Hibernate in Action (In Action series)

Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development (Programmer to Programmer)

Spring in Action (In Action series)

Pro Spring

Java

Expert One-on-One J2EE Development without EJB

Format: Paperback
Author: Rod Johnson
ReleaseDate: 21 June, 2004
Publisher: Wrox
Rating:

Good book
I appreciate the practical insight and opinions expressed by the author. This is a fine book. Sometimes it seems that he justifies his points by using the same rational he attacks in other technologies like EJB. Not that I am a fan of EJB, having used it in projects and found it wanting.
.

One of a kind
It can be used either by a developer or by a architect. This book is very complete. The examples are vey ilustrative and brings out the best of the Rod's experience. Like the other book ". . with EJB", this is a must buy!.

Good but not complete for spring

At the time, most people still think ejb is
the official/standard solution for
J2EE development, and can not imagine alternatives to EJB. In 2004, I may have given this book 5 stars.

Now, lots of people are convinced that
ejb is not the only solution, and may not be the best
solution for J2EE. This book spent five chapters
to explain the weakness of ejb, which may be very useful
last year, but is repetive and less useful now.

Chapter 6 is an introduction of lightweight IOC container. Then chapter 7 offers an introduction to Spring framework, and chapter 8 moves to Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP). These three chapters explained the spring foundation very well. Other chapters are describes use of spring framework in transaction management, persistence, remoting, web design, . . . . which are good but not as complete as newer books like "Pro Spring".

If you are interested in Spring framework, besides "Pro Spring", you may also check "Professional Java Development with the Spring Framework", another book written by Rod Johnson and his team.