Core J2EE Patterns: Best Practices and Design Strategies, Second Edition

Hibernate in Action (In Action series)

Servlets

More Servlets and JavaServer Pages

Format: Paperback
Author: Marty Hall
ReleaseDate: 26 December, 2001
Publisher: Pearson Education
Rating:

Comprehensive with a footnote
I like the fact the the author starts with servlets rather than with JSP pages. The book covers a lot of ground. This gives the reader a basis for anything else covered in the field of JSPs. Every single thing is supported by an example, which is very nice.
I would like however to warn JSP and Servlet newbies: the book assumes you know how to set up a servlet engine (Tomcat, Jboss, etc). The reason I say that is not because the book does not cover this topic, but because it is very obscure in the book. For example the author tells you that the way you access servlets is by typing you application directory + /servlets/ + the name of the servlet. He, for some reason, assumes that tomcat makes that url pattern the default for accesing servlets. It is not true. Tomcat leaves it up to you to decide hot to access your servlets. So you have to go and modify your web. xml file, which is not covered in the those set up sesctions of the book.
If you know how to set things up yourself, this book is invaluable. .

Good book to read
He is also a great businessman because after reading this book I had to buy his other book as well - Core Servlets and Java Server Pages. Marty Hall is not just a great developer & writer. .

Great for the IBM 484 Exam!
Good breadth and depth in many of the categories on the exam and Marty puts things in a clear manner so you pick up the concepts quickly. This book was a big help for me in passing IBM's exams that deal with the J2EE. Very well laid out.

I'd also mention this book is way more than just servlets/jsp's, it also has a ton of stuff on really understanding the deployment of J2EE webapps and how to really get the most out of your web. xml. It also has good coverage of j2ee security and JSTL. Hope this helps others decide.