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So many J2EE books, so little time

Find the best J2EE book for your purposes

By Matt Gerrans, JavaWorld.com, 08/09/02

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. What's this?

When it comes to J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), you don't know a hill of Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). Don't worry, you'll find plenty of reading material to give you a hand. In fact, you may find too much! I'm here to help you narrow the choices to a single book you can carry from the bookstore without getting a hernia.

J2EE is a multifarious collection of server-side technologies that together forms the basis of powerful enterprise applications. I won't bore you with yet another J2EE overview; chances are you've already read one or more. On top of that, any one of the four J2EE books I review here will give you such an overview.

In this article, I review the following four J2EE books:



Beyond each book's merits, I also delve into their bonus resources such as Websites or CDs. Finally, I summarize my comparisons and give you a definitive answer regarding which is the best.

When I read a book review, especially a comparative book review, I want unequivocal answers. For this review, then, I answer the question, "On my four-day backpacking trip in the Emigrant Wilderness next week, which one book will I bring?"

J2EE books at a glance
  CodeNotes for J2EE: EJB, JDBC, JSP, and Servlets Java for the Web with Servlets, JSP, and EJB Professional Java Server Programming, J2EE 1.3 Edition Sams Teach Yourself J2EE in 21 Days
Price (US$) 9.95 9.99 4.99 9.99
Pages 222 953 1,248 1,094
Weight 9.25 oz. 3 lbs., 5 oz. 4 lbs., 1 oz. 4 lbs., 1.5 oz.
Index Basic Good Good Good
Glossary No No No Yes
CD-ROM No Yes—basic No Yes—good
Authors 3 1 13 5
J2EE version covered 1.2.1 1.3* 1.3 1.3
* Not explicitly stated; I inferred this from the fact that he covers Servlet 2.3, JSP 1.2, and EJB 2.0.

CodeNotes for J2EE: EJB, JDBC, JSP, and Servlets

At 222 pages, CodeNotes for J2EE: EJB, JDBC, JSP, and Servlets runs considerably shorter than its brethren (or did you think that was a typo?). The CodeNotes series strives to teach any technical subject in fewer than 200 pages—a laudable concept.

The Website

While I favored CodeNotes for J2EE: EJB, JDBC, JSP, and Servlets from the start, I was chagrined to learn how the writing team achieved some of the sleekness: They periodically relegate various subjects to the CodeNotes Website (the book does not include a CD).

I consider that somewhat of a cheat, but in practice I didn't find it that painful. Moreover, I could discriminate a little more about what I needed to read. Normally when I read a book, I read through unnecessary parts, unless they are really long and clearly irrelevant. In this case, if a particular reference is not pertinent, I won't bother to read it on the Website.

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