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draft review of EJB in Action

 
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I reviewed a draft (Manning Early Access Program) version of the book. So it only seems fair to submit a draft of my review . Seriously though, I was very happy with the book and want to see the final version so the authors can have the benefit of a review without a disclaimer when I formally submit it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

�EJB 3 in Action� manages to be an excellent read for both people new to EJB and people who have been using EJB 2.X. There are side notes throughout about significant changes from EJB 2.X. For larger topics that someone new to EJB 2.X might not know, the topic is covered in the appendix. The examples are interesting and well written, so it isn't boring reading about the purpose of a session bean if you already know it.

What really impressed me were the differences between this book and Sun's J2EE tutorial. The majority of examples used Java 5 syntax (for looping and the like.) This made the examples feel like EJB 3 examples rather than an old book robotically updated. Further, the authors explain when to use a deployment descriptor vs annotations. Sun sticks to the party line and barely mentions the deployment descriptor. The �EJB 3 in Action� approach is much more useful for gaining practical advice.

Best practices are described throughout. The authors don't assume you know Java 5 features and explain them as necessary. All the expected topics are covered. Additionally, there are chapters on Spring integration and migrating from EJB 2.X. The examples are app server agnostic, but they show you how to use one in the appendix. Finally, the appendixes provide an excellent reference for both the annotations and deployment descriptor.

I reviewed the MEAP (early access program) PDF version, so I can't comment on the formatting/quality of the final copy. The version I saw had typos, grammatical errors, errors in numbering and a few errors in the examples. Assuming these errors are fixed, I would give the book 9/10.
 
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The version I saw had typos, grammatical errors, errors in numbering and a few errors in the examples.


They all have Wishing this book will have few. Anyway, I'm expecting a lot from this book.
 
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Thanks Jeane for the review!

Actually there have been rigorous copy editing by Manning crew in last few months after the MEAP release so most of the typos and grammatical errors are fixed.

Please note that eBook will be released on Mar 15 and print books will be available on Mar 30.

You can buy both ebook and print book from Manning web site at http://manning.com/panda/

You buy from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/EJB-3-Action-Debu-Panda/dp/1933988347

regards
Debu
 
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Amazon Japan lists two books !!

700 pages
Manning Pubns Co (2007/4/1)
# ISBN-10: 1933988347
# ISBN-13: 978-1933988344
\7,589

450 pages
Manning Pubns Co (2007/03)
# ISBN-10: 1932394931
# ISBN-13: 978-1932394931
\4,736

Well, the book is 700 pages thick, so I guess the correct one is the first entry.
I've looked for the second one on Amazon.com, but can't find it.
I'll have to save some money

PS : Mr Debu Panda, do you know what your name means in Japanese ?
 
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PS : Mr Debu Panda, do you know what your name means in Japanese ?



Please tell us what it means in Japanese ?

Hello Mr.Debu Panda,

Is there Indian version of the book available. Thank you.
 
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The correct ISBN is 1933988347.

I don't know meaning of my name in Japanese, would be kind to tell (:

Looks like Amazon has scrwed up in world-wide sites except in USA.

Here are correct links to the books
Japan:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/Ejb-3-Action-Debu-Panda/dp/1933988347/

Canada
http://www.amazon.ca/Ejb-3-Action-Debu-Panda/dp/1933988347/

UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ejb-3-Action-Debu-Panda/dp/1933988347/

Germany
http://www.amazon.de/Ejb-3-Action-Debu-Panda/dp/1933988347/

Pradeep,
It will be reprinted in India by DreamTech Press and I will check with the publisher about the dates
 
Jeanne Boyarsky
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Originally posted by Debu Panda:
Actually there have been rigorous copy editing by Manning crew in last few months after the MEAP release so most of the typos and grammatical errors are fixed.


I'm sure they have - All the Manning books I've seen in print are of very high quality. That's why I'm holding off on submitting my review to Amazon etc. I don't feel comfortable saying something until I see things with my own eyes .
 
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Jeanne:

Thanks so much for the kind words. We really tried hard to get the reader the best that we can give for this book, especially given the number of EJB 3 books and reference material out there!

Keeping my figers crossed and hoping you continue to have a positive impression of the results of our blood, sweat and tears

Reza
 
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Mr Panda, thank you for clarifying my doubt. It was the most expensive one
I'll have to save some money. 7,589 yens = 65.2 dollars. Almost double price compared to Amazon.com.

I don't know meaning of my name in Japanese, would be kind to tell


Please don't be angry It means "fatty panda". But as panda is a cute animal, "fatty" is not pejorative. Sounds like a big panda you'd want to hug
 
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Pradeep,
It will be reprinted in India by DreamTech Press and I will check with the publisher about the dates



Thank you. I will buy the book if I don't win here.
 
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hi debu,
I had posted in the welcome section ....due to sheer ignorance, thanks to jeanne i m now in the right stall, i was wondering if i could ask some general questions regarding ejb 3, with emphasis of whether those points are tackled in your book.

Regards
Rodd
[ March 14, 2007: Message edited by: rodd manning ]
 
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Rodd:

What are you interested in knowing?

Reza
 
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It means "fatty panda".


I used to be fat 2-3 years back and I lost 20 lbs as EJB lost weight with EJB 3!
 
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Originally posted by Satou kurinosuke:

Well, the book is 700 pages thick, so I guess the correct one is the first entry.



given the tickness of the book, can I expect a "tutorial" style, easy-to-follow material targeting beginner-mid level developer?

thanks
 
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Anthony:

The chapters that introduce EJB 3 beans and JPA (parts 1, 2 and 3) are written in a tutorial style. The later chapters (part 4) talking about practical/advanced usage were really difficult to setup that way, so they are more reference-oriented.

Reza
[ March 15, 2007: Message edited by: Reza Rahman ]
 
rodd manning
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hi reza,
How friendly is ejb 3.0 towards calls issued from a jsp.I was wondering if your book included topics about ejb 3.0 calls from a jsp,the reason being that i came across a very few books that faintly touched the topic.

Regards

Rodd Manning
 
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Rodd:

I wish I could tell you otherwise, but the fact is that the EJB DI annotations (@EJB and @Resource) do not work on JSP scriptlets (I'm assuming that's what you are really getting at). The problem is that JSP scriptlet code translates to code in the service() methods, well beyond the reach of the container. As such, Spring has the same problem. However, you can always resort to JNDI if you really want EJB access in scriptlets.

The good news is that EJB 3 DI works on Servlets, JSP tags handlers and JSF backing beans. If I was to make a recommendation, I would say look into JSF/JBoss Seam, it might make your prsentation code a little more fun to write.

Chapter 12 of the book is devoted to integrating EJB with other technologies (JSP tag handlers and JSF backing bean are covered). The chapter is better than most EJB 3 books out there, but I have to admit it is not one of our strongest work.

Hope this helps.

Reza
 
Jeanne Boyarsky
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Originally posted by rodd manning:
How friendly is ejb 3.0 towards calls issued from a jsp.I was wondering if your book included topics about ejb 3.0 calls from a jsp,the reason being that i came across a very few books that faintly touched the topic.


Part of the reason books don't touch on this is that it is hightly discouraged to have scriplets in a JSP, let alone scriplets that access a database or EJB.

The MVC pattern has you writing a servlet making the logic calls and forwarding to a JSP. Since a servlet can do dependency injection, I'm assuming the EJB spec writers had this common practice in mind.

For legacy code, I can understand why one might want to do less than desirable things from a JSP. But for new code - which code calling EJB 3 clearly is - I can't imagine why you would want to do this.
 
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We have discussed the MVC design pattern and use of EJBs in the controller. In chapter 12 we have provided code example with Servlet/JSP to keep it simple
 
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Rodd:

I wish I could tell you otherwise, but the fact is that the EJB DI annotations (@EJB and @Resource) do not work on JSP scriptlets (I'm assuming that's what you are really getting at). The problem is that JSP scriptlet code translates to code in the service() methods, well beyond the reach of the container. As such, Spring has the same problem. However, you can always resort to JNDI if you really want EJB access in scriptlets. The good news is that EJB 3 DI works on Servlets, JSP tags handlers and JSF backing beans. If I was to make a recommendation, I would say look into JSF/JBoss Seam, it might make your prsentation code a little more fun to write. Chapter 12 of the book is devoted to integrating EJB with other technologies (JSP tag handlers and JSF backing bean are covered). The chapter is better than most EJB 3 books out there, but I have to admit it is not one of our strongest work.

Hope this helps.

Reza

hi,
Yes i use JNDI for ejb access in scriptlets,looking forward to exploring the contents of your book (chapter 12 in particular). Thank you for taking the time to reply

Regards

Rodd
 
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You are welcome. Post back if you need to know anything else...
 
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