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Rating: 
Summary: Kind of Dissapointing
Review: Being that I usually trust O'Reilly to deliver quality material, I bought this book without even skimming through it at the bookstore. I have to admit, though, after reading it through I'm less than satisified. The first half of the book is aimed at web designers, so the author writes like he's walking on eggshells...trying really hard not to go into details as to confuse a non-developer. Very frustrating. Many topics just reference the 2nd half. Not only that, but much of the book is based on his own custom tags. This is like assuming developers are only going to be using his tag libraries. Granted, the book does have its strong points. His descriptions and code examples are pretty solid and he keeps things simple and to the point. I think this book could have been better if he didn't try and write the book from two different perspectives. I understand what he's trying to accomplish, but it just doesn't work for me. O'Reilly books work very well as a reference, but they tend to lag behind in their ability to teach. Two stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear & Concise
Review: Bergens did an amazing job of flowing the information for JSP for novice and advanced users. I would have liked a little more info on how to implement with Struts, but that's OK there are other books for that, and that's not what the purpose of this book is in the first place. Hans does a very good job of showing you how you can start with JSP and improve your implementation by integrating with other parts of the java language and jsp standards available to you like tags, servlets, ejb etc... I like the start small, finish big approach eith constant refactoring of the ideas explained in the book.
Rating:
Summary: A must have JSP book
Review: I have read about 5 servlet and jsp books, but nothing comes close for advanced, clean, portable and well documented JSP tags and code. This book should be called "JSP examples in a nutshell". If you find it easy to learn from examples, this is the book for you. Source code for every example in the book is included (JSP, beans, custom tags, ect.). Even a beginner can be developing JSP in no time at all. If your a coldfusion developer, after reading this book you may just get rid of your Cold Fusion server and go with JRUN. A servlet and Java book on the side is also helpfull if you want to round out you server side java development skills and learn all the how's and why's.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I'm a newbie, and I find the book to be clear and concise. I also have to admit that the author is quick to get back if you have questions! (Always a nice feature, IMHO.)
Rating:
Summary: An essential reference text...
Review: Review
So, you're surfing a web site and hit a web page that ends with the extension .jsp. Looks like a regular web page to you, and if you view the source, it still looks like regular HTML. So what is a .jsp page, anyway? This book will tell you everything you need to know, both as to what they are, how they work, and how you can start using the technology in your development projects. Provided you have a basic understanding of Java, this book will work well for you. The book starts off with an explanation of what JSPs are and why you would use them. Basically, it provides a way to generate dynamic web pages using snippets of Java code. Logically, it's much like ActiveServer Pages (ASP) code as provided by Microsoft, only using Java instead of Visual Basic. It then goes into the benefits of generating content in this fashion, and how it's a superior method to other technologies such as CGI and ASP coding. The rest of the book then goes into great detail (with a large number of examples) on the specifics of JSP syntax. The author does an excellent job of meshing the approach of a tutorial with actual detail that can be referenced after you start developing applications. The author assumes the use of the Tomcat J2EE server package to learn JSP technology. Tomcat is a free download from www.apache.org, and it's easy to load and configure. But don't dispair if you are using a different web server. The examples are very generic and portable, and with very little effort you can adapt the information to whatever platform you use. In my case, I was using the Websphere platform and had no problems using that server to work my way through the book. Ok... You're a Notes/Domino developer who is wondering why you should care about this stuff. It's not Notes, and you don't know Java, so why bother? Well, there is a whole area of Domino development now codenamed "NextGen" that will allow you to access Domino data and application components within a J2EE environment. Much of this new approach to developing applications based on Domino will involve the use of servlets for business logic and JavaServer Pages to display the traditional forms and views. Furthermore, Domino 6 provides custom tag libraries that do much of the "Notes-y" stuff for you when you are working with JSPs. In order to start moving in this direction with Domino, you'll need to start learning about JSP technology, and this book will start you in that direction. And if you are thinking about working with portals, you HAVE to learn this stuff. Portlets are nothing more than an extension of servlet classes and JSPs to display the data. Conclusion
If you want to keep moving along in the IBM/Lotus world, servlet and JSP technologies are in your future. While you may not need it right now, you WILL need it. I highly recommend this book as a great starter text on the subject that will grow with you as you learn and work with JSPs.
Rating:
Summary: An essential reference text...
Review: Review
So, you're surfing a web site and hit a web page that ends with the extension .jsp. Looks like a regular web page to you, and if you view the source, it still looks like regular HTML. So what is a .jsp page, anyway? This book will tell you everything you need to know, both as to what they are, how they work, and how you can start using the technology in your development projects. Provided you have a basic understanding of Java, this book will work well for you. The book starts off with an explanation of what JSPs are and why you would use them. Basically, it provides a way to generate dynamic web pages using snippets of Java code. Logically, it's much like ActiveServer Pages (ASP) code as provided by Microsoft, only using Java instead of Visual Basic. It then goes into the benefits of generating content in this fashion, and how it's a superior method to other technologies such as CGI and ASP coding. The rest of the book then goes into great detail (with a large number of examples) on the specifics of JSP syntax. The author does an excellent job of meshing the approach of a tutorial with actual detail that can be referenced after you start developing applications. The author assumes the use of the Tomcat J2EE server package to learn JSP technology. Tomcat is a free download from www.apache.org, and it's easy to load and configure. But don't dispair if you are using a different web server. The examples are very generic and portable, and with very little effort you can adapt the information to whatever platform you use. In my case, I was using the Websphere platform and had no problems using that server to work my way through the book. Ok... You're a Notes/Domino developer who is wondering why you should care about this stuff. It's not Notes, and you don't know Java, so why bother? Well, there is a whole area of Domino development now codenamed "NextGen" that will allow you to access Domino data and application components within a J2EE environment. Much of this new approach to developing applications based on Domino will involve the use of servlets for business logic and JavaServer Pages to display the traditional forms and views. Furthermore, Domino 6 provides custom tag libraries that do much of the "Notes-y" stuff for you when you are working with JSPs. In order to start moving in this direction with Domino, you'll need to start learning about JSP technology, and this book will start you in that direction. And if you are thinking about working with portals, you HAVE to learn this stuff. Portlets are nothing more than an extension of servlet classes and JSPs to display the data. Conclusion
If you want to keep moving along in the IBM/Lotus world, servlet and JSP technologies are in your future. While you may not need it right now, you WILL need it. I highly recommend this book as a great starter text on the subject that will grow with you as you learn and work with JSPs.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly edited
Review: Scattered throughout this book is some good introductory, conceptual material. Most the actual development advice is missing. You have to wrangle with the author's custom "O'Reilly" classes at every turn rather than dealing directly with Sun Java JSP. The book also can't decide what it wants to be. The beginning is shallow (at least for developers) and is probably better suited for Web designers. Wish I could rate this 2.5 stars, but it's O'Reilly so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and make it 3. Still very disappointed though.
Rating:
Summary: A great book to learn JSP
Review: This book is by far the best book to JSP - the latest version. It gave me some ideas. This book is loaded with useful code. This book is great for two kinds of programmer: a beginner and for the experienced developer. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn JSP. Michael
Rating: 
Summary: not for Java programmers
Review: This book really gets you up to speed with JSP / JSTL! Clear information on the concepts and the background, lot's of real world examples that allow you to build your own application faster than you ever thought.
Rating: 
Summary: Examples are very good
Review: This second-edition is very good...provides excellent coverage
of all JSP topics. The examples are VERY helpful. (I also use
the free Tomcat V4.x application-server to host the book
examples and example code that I've developed.)
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