tools. Skip to chapter 5, (see page 226 to learn how to install the case study, and do it [also load Visual Age]). Then proceed from there. Starting with Chapter 5, read all of each chapter THEN go back and do the examples from the case study. This can be a valuable book if you need to learn how to develop systems using J2EE, you just need to work at it (i.e., how to read this book)!
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