Oracle Modernization Solutions: A practical guide to planning and implementing SOA Integration and Re-architecting to an Oracle platform Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is excellent source for anyone who is involved in modernizing the legacy software application with Oracle SOA Suite. It details the comprehensive approach for any scale modernization using Oracle SOA.

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Oracle Modernization Solutions shows you how to modernize a legacy mainframe application using the modernization approaches of SOA Integration and Re-architecture. The book is unique in that it identifies a specific set of implementation tools and targets the Oracle Database and Fusion Middleware as the end architecture. Legacy system architects, project managers, program managers, developers, database architects and decision makers who own mainframe and heterogeneous systems, and are tasked with modernization will all find this book useful. The book assumes some knowledge of mainframes, J2EE, SOA, and Oracle technologies. The reader should have some background in programming and database design.

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Tapestry 5: Building Web Applications: A step-by-step guide to Java Web development with the developer-friendly Apache Tapestry framework Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I went through this book before realizing that there is a better and up-to-date tutorial available for free on the Tapestry 5 official site written by the creator Ship himself:
[...]
As this book was obviously written a couple of years back, a lot of information is out-dated. I had to jump through quite a number of hoops, looking for info and tips on the web, to get the project going. There are numerous errors starting from using Maven to create a Tapestry 5 project all the way down to attributes of form tags. While some of these errors are minor and are caused by the continued evolution of Tapestry 5, they put a considerable damper on my learning process and make it unnecessarily frustrating.
A major omission from this book is the integration with any ORM tool such as Hibernate. In my opinion, this leaves the book "half-baked." After going through this book, one would not be able to create a "real" project that include DB persistence. All in all, whether you are experienced in Java EE or not, if you wish to learn Tapestry 5, you will be much better off by following Ship's official tutorial listed above instead of using this book.

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This book is a practical step-by-step tutorial for those who want to build contemporary, real-life web applications with Tapestry 5, the Apache open-source framework for creating dynamic, robust, highly scalable web applications in Java. It shows the path of least resistance, so that the reader can learn all the essential skills quickly and easily. To give the reader an initial practical experience, a simple but useful web application is built throughout the chapters. This book is for those who want to build sophisticated Java web applications quickly and easily. It assumes that the reader is reasonably comfortable with the Java programming language, but no knowledge of web technologies is needed. For experienced Servlet, JSP, or Struts developers, the book will show an alternative way that will allow them to raise their productivity to an incomparable level. With this book you will see that a contemporary component-based framework can be easy to learn and a pleasure to work with.

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Google Guice: Agile Lightweight Dependency Injection Framework (FirstPress) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a thin book that was churned out quickly, like all in the Firstpress series. There are some errors, and the topic isn't covered in great depth. On the other hand, it's the only book out there strictly devoted to Guice. So if you really want to learn Guice quickly, this book will help.
On the other hand, the much-improved (and much-different) Guice 2.0 is currently in beta. As is Spring 3.0, which has a far richer feature set (some might call it absurdly large) than Guice; the two aren't exclusive, but if you use Spring, you should ask whether you really need to add Guice. And an upcoming book, Dependency Injection in Action (which you can buy an early eBook of through Manning's MEAP program) covers Guice more thoroughly. So if you do get this book, it might not be useful for very long.
[Edit: Guice 2.0 has now been released. I'd avoid this book and learn the new version instead.]

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Google Guice firstPress is first and authoritative book on emerging open source Guice project, an agile ultralightweight Java and Web application development framework. Many in the industry believe Guice to be the next Spring. Backed by Google and apparently Sun, this has the high potential to become reality one day.

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Ajax on Java Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Sad to say, this book is little more than a code dump, and the code does not run without debugging.
There are no explanations of technologies and concepts that surround Ajax, therefore, given the state of the code, there is not a lot of reason to work through the book. In fact, this is the first computer book that I returned to the seller, simply because I found so little reason to keep it on my bookshelf.
The writing in the introductory chapter gives promise, but as the book progresses the code quickly becomes dense and the organization and writing becomes unacceptably thin. I expected more from O'Reilly.
Before I gave up on this book, I was half way through it, and only one code set had ran correctly from build on. For example, the author's code has at least four variations of the basic application URL sprinkled among the Javascript and build files of the first four examples. Finding and correcting the URL was annoying but not difficult, but even after that, the examples did not run without further debugging.
I finally threw up my hands and surrendered... defeated by the author's rush to publication.

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This practical guide shows you how to make your Java web applications more responsive and dynamic by incorporating new Ajaxian features, including suggestion lists, drag-and-drop, and more. Java developers can choose between many different ways of incorporating Ajax, from building JavaScript into your applications "by hand" to using the new Google Web Toolkit (GWT).

Ajax on Java starts with an introduction to Ajax, showing you how to write some basic applications that use client-side JavaScript to request information from a Java servlet and display it without doing a full page reload. It also presents several strategies for communicating between the client and the server, including sending raw data, and using XML or JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) for sending more complex collections of data.

The book then branches out into different approaches for incorporating Ajax, which include:

The Prototype and script.aculo.us Javascript libraries, the Dojo and Rico libraries, and DWR
Integrating Ajax into Java ServerPages (JSP) applications
Using Ajax with Struts
Integrating Ajax into Java ServerFaces (JSF) applications
Using Google's GWT, which offers a pure Java approach to developing web applications: your client-side components are written in Java, and compiled into HTML and JavaScript

Ajax gives web developers the ability to build applications that are more interactive, more dynamic, more exciting and enjoyable for your users. If you're a Java developer and haven't tried Ajax, but would like to get started, this book is essential. Your users will be grateful.

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Spring Security 3 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I can not begin to tell you how much time I have wasted with this book. If you already know spring security this is a good book, but then again you already know spring security so why bother!
Each chapter contains several different example that attempt to demonstrate how to do handle some aspect of security. Unfortantly the listing in the book for each example are incomplete. Its really hard to figure out how all the "knitting" is done! The source code is really bad. All the examples for each chapter are mashed together across many different files. Some how you are supposed to read all the comments to figure out which piece of code go with which examples. The indirection is madding. Its very hard to figure out which pieces go where.

I think you would be better off using the spring security tutorial, forums and google.
Hopeful someone will write an easy to use "cookbook" with complete recipes that are described in a linear manner.
I think what few reviews have been written so far where done as a favor to the author

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Secure your web applications against malicious intruders with this easy to follow practical guide
Make your web applications impenetrable.
Implement authentication and authorization of users.
Integrate Spring Security 3 with common external security providers.
Packed full with concrete, simple, and concise examples.

In Detail

Security is of critical importance to all web applications. Vulnerable applications are easy prey for hackers. This book is the perfect tool for Java developers looking to repel attacks against their web applications using the proven Spring Security library to achieve this.

A comprehensive guide to Spring Security 3. You will learn through real world business scenarios how to guard against the latest threats. You will also learn to combine Spring Security 3 with external security providers such as LDAP, OpenID, CAS, Kerberos, and Active Directory.

The book starts by giving an overview of security concepts and techniques, as well as setup and configuration. The book then gets you working with a JSP based web application that implements a simple e-commerce website. At this point you will progressively enhance the application giving you hands on experience implementing features of Spring Security 3 in real world business scenarios.

The second half of the book is devoted to common integration scenarios that you will come accross every day. At this stage you will be in a position to solve specific, complex integration problems. The book will end by showing migration from Spring Security 2 to 3.

This practical guide will show you how to implement Spring Security 3 and protect your applications from being breached using a combination of real world, straightforward examples.

What you will learn from this book

Recognize design flaws that will make your applications unsafe.
Implement basic authorization and credential storage.
Move seamlessly from Spring Security 2 to Spring Security 3.
Provide Enterprise adaptability with LDAP, Active Directory, and Kerberos.
Push the Boundaries of Spring Security 3 through Extension and Customization.
Integrate in-house applications and popular Java frameworks with Spring Security 3.
Plan the configuration of Spring Security 3 to accommodate the authentication and authorization requirements of your application.

Approach

The book starts by teaching the basic fundamentals of Spring Security 3 such as setup and configuration. Later it looks at more advanced topics showing the reader how to solve complex real world security issues.

Who this book is written for

This book is for Java developers who build web projects and applications. The book assumes basic familiarity with Java, XML and the Spring Framework. Newcomers to Spring Security will still be able to utilize all aspects of this book.

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Pro Hadoop (Expert's Voice in Open Source) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The reason why I say this book's still a Good Buy is because Jason Venner has used Hadoop in several scenarios, and this book contains a lot of practical and time-saving tips on what mistakes to avoid or how to troubleshoot problems, making it an especially good book for Hadoop newbies. His materials on Testing and Debugging MapReduce Applications are also a value-add.
Chapter One provides detailed instructions on how to install Hadoop and how to run a test to verify that everything went fine. The author mentions that Hadoop 0.19 works best with Sun's JDK 1.6 and that although Hadoop will work on Windows with Cygwin installed, you have to be careful when specifying file paths.
Chapters Two and Three introduce basic concepts pertaining to MapReduce Jobs and Multimachine Clusters, respectively, and how "master" and "slave" nodes are configured. Chapter Four teaches you how to install, configure, and troubleshoot Hadoop Distributed File System.
Chapters Five and Six provide tutorials on the different types of inputs and outputs that a Hadoop MapReduce job can handle, and how to tune MapReduce jobs.
Chapter Seven is an excellent tutorial on how to unit test and debug MapReduce jobs, while Chapter Eight discusses more advanced MapReduce techniques for addressing more complex application requirements.
Chapter Nine walks you through the evolution of a (somewhat boring) real-world application, discussing rationales behind design changes, etc. Chapter 10 provides a few descriptive paragraphs each for various projects related to Hadoop (e.g., Pig, HBase, Mahout, ZooKeeper,etc). Finally, Appendix A is a detailed discussion of the JobConf API, JobConf being the object that controls information relating to a MapReduce job.

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It's a very safe bet that cloud computing interest increases and in fact, a near certainty. A recent estimate from Merrill Lynch suggested a $95 billion annual market by 2013. Hadoop is at the center of cloud computing: it is one of the most searched-for, documented, and prevalent form of cloud computing data access, and even in its pre-final form is already rich enough to support a consulting business model. Anyone wishing to investigate an enterprise-level cloud computing solution will need a Hadoop book to at least investigate the possibilities.Hadoop is one of the tools that's driving today's developers to build tomorrow's Software as a Service (SaaS)-based and driven Internet applications, invested in by Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and more. With Hadoop, developers can build tomorrow's data centers, or the next 'Microsoft Office" or 'Google Apps" - applications that are fully hosted on the Web, not the desktop - and much more.Pro Hadoop will be the first to market with a professional guide and reference to getting up to speed with using, developing and working with Hadoop, an open source Java-based cloud computing framework and platform backed by Yahoo. This book will likely time with Hadoop 1.0 release in June 2009, also around JavaOne, the world's largest Java conference at around 15,000 attendees on average.

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Google Web Toolkit GWT Java AJAX Programming: A step-by-step to Google Web Toolkit for creating Ajax applications fast Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)A practicum is a course designed to give students practice in a previously studied field, and that's what this book is: if you are a developer who understands Java and at least something about web development, this practical guide will immediately get you up to speed on working, practical uses of GWT. This is not about the internals of GWT, but about how to use it, and, if you haven't heard, Google Web Toolkit lets Java developers create Ajaxified web applications without becoming Javascript experts. One of the nicest things about this book is that the clear and logical explanations are accompanied by runnable examples that actually compile and work as is! Amazing! This may not be your last book on Ajax and GWT, but it probably should be your first since it puts you immediately on your feet with a clear, firm grasp both of what this new technology is all about as well as how to use it today.

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Each chapter covers a series of practical tasks, showing how to achieve a particular useful result â€' and then learn how it works so that you can apply your knowledge to your own unique situation. Readers will need experience writing non-trivial applications using Java. Experience with developing web interfaces is useful, but knowledge of JavaScript and DHTML is not required… GWT takes care of that!--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Google Web Toolkit Solutions: More Cool & Useful Stuff Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've tried at length to obtain the source code used in the book. Geary leaves it to the user to acquire the addons that he uses in his examples. Yes I've tried going the Safari route. Without signing up for a "90 day free then we charge you big" trial, you won't have any luck. I also read the previous post where he mentioned that he obtained the code from the website. If you go there now, the code has been pulled so I'm back to being forced to sign up for Safari which I won't do. I did read through the examples and do what I could. Instead of this book, I'd recommend "Google Web Toolkit Applications" by Dewsbury. The examples may not be as advanced as these, but at least you can run them.

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Cu>


Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework for building Ajax-enabled web applications. Instead of the hodgepodge of technologies that developers typically use for Ajax–JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and XMLHttpRequest–GWT lets developers implement rich client applications with pure Java, using familiar idioms from the AWT, Swing, and SWT. GWT goes beyond most Ajax frameworks by making it easy to build desktop-like applications that run in the ubiquitous browser, where the richness of the user interface is limited only by the developer's imagination.

This book focuses on the more advanced aspects of GWT that you need to implement real-world applications with rich user interfaces but without the heavy lifting of JavaScript and other Ajax-related technologies. Each solution in this practical, hands-on book is more than a recipe. The sample programs are carefully explained in detail to help you quickly master advanced GWT techniques, such as implementing drag-and-drop, integrating JavaScript libraries, and using advanced event handling methodologies.

Solutions covered include
• Building custom GWT widgets, including both high-level composites and low-level components
• Implementing a viewport class that includes iPhone-style automated scrolling
• Integrating web services with GWT applications
• Incorporating the Script.aculo.us JavaScript framework into GWT applications
• Combining Hibernate and GWT to implement database-backed web applications
• Extending the GWT PopupPanel class to implement a draggable and resizable window
• Creating a drag-and-drop module, complete with drag sources and drop targets
• Deploying GWT applications to an external server
• Dynamically resizing flex tables
• Using GWT widgets in legacy applications developed with other frameworks, such as Struts and JavaServer Faces

Complete Sample Code Available at www.coolandusefulgwt.com

All of the code used in this book has been tested, both in hosted and web modes, and in an external version of Tomcat (version 5.5.17), under Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. For Windows and Linux, we used 1.4.60, and for the Mac we used 1.4.61. NOTE: There are three separate versions of the code. Please download the correct JAR file for the operating system you are using.


Foreword xiii
Preface xvi
Acknowledgments xviii
About the Authors xix

Solution 1: GWT Fundamentals and Beyond 1
Solution 2: JavaScript Integration 53
Solution 3: Custom Widget Implementation 71
Solution 4: Viewports and Maps 103
Solution 5: Access to Online Web Services 133
Solution 6: Drag and Drop 167
Solution 7: Simple Windows 199
Solution 8: Flex Tables 237
Solution 9: File Uploads 283
Solution 10: Hibernate Integration 303
Solution 11: Deployment to an External Server 325
Solution 12: GWT and Legacy Code 343
Index 371

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Beginning Google Web Toolkit: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in Web Development) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The book is well written but is now terribly out of date. The book was written for GWT version 1.5, but at the time of my purchase GWT 1.7 was the latest release. There were more differences than I expected. In just the first third of the book I found the following:
- applicationCreator.cmd is no longer a GWT command. It has been replaced by webAppCreator.cmd
- webAppCreator.cmd creates a different directory structure than the illustrated examples.
- The default application that GWT generates has changed.
- A new event model was introduced in GWT 1.6. Specifically, Listeners are replaced with Handlers. You will encounter this for the first time in chapter 3.
- While I was following the exercises using GWT 1.7, Google released GWT 2.0 which further obsoleted this edition. The 2.0 release introduced a declarative UI with UIBinder. Of course that won't be in this book. Also in 2.0 "Development Mode" replaced the "Hosted Mode" which is great but will confuse the novice using this book as guidance.
The only way this book would be helpful is if you download GWT 1.5 to follow along with the examples. I don't know many programmers, novice or otherwise, that would be content to learn a technology on an old release with deprecated methods and obsolete tooling.
I like the narratives of the book, I like the way it flows, and if the authors ever decide to publish a new edition with GWT 2.0 with the same style and accuracy it would probably earn five stars. Unfortunately the book is too many releases out of date (which is too bad considering it was just Copyrighted in 2008!)

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Beginning GWT by Bram Smeets introduces one of today's most popular open source lightweight Java-based Ajax Web Frameworks, the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) from the ground-up.Written by an industry expert who has delivered many Web applications for his clients and a Spring expert, Bram takes a no-nonsense, down to earth approach to GWT and guides the reader though the development of a Web application front end using GWT from the ground up.This will be one of the first tutorials on GWT.

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ANDROID A PROGRAMMERS GUIDE Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I had fairly low expectations from this book as the API is still in a state of flux, so if some of the examples needed tweaking that would have been alright. However, I could not even find any example code on the book's website as advertised on the back cover. This is a 400 page book so I expected to get at least some useful material from it, but the author does not even get past Hello World until over 100 pages. The material after that consists of repetitions of trivial code additions followed by regurgitation of the source. It would appear that the author was just trying to increase the page count with no real valuable content. There is no in-depth discussion of what Activities, Intents, etc. actually are or how they work. After this poor experience I went back to the online help and am finding it vastly more thorough and helpful. I would not recommend this book for any level of developer.

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Master the Android mobile development platform

Build compelling Java-based mobile applications using the Android SDK and the Eclipse open-source software development platform. Android: A Programmer's Guide shows you, step-by-step, how to download and set up all of the necessary tools, build and tune dynamic Android programs, and debug your results. Discover how to provide web and chat functions, interact with the phone dialer and GPS devices, and access the latest Google services. You'll also learn how to create custom Content Providers and database-enable your applications using SQLite.

Install and configure Java, Eclipse, and Android plugin

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Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, Second Edition (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm surprisingly please with this book. I've been reading up on the topic and associated algorithms in other books for some time; I'm a software developer but don't have a statistics background, and so felt a lot of the texts were too focused on the math and the theory while being thin on content when it came to "rubber hitting the road", or even using clear, simple examples and straight-forward notation.
This book is so well-written that it communicates the concepts clearly, lucidly and in an organized fashion. The section that introduces Bayesian probability was drop-dead simple to follow. Quite frankly, having read a few other treatments on it, I can now say that everything else I read before this was overly complicated. Brevity is the soul of wit, no?
To the reviewer who criticized the authors use of words to describe equations: This is what the authors intended to do. Would you fault them for writing in English if you wanted Greek? Not everyone who can benefit from applied data mining has the requisite background to understand the nitty gritty mathematics, nor should they have to, if they just want to understand the behavior and practical applications of the technology.

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Android Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Google Android Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As Brian Carrier is to file system forensics and Harlan Carvey is to Windows registry analysis, Andrew Hoog is to the Android operating system. The level of detail in this book demonstrates a deep understanding of this complex and unique operating system. Chapter 1 begins with an overview of both Android and Linux in general. Instructions are provided for creating a virtual machine environment so the reader can follow along with the examples in the book. Throughout, the reader is encouraged to follow along, and ample opportunities are provided. This is highly appreciated as most technical books overwhelm the reader with information rather than guide them along the way. Chapter 2 presents an overview of the hardware that is supported by the Android OS. Chapter 3 begins the discussion of the Android OS proper. Included in this chapter are instructions on augmenting the previously created VM with the Android SDK providing additional tools for use in analysis. Chapter 4 is devoted to discussing the file systems likely to be encountered in the Android environment. Special attention is paid to YAFFS and YAFFS2. Chapter 5 discusses securing the data within the device. Also presented are recommendations for securely using Android devices in an enterprise environment. Additional advice is given for both users and developers to limit the exposure of sensitive data. Chapter 6 covers the most significant portion of the book with instructions on acquiring the data from device. Logical and physical acquisitions from the handset as well as the removable storage are discussed. The issue of passcode circumvention is discussed along with potential solutions. Chapter 7 finishes with timeline analysis techniques for the YAFFS file system and the FAT file system. Additional locations of interest to both security researchers and forensic analysts are also presented. Overall the book is enjoyable to read and will be a valuable asset for both forensic analysts and researchers.

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The open source nature of the platform has not only established a new direction for the industry, but enables a developer or forensic analyst to understand the device at the most fundamental level. Android Forensics covers an open source mobile device platform based on the Linux 2.6 kernel and managed by the Open Handset Alliance. The Android platform is a major source of digital forensic investigation and analysis. This book provides a thorough review of the Android platform including supported hardware devices, the structure of the Android development project and implementation of core services (wireless communication, data storage and other low-level functions). Finally, it will focus on teaching readers how to apply actual forensic techniques to recover data.

Ability to forensically acquire Android devices using the techniques outlined in the book
Detailed information about Android applications needed for forensics investigations
Important information about SQLite, a file based structured data storage relevant for both Android and many other platforms.

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Google App Engine Java and GWT Application Development Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book walks the reader through development of a GWT and GAE Java social app called Connectr. Complete source code is provided. It covers the all aspect of the development and also teaches how to structure a scalable web app and what libraries, patterns and best practices to use. Even though I already knew some of GWT and GAE, this book takes it to the next level when it comes to building scalable and social apps. Here is some of what is covered: Google Web Toolkit interface building with UIBinder, CSS resource, client bundle, Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) with error handling and automatic retries, JDO, data store design, join-like queries, one-to-one and one-to-many relationships, pre-persist callbacks, transactions, Memcache, event bus, traditional MVP, MVP activities and places, server push with Channel API, Cron, task queues, XMPP, session management, authentication with Google, Twitter and Facebook and much more.
This book has a lot to offer. However it could use some more drawings or graphics but since the source code is provided, this is not such a big deal. As whole, if a developer wants to create a web app on App Engine with Google Web Toolkit, I strongly recommend this book because it made me avoid basic mistakes, taught me patterns and good structured GWT+GAE programming that is available nowhere else. In short it saved me a ton of time.


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This is a practical guide with a step-by-step approach that builds an application in stages. Each stage of the application is used along with screenshots to introduce or develop your understanding of how to write powerful GAE applications. If you are a developer with prior programming experience of Java development and object-oriented programming and want to understand the key concepts of how to build AJAX web applications with Java, then this book is for you. The book assumes some previous exposure to the basics of using GWT, for example at the level of Google's online introductory GWT tutorials. You don't need to know anything about Google App Engine. This book will teach you everything you need.

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Beginning Java Google App Engine Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was very frustrated with my purchase and I was contemplating to write a review out of frustration. However, after I've seen the 5-star reviews from other users, I couldn't believe my eyes. One review was raving about the code samples (absolutely ridiculous) and then I saw one other reader leaving a comment for the review saying that he's been working on the sample code for weeks and still couldn't make it work and I can relate to that.
I pre-order this book from Amazon and when I start reading it, it was a total disappointment. I've been working on GAE/J for a while now and I bought this book specifically to learn more about Google Accounts. The example projects are not complete and it requires you to fill in the blanks to make them work. I've also looked at the other chapters and they lack in content. The book tries to give you overall, breadth-first view of the technology (as you would expect from a beginner level book), but while doing so it mentions about bunch of GAE topics, but fails on giving good coverage for that topic. Especially in chapter 4, when the author(s) talk about frameworks, they don't mention about gotchas on how to make these frameworks work at the first place, because if you're using Spring, BlazeDS and GraniteDS (or any other frameworks, you need to do certain tweaks to make these frameworks/technologies/APIs work with GAE, because some of the Java APIs are "black-listed" by the App Engine for the obvious reasons.
If you're a beginner, this is not a book for you. If you're advanced, then again this book doesn't give you enough in-depth information of the GAE/J topics. In conclusion, it's sad to say, but this book is useless! You can save money just by going to Google's App Engine website and find more up-to-date and complete information, because they keep changing/upgrading the SDKs for GWT and the App Engine almost every month.

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Google App Engine is one of the key technologies to emerge in recent years to help developers build web applications. A great number of the developers approach the App Engine are Java developers, and this title is especially focused for this large audience sector.

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Google Web Toolkit Applications Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is the definitive guide to GWT. I would say you need to have more then a beginner's knowledge of Java (which the authors recommends also) and have some web development experience with the HTTP forms just to appreciate what the author is trying to show you. I can't believe I am saying this because the examples in the books are absolutely top notch, but it would be nice to have more sample little code snippets earlier in the book. There is a ton to digest before you get to Chapter 6 where all the great example code starts. But if you do what I did, and try to put into action at least part of what you have learned from each chapter in your own sample programs you will be better prepared for the later chapters. Otherwise, you get to chapter 6 and you are not sure what hit you. That really is my only complaint, a few easy sample apps after each chapter before you get into the big ones in the middle of the book would be nice. But after you finish this book you will definitely be ready to tackle some major projects and you will at least have some pretty good hands on knowledge of the different methods that you can use in GWT develop rich internet applications.

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"Ryan clearly understands the GWT value proposition and how GWT integrates into a diverse web technology stack–and not just in a theoretical way. With the popularity of gpokr.com and kdice.com, Ryan can speak with the authority of concrete success."–Bruce Johnson, creator of Google Web Toolkit "This book distinguishes itself from other books on GWT in that it walks through the entire process of building several nontrivial GWT applications, not the toy applications that most books present."–R. Mark Volkmann, Object Computing, Inc."Google™ Web Toolkit Applications is an excellent resource for any GWT developer. Solutions to challenges commonly encountered in GWT are presented through the design and development of actual applications. The applications developed throughout the text demonstrate best practices from simple UI design all the way to custom code generation, and are presented with little pretext about the amount of Java knowledge a given developer may have. Advanced concepts are not withheld but are presented in a way that will be understood by both novice and seasoned developers alike. Good application development practices and proper Model View Controller design is reinforced throughout the book, nearly guaranteeing that the reader will come away a better programmer. "–Jason Essington, Senior Web/Java Engineer, Green River Computing"Dewsbury's Google™ Web Toolkit Applications is a book for both experts and beginner programmers who want to discover this open source Java software development framework, as well as write Ajax applications. A very detailed book!"–Massimo Nardone, Advisory IT Security Architect Accelerate and Simplify Ajax Development with Google Web ToolkitGet the edge you need to deliver exceptional user experiences with Google™ Web Toolkit Applications, a guidebook that provides web developers with core information and instructions for creating rich web applications. Whether you're a developer who needs to build a high-performance front end for Java, PHP, or Ruby applications, or to integrate with external web services, this resource from expert Google Web Toolkit (GWT) developer Ryan Dewsbury delivers the in-depth coverage you'll need.In this valuable book, insider Ryan Dewsbury provides instructions for using the robust tool set and gets you on your way to creating first-class web applications by providing a comprehensive overview of GWT technology. In addition, he shares his "in-the-trenches" insights onBuilding elegant and responsive user interfaces with Cascading Style Sheets and GWT's Widgets and PanelsCreating seamless user experiences through asynchronous communication with HTTP, REST, JSON/JSONP, and RPC Interoperating with web standards–such as XML, RSS, and Atom–and web services–such as Google Maps, Amazon Books, Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and BloggerOvercoming browser security restrictions, such as HTTP's two-connection limit and the Same-Origin policyAccelerating development, using software engineering, code generation, internationalization, application patterns, and Java toolsDeploying for optimal performance with resource compression and cachingBuilding five non-trivial applications: a gadget application with a rich drag-and-drop interface, a multi-search application that makes requests to many search engines, a blog editor application for managing entries across multiple blogs, a web-based instant messenger, and a database manager for a traditional web pageThis practical guide to GWT introduces you to the technology; provides techniques, tips, and examples; and puts you on the road to delivering top-notch user experiences for your web applications.

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Android Application Development For Dummies Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm going to preface this review by saying that I have been programming for about 15 years, and have been working professionally as a developer for almost 3 years. My background is in VB, C#, Javascript, HTML, and even a little dabbling in C/C++. With that in mind, my Java knowledge was essentially everything I had learned from C# (which is very similar), and the tutorials on Google's Android development website. You could argue Javascript may help, but they're so different that I don't think it counts as experience.
I finished all of the tutorials on Google's site and still felt like I wasn't really grasping the concept of Android development. For those of you who have developed in C#/VB for Windows or Windows Mobile, you may understand what I mean when I say that going from something so straight-forward as using Visual Studio and .NET languages to something a little more complex and code-heavy like C++ or Java while using an unfamiliar IDE like Eclipse can be a little daunting at first. Google's tutorials, while full of great examples, don't really take the time to explain the "why" and then "what" of Android development, and instead have a more confusing approach of "Step 1: Type all this code in; Step 2: That code you just type does [this]; Step 3: Run your application".
The first half of this book is incredibly informative, and after reading only a couple short paragraphs on things I've already tried to learn and failed, I really understood it this time. The author's tone and descriptions make even the most complicated topics very easy to understand. The author also likes to commonly encourage the reader, writing that we are "experts", and making assumptions that we understand what we just read, even after it was some insanely complicated thing that was described in detail across four pages. It seems like this approach might be little odd, but I liked it. It kept my confidence up as I was reading.
The second half of the book, while also great, starts a little on the fast track. There are other reviews that mention this, and although I partially agree, it's also worth mentioning that a lot of the things that are flown through quickly come together a little later in the book. However, the pace does seem to go from a "one line at a time" methodology into a "type these 60 lines of code in and I'll explain it later" sort of teaching. While I don't prefer this, and I think it's a bit messy, the information IS there; it's just harder to soak it all in than it was in the first half of the book. The application you are building at the end is quite large, and I have tried to think of an easier way the author could have filled me with the knowledge instead of the approach taken, but I really couldn't think of a better way, mainly due to the way the code has to be written for the particular task at hand.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think it was a great introduction to Android development, and is leaps and bounds above Google's documentation, at least for a beginner. I wish the book was a little longer, and I wish the author didn't frequently say things like "I could write an entire book on [subject], so I won't go into detail about this. If you want to learn more, read the documentation at [Google link]." For these reasons, I gave it four stars instead of five. The fundamentals do exist in this book, but I would have liked to have seen more.
I would recommend this book for anyone with any sort of programming background looking to get into Android development. I would probably not recommend it to someone who has no programming background whatsoever.


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The fun and friendly guide to creating applications on the Android platform
The popularity of the Android market is soaring with no sign of slowing down. The open nature of the Android OS offers programmers the freedom to access the platform's capabilities and this straightforward guide walks you through the steps for creating amazing Android applications. Android programming expert Donn Felker explains how to download the SDK, get Eclipse up and running, code Android applications, and submit your finished products to the Android Market. Featuring two sample programs, this introductory book explores everything from the simple basics to more advanced aspects of the Android platform.
Takes you soup through nuts of developing applications for the Android platform
Begins with downloading the SDK, then explains how to code Android applications and submit projects to the Android Market
Written by Android guru Donn Felker, who breaks every aspect of developing applications for the Android platform into easily digestible pieces

No matter your level of programming experience, Android Application Development For Dummies is an ideal guide for getting started with developing applications for the Android platform.

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Essential GWT: Building for the Web with Google Web Toolkit 2 (Developer's Library) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)"Essential GWT" covers the intermediate to advanced level features of Google's GWT2. While a little time is spent getting the reader set up, it is certainly not aimed at beginners and rapidly dives into the topics that receive inadequate coverage in starter books. There appears to be plenty of confusion about this book, but in my opinion this is caused by assuming that the basic topics will be covered.
I liked it a lot. The prose is easy to read and often amusing and the author is experienced and well aware of the realities and limitations of GWT and doesn't try to over sell the product. Even excluding the value of the technical content this alone makes it easy to consume.
Between the covers lies a wealth of information to help design your next application or improve an existing one. While each chapter covers an important subject, the code samples and best practices are of equal value in boosting the strength of any GWT app. The range of topics covered in the chapters will help elevate your applications to enterprise level stable and mature applications and allow you to apply full testing rigor.
So while I understand the negative comments regarding this book, in my opinion it is an excellent GWT resource provided it is not your first GWT resource.
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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

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With Google Web Toolkit, Java developers can build sophisticated Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and complete Web sites using the powerful IDEs and tools they already use. Now, with GWT 2, Google Web Toolkit has become even more useful. Essential GWT shows how to use this latest version of GWT to create production solutions that combine superior style, performance, and interactivity with exceptional quality and maintainability.
Federico Kereki quickly reviews the basics and then introduces intermediate and advanced GWT skills, covering issues ranging from organizing projects to compiling and deploying final code. Throughout, he focuses on best-practice methodologies and design patterns. For example, you'll learn how to use the MVP (model-view-presenter) pattern to improve application design and support automated testing for agile development.

Kereki illuminates each concept with realistic code examples that help developers jump-start their projects and get great results more quickly. Working with the latest versions of open source tools such as Eclipse, Subversion, Apache, Tomcat, and MySQL, he demonstrates exactly how GWT fits into real Web development environments. Coverage includes


Using the Google Plugin for Eclipse and the GWT Shell Script
Detecting and working with browsers—and solving the problems they cause
Building better user interfaces with the MVP pattern
Using APIs for visualization, mapping, weather data, and more
Internationalizing and localizing GWT code
Securing GWT applications with cryptography, hashing, and encryption
Testing with JUnit, Emma, GWTTestCase, Selenium, and Mock Objects
Deploying client-only and client-plus-server GWT applications

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