Spring in action: 2nd edition or 3rd edition?

[Dhaval J. Patel]

Hi,
I am thinking of learning Spring from a book that a friend gave me .. Spring in action 2nd edition .. But the latest version is 3.0.5 .. Is it ok if I learn from 2nd edition which covers 2.0 version and then try the resources that will help me teach the new features in 3.0 ?? Or shoud I spend on buying a new 3rd edition ?? Is it much of a difference ??? How much time will it take for me to learn new features after learning from 2nd edition ??

Any help would be appreciated ..
Thank you in advance ..

[Hauke Ingmar Schmidt]

The differences are significant. While the principles are the same you can wire up your application completely different. So I would definitely go for the current edition.

If you are really good at Spring 2, then the 3.0 way will be a snap. If you are just learning everything, then it wont.

[Dhaval J. Patel]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply,
Can you suggest me a good book for 3.0 for a beginner like me? I am confused what book to choose because there are mixed reviews about different books on the internet ..

[Sreevatsa Turuvekere Laxmi Narayana]

Hauke Ingmar Schmidt wrote:The differences are significant. While the principles are the same you can wire up your application completely different. So I would definitely go for the current edition.

If you are really good at Spring 2, then the 3.0 way will be a snap. If you are just learning everything, then it wont.

I'm a total beginner. I want to learn Spring and I have to start from level zero. Which edition of Spring in Action should I buy?
Spring in Action 3nd Ed book has some 400 and odd pages where as 2nd Ed has almost 700+ pages. That is a big difference.
If there is any other book that I can go through spontaneously, on my own, kindly suggest.
Kindly help.

[K. Tsang]

The 2nd edition covers v2.5 I think and 3rd edition v3.0. Yet there is a 4th edition which covers the latest Spring version 4.0

I would suggest going for the latest edition of the book if you are new to Spring. However, if you know you will be using a specific version of Spring then read the proper edition accordingly.

[Jayesh A Lalwani]

The latest edition is the best. Spring has gone through big changes from 2.5 to 4.0

However, 2nd edition is better than no book. The fundamental principles behind Spring haven't changed since 2. They have added a lot more stuff, and made things easier to use. If you can learn the fundamentals, learning online is much easier.