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Book Review: Java Servlet Programming 2nd Edition

Author(s): Jason Hunter with William Crawford

Publisher: O'Reilly

Date: 2001

Pages: 780

ISBN: 0596000405

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Reviewed by Jayson Falkner

Java Servlet Programming 2nd Edition is an excellent book and reference for the Java Servlet 2.2 API. Jason Hunter and William Crawford clearly know their servlets and the knowledge shines through. If you are looking for a comprehensive servlet book this is it.

The book starts with a introduction to servlets and a small history of their place with other server-side technologies. HTTP servlets are then introduced along with developing dynamic server-side content. Topics then range from servlet sessions, security, database connectivity, applet cooperation, internationalization and J2EE integration. Once servlets are thoroughly covered, other servlet technologies such as the Tea framework, WebMacro, Element Construction Set, XMLC and JavaServer Pages are overviewed.

What did I like about the book?

Servlets! Having servlet knowledge is critical for any Java server-side developer. This book is arguably one of the best servlet books out there.
References. This book comes with the basic servlet API reference, however equally helpful is a HTTP status code reference, web application deployment descriptor (web.xml) reference, and unicode escape reference. The latter references are not commonly found in one place, and I am happy to have them on my bookshelf.
Examples. This is no step-by-step lets build a web application. Examples illustrate a helpful, significant point and they work.

What did I dislike?

The overview of servlet technologies is helpful to see what is being done with servlets. The downside is these overviews are very brief. Demonstrating common servlet design patterns and then relating them to other servlet based technologies would have been more helpful.
JSP coverage. JavaServer Pages are rapidly becoming a valuable tool for Java server-side development. Especially when cooperating with servlets. The coverage of JSP is very weak and the servlet/JSP cooperation is even weaker.

Would I recommend this book

Absolutely. If you are a server-side Java developer this is a great resource. However, do not think this is a complete resource for Java on the server-side. Servlets are well covered; however, a JSP and a design pattern book would compliment this nicely.

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