Hibernate in Action (In Action series)

Head First Design Patterns

Ajax in Action

Java In A Nutshell, 5th Edition

Java

Ant: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Format: Paperback
Author: Holzner Steve
ReleaseDate: 14 April, 2005
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

Good for getting acquainted with Ant
It covers basic Ant concepts and enough of Ant usage so that you know where to look when you need more help. If you've never used Ant before, this is the book for you. When you're done with this book you'll know how to set up basic builds, run unit tests and integrate with various environments such as Eclipse.

That said, I find the book frustrating because of its guide nature. Nothing in the book is laid out in a way that makes it easy to use as a reference. Even when you go to a chapter on a particular topic, the information you need quickly is presented in the right form. Now that I'm familiar with Ant I find using online references adequate for just about everything.

First edition was better
That reference section is what really got me going in ant. They removed this really nice reference section in this (2nd) edition. I suppose the information is in the ant documentation, but I liked having it in the book.

Overall, the book is still ok.

Helpful, comprehensive guide
The opening chapters give you an overview of the topic--from there, you can move on to neat topics like Web development, XML, and integrating with Eclipse. Buy this book and read it from beginning to end. This book is well written and easy to understand; it's a great reference for both beginners and people with some experience with Ant.