Rating: 
Summary: excellent book of JSP!
Review: After I had read the other reviews, I decided to write my own on this book. First, readers claiming that this book is insufficiant are wrong, because this one is a well-organized, and comprehensive book, and suitable for both beginners and advanced programmers and web designers. Also, I do not share the idea that this book does not explain everything. If you read the details in paragraphs, you can easily understand how the specific properties of JSP work. But the reason why I gave four stars is that the book is a little bit out-dated, I mean some of the new features of JSP (custom tags, etc.) are not included (maybe in later editions), but every book becomes out-dated in time. I am new at Java and related topics, but I am a very fast self-learner, and I examined other techs like ASP, and CGI (even wrote a library in Delphi), had the idea that Java is the best one. Last sentence: Buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for beginners to Java and JSP
Review: Compared to other books that cover specific areas of JSP technology, JavaServer Pages provides a good survey of current JSP practices. The book uses a fictional webiste to illustrate how JSP could be used. Although MVC purist will gwak at mixing HTML with Java code in a page, the examples are simple enough that new comers will find it easy to grasp. As the chapters progress, the fictious site gets additional features and enhancements. Most of the examples in the book use tags from JSTL or stock JSP tags, but it doesn't go in depth about the pros/cons of each tag. At the end of each chapter, a summary and list of the tags used are provided. Beginners should find the book an easy read, but it's probably best to read at the computer and not in bed. This way, you can try out the examples in the chapters.If you're looking for a book about the nuainces of JSTL and expression language, you're better off getting Shawn Bayern's JSTL in Action. Those used to RAD development using Microsoft ASP should find this book handy and a good introduction. The strengths of the book is it explains some fairly complex concepts with simple analogies, and tries to be objective. Over all, it reads like a handbook. Hardcore java developers should seek other resources, for detailed examples on how to optimize servlet performance, or write custom tags using jakarta-commons-el.
Rating:
Summary: Step up to JSP
Review: I have always had a desire to learn more about creating web pages. I have only used basic HTML in the past but with this book I hope to step up to a higher level of creativity.
The book is written clearly yet gives extensive coverage. It is a great book for someone like myself, a beginner in this technology, and appears to me to cover advanced topics as well. It is especially pleasing that the relationships of XML, JSP and HTML and Databases are described. It gives the reader a good idea of how they relate and how they can complement each other. The included CD with the Tomcat engine was easy to install and the presentation of the examples makes the task of learning much easier. It operated correctly right away and this is something that often is not true with included examples. It is not an easy task to create a book that works for an introduction yet also has good coverage for the advanced user. I think that Mr. Pekowsky has done that here.
Rating:
Summary: A good one for the beginner
Review: I would say I like the style the author explain "how things work" for a dynamic website, especially to those eager to get a book covering a wide range of related topics. Using a sample website as working model is a real cool idea for the reader not only interested in the knowledge but also, if not more, in the application. Including elucidating of possible ERROR MESSAGE is another cool point in the book, which I personally appreciate a lot to the author for this consideration. As a book with such a big coverage of variety of topics, it seems very challenging to set proper weight on different topics and please every reader. There are also several other things I wish could be improved in the next versions. For example, the explanation of the sample code should have been more detailed and better organized. As a summary, I'd like to give it four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Stable and mature
Review: In 2000, I learnt Java Server Pages using texts that were state of the art then. Now comes this very latest JSP book, fully current on JSP 2.0. What a change. JSPs are now very mature, as the book makes clear. In 2000 there was limited integration with XML. Partly because XML was still on its way to broad acceptance, and maybe because XML parsers were still slow and buggy, and not as common as now, where a parser comes bundled with Java 1.4. The book's treatment of XML emphasises its prominence. It points out the complementary nature of JSP and XML. JSPs are a viewing technology while XML is for data modelling. The two fit together well. Another welcome new addition is the discussion on Struts, which lets you make more powerful controllers in the Model-View-Controller framework. Indeed, I think Structs didn't exist in 2000?! A common and welcome thread running through the book is that all the software discussed is free open source. No proprietary lock-ins. Which might make the book's approach an easier sell to management in these days of tight IT budgets.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Beginners
Review: JavaServer Pages by Larne Pekowsky is geared to the Web designer instead of the Java developer. In the book, there is a tutorial on creating a JSP web site with dynamic content. The book is easy to read and shows the reader how to create a web site using JSP. The book introduces aspects of JSP as needed for the tutorial web site. The second half of the book introduces the Java code needed for the tags in the first half of the book. It starts with a short chapter on writing Java code, and then introduces Java Beans, Servlets, and JSPs. This section provides as basic introduction to JSP programming. Also, the section introduces the MVC design pattern. This is is more geared for web designers who want to learn JSP and not for a Java programmer who want to learn JSP. Advanced topics of JSP are not fully covered in this book, so this book is not a complete reference. I would recommend this book to someone just learning JSP.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Beginners
Review: JavaServer Pages by Larne Pekowsky is geared to the Web designer instead of the Java developer. In the book, there is a tutorial on creating a JSP web site with dynamic content. The book is easy to read and shows the reader how to create a web site using JSP. The book introduces aspects of JSP as needed for the tutorial web site. The second half of the book introduces the Java code needed for the tags in the first half of the book. It starts with a short chapter on writing Java code, and then introduces Java Beans, Servlets, and JSPs. This section provides as basic introduction to JSP programming. Also, the section introduces the MVC design pattern. This is is more geared for web designers who want to learn JSP and not for a Java programmer who want to learn JSP. Advanced topics of JSP are not fully covered in this book, so this book is not a complete reference. I would recommend this book to someone just learning JSP.
Rating:
Summary: Should You Buy It?
Review: Should You Buy It? I imagine that every publisher that minds to stay in business would have a pre-defined book audience and a clear publishing strategy before any of its books arrives to the printing shop. This book proves that publishers don't really need to have such strategies as long as someone else already defined them, or has already tested the water (playing it safe)... Lately, in the past few years, publishing initiatives have been propelled by the release of technology specification papers such as EJB, JSP and JMS, in order to stay current and capture "Bleeding Edge" audiences... JavaServer Pages by Larne Pekowsky is a product of these strategies. It covers JSP specification 2.0, but demonstrates inability to focus on its title. A high level overview of JSP technology, introduction to JAVA and databases, custom tags coverage, JSTL walkthrough, Struts, XSLT and thread introduction are covered here. Should you buy it?
Yes, if you need a good and a quick JSP 2.0 overview, and you are eager to learn what are the newly released JSP features. In addition, if you are a beginner, you should be able to find interest in this book as well. Here are some of my other thoughts 1. WARNING: The book demonstrates a pure hands-on approach. It does not discuss programming concepts, design best practices or conceptual positions. JSP capabilities have been enhanced beyond recognition since their first release, but this should not be an excuse to coupling the Presentation Layer with Domain and Controller Layers. Therefore, for example, on the implementation level, you may want to consider decoupling SQL calls and business activities from your Java Server Pages. 2. WHERE IS THE SECOND HALF? If you were wondering where are the Java beans... Well, you should be able to find the second half of the book examples on the accompanied CD. Confusing! Recommended! Michael Bell
Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to JSP 2.0
Review: This book is a good introduction to JavaServer Pages. It covers a variety of topics such as using Java Beans, the standard tag library, using databases, using XML, Servlets, and Controllers. Additionally, creating your own tag libraries and some advanced topics like threads are covered. Since so many topics are addressed, the coverage is more of an overview. The book focuses on the new JSP 2.0 specification with the new expression tags being emphasized. A sample project is implemented gradually. As new topics are addressed in the book, they are added to the project. The book has some nice features such as the included CD that has an installation of Tomcat 5 that implements JSP 2.0. The installation includes the working examples and the database already configured for the examples. The examples are organized as a website by chapter which allows the reader to easily navigate to see the example work or to examine the code. This allows the author not to inundate the book with code examples, but rather to add the appropriate amount of code to illustrate a point. I have a few criticisms for the book. Exercises for the reader should be added to the book to reinforce the text explanations, improve the learning process, and aid the retention of the reader. Likewise more illustrations should be added to the text to break up the blocks of text and enhance the reader's understanding. Perhaps, the MVC pattern could have been introduced earlier in the book since it is generally considered part of good design. The book is a solid resource for developers moving to JSP. The reader should keep in mind that some of the topics would require more study to prepare for Production quality development.
Rating:
Summary: Nice introduction for web site designers
Review: This book is geared for web site designers with no Java experience who are interested in understanding how to incorporate JSP into their web site. The book gives a good introduction to the basics that anyone doing web site development with Java will need to know. Although the book concentrates on incorporating JSPs into a web site it also includes enough information to allow the non-programmer to do some basic programming. The first half of the book is a basic overview of JSP with a concentration on building dynamic pages by using JavaBeans, JSTL, and the expression language. Anyone who is familiar with ASP or ColdFusion will find this section very easy to follow. Each chapter has examples that help to make the information from the chapter easier to understand. All of the examples are on the included CD and ran without any problem in Tomcat. The second half of the book starts with a brief introduction to the Java programming language. The book then shows how to use Java to write your own JavaBeans. Servlets are discussed along with explaining what an MVC architecture is using Struts as an example. The second half ends by showing how to develop your own tag libraries. The author has done a good job of explaining the basics of using JSPs but then he tries to cast too wide a net in the second half of the book. Each of the topics is covered too lightly (each topic could have its own book) and will tend to leave the inexperienced reader a bit lost. If you are a web designer and need to understand how to incorporate Java into your site then this book will be very helpful. Read the first part of the book in detail and just catch the major themes of the second half and you will be in good shape.
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