Rating: 
Summary: Teaches the basic fundamentals, and gets you up to speed
Review: In the past few years, companies have been returning to multi-tiered design of backend server architectures. Java has become a popular language for implementing these systems, due in no small part to the release of new technologies such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) and the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) platform. When used together, they help programmers make more robust and interchangeable server components -- but keeping up with the radical shift in thinking, and new class libraries, is pretty tough for developers.This book was written by Ed Roman as a means of helping people understand the complex technologies involved with EJB programming, and to overcome them. Straight off in the preface, Ed points out that EJB's are not easy and does not want to lead the reader astray into thinking it is. After reading this book, I have a very good impression of it, and found that Ed was correct about EJB's not being easy. It covers EJB's as a whole and explains any other necessary technologies, such as transactions, servlets, XML and RMI-IIOP, as needed. When certain technologies are chosen over others, the author provides sound reasons as to why the decision was made. Due to the level of tasks that Sun designed EJB's to handle, they are very complex and the API is very rich. That's why you need an authoritative reference like Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans, to help get you up to speed with EJB development. Reading the specification alone with out a guide means many hours of frustration and lost time, and you'll find you've only scratched the surface of this topic.. This book covers the EJB 1.0 standard, but does point out that the EJB 1.1 standard has improved some of the problems. An appendix covers the improvements in EJB 1.1, but this book is still highly useful and recommended. One of the useful items I noted about the chapters is that the author created a different EJB for each chapter instead of reusing one single one over and over. I found this very useful as an exercise. While this book covers a very complex topic, I found that the author managed keep the complexity of each chapter down to a good level. The material was covered in small chunks that will not overwhelm most users. I believe that Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans strikes the right mix between covering the theory, without swamping the reader with jargon and abstract topics. The Java 2 Enterprise Edition platform is an extremely rich and powerful API - but quite overwhelming for new users. Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans does an excellent job of teaching the basic fundamentals, and getting you up to speed on a complex topic. While you'll find the tutorial a good guide to the topic, the book also serves as a handy reference. I'll be keeping it within arms reach while working on EJB components and the Java 2 Enterprise Edition platform.-- Michael Reilly, for the Java Coffee Break.
Rating: 
Summary: Very thorough
Review: This is an excellent book written in a very readable, even engaging style. The best part about it is that it covers the subject of EJBs from soup to nuts. It starts with the rationale for EJBs, the component architecture, and who the key players are in an EJB deployment. From there the author drills down to explain the details of building beans and consistently explains his design decisions. He follows this up with a complete eCommerce example that includes servlets acting within the presentation layer to leverage the power of the beans. There are even supplementary chapters covering JNDI, CORBA, etc. I am hopeful that Mr. Roman will soon find the time to update his book so that it is completely in conformance with the EJB1.1 specification. Once he does this, I can recommend this book unreservedly.
Rating:
Summary: Super EJB book
Review: Early this month I emailed Jacquie Barker (author Beginning Java Objects and Deploying Java Objects). This was the email and I quote "Yes, your email about the difficulties encountered by legacy programmers in transitioning to J2EE is indeed true. It took me quite sometime to really understand the whole concept, but after a journey (as you call it) distance equivalent to reading 5 different books on J2EE, I finally found one book which is for me, the super book on J2EE. This book is Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans and the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition by Ed Roman. Although this is a 1999 book on J2EE, the explanations are so thorough and graceful in presenting each topic, that I highly recommend this to legacy programmers new to the subject". To Ed Roman, thank you very much indeed.
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Summary: The Bolts and Nuts of EJB's
Review: What I liked about this book is the ability of Ed Roman to really explain things. He explains what the bolts and nuts of EJB's are and why they are needed in developing Enterprise server-side applications. I picked up this book having just a basic knowable of EJB's from what I read from JDC's tutorials and also from Stephen Asbury & Scott R. Weiner book "Developing Java Enterprise Application". But it was this book that made me really understand the big 3; (I)The What, (II) The Why and (III) The How. The book starts of with the basics , explaining Server-side Component Architectures and where EJB and J2EE fits in with all these different architectures. The main heavy topics are the sessions and entity beans, it also has a good chapter on RMI, CORBA / RMI-IIOP . The chapters on JNDI, XML are not much into detail, and it does not cover the whole of J2EE specification. But however don't be discouraged by some of the reviews saying this book is outdated because it covers version 1.0. Because if you really want to get a grip understanding EJB's and how they connect to other J2EE components , get this book and you would not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Super EJB book
Review: Early this month I emailed Jacquie Barker (author Beginning Java Objects and Deploying Java Objects). This was the email and I quote "Yes, your email about the difficulties encountered by legacy programmers in transitioning to J2EE is indeed true. It took me quite sometime to really understand the whole concept, but after a journey (as you call it) distance equivalent to reading 5 different books on J2EE, I finally found one book which is for me, the super book on J2EE. This book is Mastering Enterprise JavaBeans and the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition by Ed Roman. Although this is a 1999 book on J2EE, the explanations are so thorough and graceful in presenting each topic, that I highly recommend this to legacy programmers new to the subject". To Ed Roman, thank you very much indeed.
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Summary: Learn'd lots from Wiley
Review: All the Wiley books are great.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book...
Review: I'm new to this whole Java and come here with a background of C++/COM/DCOM. I must say, this book is written excellent. It gave me a very good understanding of what the heck is all about EJB and stuff around it. Starting with a review of Server-side architectures, jumps into beans and building different kinds of them. Appendix items give very good idea of technology surrounding EJB. While the theory part of the book talks about design and architectural issues, the code examples are the best to put you in a position to start building EJB apps immediately. I strongly recommend this book. It definitely helps those people who have no idea about EJB so far.
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Summary: Detail Coverage of the EJB Topic
Review: A very good book to start off with EJB and is also useful for Developers too.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book to understand EJB
Review: Excellent book to understand EJB. I downloaded this book from theServerside.com ( PDF format) and read it. The pdf content cannot be printed and it can be read online only. I will wait for the next edition to be out ( chapters for review are already available on theServerside.com) and then buy it. The next edition will cover EJB 2.0.
Rating:
Summary: Looking forward to the EJB 2.0 book!
Review: If this first book is any indication, the upcoming release from Ed Roman (and pals) is a purchasing no-brainer. Amazon.com already lists the second book and I notice that one of the authors is Floyd Marinescu of theserverside fame. What a powerhouse of authors and information! The first book was well written and and the author was even available via e-mail for any questions or troubleshooting. The book is a MUST for any Java developers library!!
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