Hibernate in Action (In Action series)

Core JavaServer Faces (Sun Microsystems Press Java Series)

Spring in Action (In Action series)

Ajax in Action

Pro JSF and Ajax: Building Rich Internet Components (Pro)

Java

JavaServer Faces in Action (In Action series)

Format: Paperback
Author: Kito Mann
ReleaseDate: 01 January, 2005
Publisher: Manning Publications
Rating:

Sloppily written, low on content
I can find a typo on almost every page. Without exaggeration, this is the most poorly edited, sloppily written technical book I have ever paid money for. Some are merely distractions (such as an extra "on") but others are inexcusable. There are several occurrences of badly formed XML, with elements that open with one tag (tree-id) and close with another tag (view-id). Which is it? I shouldn't have to reverse engineer the sample code in a professionally edited book.
Furthermore, this book is not even complete! It ships with 15 chapters and the rest of the book is to be downloaded as a pdf. The pdf has no less typos than the hard copy and astonishingly, there are errors that should have been caught by the most elementary spell checker. (Apparently, the editors did not have time to run one).
The content of this book is superficial and you won't learn anything that you couldn't find in a free web tutorial. This book is wordy and would only be half as long is it is if the fluff were removed. The author's annoying attempts at wit only served to remind me of how little substance this book really has. The "real world" examples would be appropriate for an introductory undergraduate computer class and do not correspond to any "real world" that I've lived in. All in all, this book put me in a bad mood almost every time I picked it up (and believe it or not, I am usually a very forgiving reader). From the In Action series, I've read the books on Struts, Hibernate, Spring, Ajax and this one. This is the only that has disappointed. I highly recommend the others and I highly recommend O'Reilly's Java Server Faces and Core Java Server Faces from Prentice Hall.

Excellent Introduction to JSF
He breaks the book into parts that let the reader first learn about the architecture and fundamentals of JSF, then he gets into the UI side of JSF and finally to the application programming side of JSF. Kito Mann does a great job introducing JavaServer Faces in this book. This format provides a nice way to go from easy to learn concepts to the detailed programming environment.

I also feel the projecttrack example application that he builds through the book is an excellent way to get hands on with JSF. My only complaint is it is for JDK 1. 4 and not JDK 1. 5 but I sent an email to Kito and he is working on the upgraded content.

Good book in giving concepts
Most codes are up to date (Other may not) and it illustrates the concept of JSF very clearly at the beginning. If you did not have any other JSF book, this will be the first buy. However, the way it present JSF ideas may not be very easy-understanding. Anyway, there is currently no other better choices for learners in JSF. Following online tutorials and articles are clearly not enough comparing to reading this book.