JXTA

Rating:
Summary: Developers and IT Contractors! This is a MUST read!!!
Review: Developers, if you want the whole scoop on a new architecture that will enhance the way we use the internet, then you need to get this book. Brendon, the author, does a superb job of presenting JXTA, peer-to-peer, and how you can apply it. This is not just an overview and it's not another "copy & paste" book. You will get hands-on experience on how all this works. Its easy to read and very concise.

As a IT contractor, its important to know what is out there and how it works. Sooner or later you will be affected by this new architecture. Why? Because it's an improvement over the way things are done today. Companies are always looking for an edge and this would give them that by distributing resource power among a wide array of servers and not drop the load on just one.

You will learn what P2P and JXTA are in the first 2 chapters. Then it's hands-on from chapter 3. Unlike other books being offered on JXTA, Brendon did not gloss over anything in this book and does a lot more then just talk about it. After understanding the basics and terminology associated with P2P and JXTA, you begin doing some hands-on experience with the JXTA shell. As the book progresses, you get a good understanding of how it works in detail. Then the grand finale, a sample application shows you how to put to put what you've learned to practice for your own application.

About myself:
IT Contractor - 9 years
6 years experience Java(Sun certified) programming
"always checking to see which way the wind is blowing!"

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read and understand.
Review: I have no experience in network programming. I had to learn JXTA for a graduate class in P2P, so I picked up this book. My groupmate, on the other hand, picked up the book by Brookshier. I found my book an easy read and quickly breezed through all twelve chapters. My groupmate said that with his book, he couldn't get past the end of Chapter 1 before feeling sleepy. He eventually switched to this book.

The two things I liked in the book were, one, it's conversational tone, and two, it's learning-by-doing approach. Much of the book consists of coding exercises, covering each of the six JXTA protocols. The 11th chapter is a complete chat application, with both client and server code.

In summary, the best book for a jumpstart to JXTA.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to read and understand.
Review: I have no experience in network programming. I had to learn JXTA for a graduate class in P2P, so I picked up this book. My groupmate, on the other hand, picked up the book by Brookshier. I found my book an easy read and quickly breezed through all twelve chapters. My groupmate said that with his book, he couldn't get past the end of Chapter 1 before feeling sleepy. He eventually switched to this book.

The two things I liked in the book were, one, it's conversational tone, and two, it's learning-by-doing approach. Much of the book consists of coding exercises, covering each of the six JXTA protocols. The 11th chapter is a complete chat application, with both client and server code.

In summary, the best book for a jumpstart to JXTA.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to JXTA
Review: JXTA is a new platform from Sun for peer-to-peer computing. JXTA is a short form of juxtapose, meaning side-by-side. Thus JXTA is not meant to replace client-server but to co-exist with it.

At its core JXTA is just a specification for protocols needed for P2P computing. These protocols can be implemented in any language(Java,C,C++ etc)and on any platform. At present the specs define six protocols.

The book under review has done a good job of defining JXTA and its 6 protocols. It consists of 3 parts. The first part gives a general intoduction to JXTA concepts (like peer, peer group, pipe, endpoint, and advertisements) and JXTA protocols.The second part is for those who want to go further and study all the 6 protocols (Discovery, Resolver, Rendezvous, Information, Binding, and Endpoint) in all their gory details. The third part is for those who want to go still further and develop their own applications. Here they will find a 100-page chapter covering a sample application. Thus the reader can decide at what stage he wants to quit.

I found two main defects in the book: First the text in the UML diagrams is so small that I had to buy a magnifying-glass.Secondly the book does not compare JXTA and Jini very well. I think the comparison of Jini with later technologies like Web Services and JXTA is very important for a logical analysis of the direction IT is taking. From a logical point of view, Jini is the inspiration behind both JXTA and Web Services. And it is from this (purely logical) point of view that we will compare Jini with JXTA.

Jini starts with a very powerful unifying principle,namely,the distinction between hardware and software is artificial, and therefore both these concepts must be replaced by a more general concept of services.This is the third unifying principle in IT in over a decade.

First came objects which unified attributes and methods and put them in one basket. Then came components which unified software development. And now we have services which unify hardware and software.Staying on this logical track, what could be the next unifying principle of IT.My "guess" is as follows:

If the difference between physics (hardware) and what it does(software) is artificial, then the seperation of biology (user)from these two is also artificial.Thus hardware,software,and geneware must be unified into a more general concept which covers all three. The concept of services is not enough for this unification even though terms like "user experience" have started floating around in the IT industry.

Well, returning to JXTA, we can look at it as a special case of Jini restricted to P2P and not covering client-server.Alternately, JXTA is Jini minus its dependence on Java and RMI plus new terminology and protocols suitable for only P2P.I hope this is not the end but just the beginning of purely logical comparisons of Jini, JXTA, and Web Services.

Experts are welcome to tear down this argument to pieces. That can only lead to greater logical clarification of the subtleties involved.

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to JXTA
Review: JXTA is a new platform from Sun for peer-to-peer computing. JXTA is a short form of juxtapose, meaning side-by-side. Thus JXTA is not meant to replace client-server but to co-exist with it.

At its core JXTA is just a specification for protocols needed for P2P computing. These protocols can be implemented in any language(Java,C,C++ etc)and on any platform. At present the specs define six protocols.

The book under review has done a good job of defining JXTA and its 6 protocols. It consists of 3 parts. The first part gives a general intoduction to JXTA concepts (like peer, peer group, pipe, endpoint, and advertisements) and JXTA protocols.The second part is for those who want to go further and study all the 6 protocols (Discovery, Resolver, Rendezvous, Information, Binding, and Endpoint) in all their gory details. The third part is for those who want to go still further and develop their own applications. Here they will find a 100-page chapter covering a sample application. Thus the reader can decide at what stage he wants to quit.

I found two main defects in the book: First the text in the UML diagrams is so small that I had to buy a magnifying-glass.Secondly the book does not compare JXTA and Jini very well. I think the comparison of Jini with later technologies like Web Services and JXTA is very important for a logical analysis of the direction IT is taking. From a logical point of view, Jini is the inspiration behind both JXTA and Web Services. And it is from this (purely logical) point of view that we will compare Jini with JXTA.

Jini starts with a very powerful unifying principle,namely,the distinction between hardware and software is artificial, and therefore both these concepts must be replaced by a more general concept of services.This is the third unifying principle in IT in over a decade.

First came objects which unified attributes and methods and put them in one basket. Then came components which unified software development. And now we have services which unify hardware and software.Staying on this logical track, what could be the next unifying principle of IT.My "guess" is as follows:

If the difference between physics (hardware) and what it does(software) is artificial, then the seperation of biology (user)from these two is also artificial.Thus hardware,software,and geneware must be unified into a more general concept which covers all three. The concept of services is not enough for this unification even though terms like "user experience" have started floating around in the IT industry.

Well, returning to JXTA, we can look at it as a special case of Jini restricted to P2P and not covering client-server.Alternately, JXTA is Jini minus its dependence on Java and RMI plus new terminology and protocols suitable for only P2P.I hope this is not the end but just the beginning of purely logical comparisons of Jini, JXTA, and Web Services.

Experts are welcome to tear down this argument to pieces. That can only lead to greater logical clarification of the subtleties involved.

Rating:
Summary: a very good JXTA book
Review: The core of the JXTA is six protocols and this book covers all of them deeply and systematically.

For example, the book first introduces the Peer Discovery Protocol (which will definitely be used by every JXTA application to discover the resources). The book explains how to realize the Discovery Protocol by using the lower layer Resolver Protocol. Then the book teaches us how to use the Discovery Protocol in a JXTA application and actually gives us a useful example.

Every protocol covered in this book follows this pattern - explanation and example.

In addition to the protocols, programmers also need to know how to use some sub-system of JXTA to increase the flexibility of JXTA application and decrease the implement burden. Fortunately, the book covers them, such as CM (cache manager) in chapter4, Document (advertisement) in chapter4, module framework in chapter10, and so forth.

You definitely need to put this book on your bookshelf because give you more than just example code. It includes how the protocols are implemented and how to use the protocols.

Rating:
Summary: A book for programmers
Review: This book is a must if you intend to use JXTA with Java. It goes through the different parts of the Java implementation and gives simple and easy examples on how to use them. It then ties eveything together with a sample application.

It is well written and organized so that each chapter covers an important area. You can tell that the author knows what they are talking about. It allowed me to quickly understand JXTA so that I was able to start working on my application right away.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book on p2p and jxta
Review: This is an excellent book that demystifies the basic concepts of peer to peer computing. It then goes on to explain JXTA in extensive detail with tons of code to experiment with. I always like books that have a complete application to build on the concepts that you have learned throughout and the example provided in this book is great. All in all a great book which i highly recommend and which i will be using for an online course that i will be teaching on Peer to Peer computing technology.