Java EE 5 Development using GlassFish Application Server

While Glassfish already comes with great free documentation (Sun App Server docs), then this book is also on the top of my wish-list (student, so not in a financial position just to go out and buy when I like :) ).

Does the book have a Glassfish specific approach to the topics covered, or a more general JEE5 angle?

Cheers, Soren 

Hi Meera,

By the title yes, but only chapter 1 and the appendices looks guaranteed Glassfish specific from the ToC.  I guess I will be looking forward to your review and then decide :-)

Regards, Soren 

Thanks for your comments on that, Greg. Can you, then, recommend a book more suitable to those looking for more in-depth Java-EE-on-glassfish coverage?

Thanks and best regards,

Kristian

I am the book's author. I would like to add a few comments about it:

• The book is primarily aimed at software developers, this is the reason it doesn't include a lot of GlassFish configuration information. Individuals interested in a book covering configuration, tuning and things of that nature, may request a new title at Packt Publishing's web site (http://www.packtpub.com), there is a "suggest a title" field near the bottom right of the home page.
• One of the advantages of Java EE 5 is that the API's are the same regardless of what application server is being used (assuming, of course, that the app server is Java EE 5 compliant). For this reason, a lot of the development topics are not GlassFish specific.
  
  One advantage that this approach has is that, since GlassFish is open source and available for download free of cost, developers can learn Java EE 5 using GlassFish at home, then use their newly found skills on other expensive application servers that their employer might be using. The book does cover some GlassFish specific deployment descriptors, however I'll admit that the coverage is minimal.
  
  The chapter on security covers some topics that are very much GlassFish specific such as configuring security realms and developing custom security realms.

• The book covers most of the Java EE 5 APIs including Servlets, JSPs, JSF, EJB 3, JPA, JMS and web services. Additionally, there is a chapter titled "Beyond Java EE 5" that covers a few technologies that are built on top of the standard. Seam, Facelets and Ajax4jsf are covered in this chapter.
  
  We are all aware that complete books have been written covering every single one of these topics (except Facelets and Ajax4jsf, to the best of my knowledge), therefore the book doesn't cover every nook and cranny of each one of these technologies, instead it focuses on providing information on all of these APIs and how they all work together. Those of us that have been working with Java for a while (I started in 1996) have had the luxury of learning these APIs in chunks, as they are introduced. Developers that started later may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to learn, a book covering only servlets or only EJB's for instance, may not give the reader an idea on how to make all of the Java EE 5 technologies work together.

Like Meera said, she will be interviewing me soon, I may provide additional details about the book at that time.

Sorry, but this book is very entry level and very weak.

 There is almost nothing specific to Glassfish in this book. This book is about Java EE 5 with few glassfish screenshots. If we remove glassfish from book's title we will be left with "Java EE 5 Development using Application Server" which will be more appropriate.

If someone needs any information on glassfish there is a mush better quality source http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/coll/1343.4 

Even without Glassfish word in book's title, this is very entry level and misleading book.

Who is supposed to be reading such book? What will he learn from it? Will he be able to correctly develop Enterprise application? Doesn't Java EE is more related with architecture than java language and screenshots? What will reader say after reading it? Spring is much better. Of course it's, there is nothing about Java EE, NOTHING.

In this book I found:

• architecture - 2 times
• pattern (without url-pattern) - 2 times + 1 in index
• design - was mentioned only with MVC ant DAO design pattern  

Does anybody cares what quality of Java EE 5 application will be produced after reading this book? What will be said about this software and Java EE technology after all?

Java EE is about Enterprise level application's architecture, design, deployment and support. 

 ps. So much paper, money and effort wasted. Author should do much more reading, before writing.

 Sorry if someone been hurt by these words. I guess a lot of you will accept my opinion. This book should be banned. Glassfish does not deserve such low quality books.