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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Web Application Design and Implementation: Apache 2, PHP5, MySQL, JavaScript, and Linux/UNIX (Quantitative Software Engineering Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the book I wish I had had when I was starting to set up my Books-On-Line web site. Here in one simple step is just about half of what you need to know to set up a fairly complex database driven web site. I say about half of what you need to know because he spends no time at all on appearance, type fonts, color, illustrations, all that stuff. As he says in the introduction, he's not good at that (neither am I), and for those subjects you need another book.
But for a functioning web site he recommends what is sometimes called LAMP - for Linux, Apache, MySql and PHP. To summarize why:
The software is FREE, a very good price.
It doesn't crash as often
It runs faster so you can use a slower computer.
By the time you finish, you'll probably want at least one book on each of these software packages, but here is an excellent place to start. It gives you enough to get started and you only need to go deeper into each of these packages when you start getting fancier. The nice thing about this book is that it gives you everything you need to get started in a well written, easy to understand way.
Mr. Gabarro, there are two things I would suggest for your next edition: One, include a cd of a working collection of the four packages rather than saying go get any distribution, and two, talk a little about past and emerging technologies such as Cold Fusion for the past, and Ruby on Rails for the future. I'd be interested in your opinions.

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Web Application Design and Implementation uses a hands-on approach of the major technologies and programming languages to teach readers web development. Providing an understanding of all major aspects of web programming in order to achieve the construction of a database-driven website, the book features state-of-the-art programming languages such as HTML, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, Apache, Linux/Unix.

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Hacking Exposed Web 2.0: Web 2.0 Security Secrets and Solutions Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm still in the middle of the book, and I definitely will skim thru all the remaining pages (just because I paid for it), but I wouldn't recommend the book to anyone looking for serious and in-depth study on web security - the book just doesn't offer that. What it does is a list of possible attack vectors and sometimes offers "solutions" which can help to fight with the attacks. However, the attacks descriptions are shallow, solutions are very short and non-extensive and many of them go as far as telling a user to install NoScript extension for Firefox (huh? Web 2.0 doesn't work with no JavaScript).
There are also quadrillions of links to a security-related site (won't list it here) which offers a toolbar to checks your sites again the most common security problems. I don't have anything against links to useful tools of course, but THAT amount of links just makes this book look like an advertisement of the fore-mentioned site. Am not even talking about page space wasted to re-iterate "go to ...., install ...., click .... in order to test for ....." which usually take 0.5-1 pages. Users who read that sort of books can somehow figure out how to use a toolbar, I believe.
I'm not by any means a security expert, and this book did introduce me into the topic, but it didn't do anything beyond that. I still need to read some other book on the topic, and that book will probably contain the same info as the Hacking Web 2.0 Exposed (i.e. the very basic info on web expoits), so.. I actually just recommend to pass on this book at all, and look for something which covers the topic in greater depth.

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Lock down next-generation Web services

"This book concisely identifies the types of attacks which are faced daily by Web 2.0 sites, and the authors give solid, practical advice on how to identify and mitigate these threats." --Max Kelly, CISSP, CIPP, CFCE, Senior Director of Security, Facebook

Protect your Web 2.0 architecture against the latest wave of cybercrime using expert tactics from Internet security professionals. Hacking Exposed Web 2.0 shows how hackers perform reconnaissance, choose their entry point, and attack Web 2.0-based services, and reveals detailed countermeasures and defense techniques. You'll learn how to avoid injection and buffer overflow attacks, fix browser and plug-in flaws, and secure AJAX, Flash, and XML-driven applications. Real-world case studies illustrate social networking site weaknesses, cross-site attack methods, migration vulnerabilities, and IE7 shortcomings.

Plug security holes in Web 2.0 implementations the proven Hacking Exposed way
Learn how hackers target and abuse vulnerable Web 2.0 applications, browsers, plug-ins, online databases, user inputs, and HTML forms
Prevent Web 2.0-based SQL, XPath, XQuery, LDAP, and command injection attacks
Circumvent XXE, directory traversal, and buffer overflow exploits
Learn XSS and Cross-Site Request Forgery methods attackers use to bypass browser security controls
Fix vulnerabilities in Outlook Express and Acrobat Reader add-ons
Use input validators and XML classes to reinforce ASP and .NET security
Eliminate unintentional exposures in ASP.NET AJAX (Atlas), Direct Web Remoting, Sajax, and GWT Web applications
Mitigate ActiveX security exposures using SiteLock, code signing, and secure controls
Find and fix Adobe Flash vulnerabilities and DNS rebinding attacks

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jQuery Plugin Development Beginner's Guide Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm already an experienced Javascript and jQuery Plugin developer, but I learned how to author plugins by first reading a general jQuery book (which didn't cover writing plugins at all) and then by doing. I decided it was time to take a look at a book dedicated to plugin development and discover if I was overlooking anything.
Being a beginner book, I expected a fair amount of hand-holding and was prepared to skim through, but I ended up actually reading the first chapters in full because they were skimming for me. I felt the topics actually weren't fleshed out well enough to answer the questions a beginner would have. The aim didn't seem to bring beginner's up to speed, but to introduce only. I'd call this book more of a "beginner's introduction".
I didn't care for the "Have a go hero" sections. It not only sounds stupid in your head when you read that header, but I would have expected the book to demonstrate those tasks and not leave the reader (the beginner) on their own. "I've now shown you that a plane takes off by pulling back on the stick ... now go learn to point it in the right direction, avoid bad weather and land ... hero".
Adding to my disappointed was that the style of writing, IMO, was overly convoluted and a bit awkward at times.

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AjQuery plugin is simply a way to put your code into a package,whichmakes it easier to maintain your code and use across different projects. While basic scripting is relatively straightforward,writing pluginscan leave people scratching their heads.This book takes you beyond the basics of jQuery and enables you to take full advantage of jQuery's powerfulplugin architecture to deliver highly interactive content to yourwebsite users.The book contains all the information you need to successfullyauthor your very own jQuery plugin with a particular focus on thepractical aspect of design and development.It will also cover some details of real life plugins andexplain their functioning to gain a better understanding of the overallconcept of plugin development and jQuery plugin architecture.Different topics regarding plugin development are discussed,and youwill learn how to develop many types of add-ons,ranging from mediaplugins (such as slideshows,video and audio controls, and so on) tovarious utilities (image pre-loading,handling cookies) and use andapplications of jQuery effects and animations (sliding, fading,combined animations) to eventually demonstrate how all of these plugins can bemerged and give birth to a new, more complex,and multi purpose scriptthat comes in handy in a lot of situations.What you will learn from this book
Create numerous types of commonly used jQuery plugins
Design a standard development pattern to apply to all your plugins to speed up the process
Build plugins that enhance viewer's multimedia experience on your website
Learn how to build attractive animation plugins that show effects like fading and sliding
Discover how jQuery handles third party plugins and how some portions of code can(not) be accessed
Implement time saving design patterns and best practices to optimize your plugins
Learn the ins and outs of some of the most popular plugins and how they actually work to do what they do
Learn via an in-depth practical approach,providing you with asimple, yet effective,structure to minimize efforts and obtain betterresults quickly
This book takes a beginner's guide approach,giving you step-by-stepinstructions for creating a number of different jQuery plugins coveringmost of the common issues one may encounter. It's a practical guide,which will show you how to designand build the most commonly used jQuery plugins.

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PHP and MySQL Web Development (3rd Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)In open source usage, the book describes a powerful and popular combination of PHP and MySQL to build websites. Each program has several texts devoted solely to it. But it is in the interaction between the two that often developers need assistance on.
The book does start with chapters exclusively on explaining PHP, and other chapters on MySQL. In themselves, you might find these to be concise and useful explanations.
But the meat of the book is given in several chapters, where each chapter is devoted to making one common application. Like constructing a shopping cart. Or a Web-based email service. These are things that you have surely experienced as a user. Now you get to see how to code them in PHP and MySQL. Which explains some of the book's size. There are 10 chapters in this section. Enough to give you plenty of examples to draw ideas from.

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We've taken the best and made it even better. The third edition of the best-selling PHP and MySQL Web Development has been updated to include material and code on MySQL 5, PHP 5 and on PHPs object model and validation. Through a clear, practical approach, you will learn to develop secure, dynamic websites by integrating and implementing the PHP scripting language and the MySQL database system. Real-world examples and working sample projects will give you a strong foundation on which to start building your own websites, complete with features such as SSL, shopping carts and payment systems. The accompanying CD includes the source code from each example in the book, the entire book in PDF format, and source code and binaries for PHP 5, MySQL 5 and Apache. Readers have called PHP and MySQL Web Development call it the best technical book they've ever read, but don't take their word for it. Find out for yourself!

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Wicket in Action Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't normally review books on Amazon but this is one of the best technical books that I've read in a while. The authors do a great job of organizing and presenting the material. The book is easy to read and I was able to get through it in about two evenings. I'm now using it as a reference while I work on my first major Wicket application. It might help that Wicket itself is well structured which makes the concepts that much easier to understand.
That being said, there are a few short-comings:
1) The cheese and lasagna examples get really old really quickly. The authors could have used different concepts or something a little more relevant or interesting to most developers.
2) The book is somewhat short. While they covered the core topics well, I felt that a few things we missing. I was surprised to see that the publisher trimmed the book and put an extra chapter online but not in print.
3) Some fundamentals like what DTD to include in an HTML page or what the Wicket web.xml should look like would be nice. You can find these answers online with a quick search but this book should really cover it.
But these faults don't hurt the overall usefulness of the book. It would be nice if most/all of this documentation was available in the Wicket project itself, but no such luck which makes this book even more valuable. I don't know if it will be in all copies, but my copy had a coupon for a free version of the digital book (PDF I suppose)... nice touch.
I recommend buying this book and learning about a very reasonable alternative to JSF.

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There are dozens of Java frameworks out there, but most of them require you to learn special coding techniques and new, often rigid, patterns of development. Wicket is different. As a component-based Web application framework, Wicket lets you build maintainable enterprise-grade web applications using the power of plain old Java objects (POJOs), HTML, Ajax, Spring, Hibernate and Maven. Wicket automatically manages state at the component level, which means no more awkward HTTPSession objects. Its elegant programming model enables you to write rich web applications quickly.

Wicket in Action is an authoritative, comprehensive guide for Java developers building Wicket-based Web applications. This book starts with an introduction to Wicket's structure and components, and moves quickly into examples of Wicket at work. Written by two of the project's earliest and most authoritative experts, this book shows you both the "how-to" and the "why" of Wicket. As you move through the book, you'll learn to use and customize Wicket components, how to interact with other technologies like Spring and Hibernate, and how to build rich, Ajax-driven features into your applications.

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Ajax in Action Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me first preface this review by saying this is the first technical book that I've read cover to cover TWICE prior to posting a review. I had to make sure the stuff stuck, because the material covered in Manning's very excellent "Ajax in Action" is really deep. But bringing the next evolution of user experience, giving your web applications a rich client feel, isn't completely easy. This won't scare you away from using Ajax in your existing applications, but make you aware of exactly what to expect.
The book first starts out by presenting a healthy discussion of the key components of remote scripting - CSS, the DOM, JavaScript's XmlHttpRequest object and client callbacks - and how they interact within the scope of your project. Before diving into full-on Ajax development, authors Dave Crane and Eric Pascarello discuss the need for object-oriented JavaScript programing, which will be foreign and awkward to most developers, even those coming from procedural backgrounds like Java and C++. The authors familiarize you with the various ways of composing the unconventional constructs available (JSON-RPC, prototypes) for optimizing remote scripting.
Best practices are encouraged throughout the chapters and enforced in all code snippets. The use of patterns like Observer, Command and MVC and refactoring and module-based programming (mainly .NET assemblies and Java servlets) permeate the entire work. The actual meat of the book doesn't get started until Chapter 9, which the authors clearly state, dealing with the aforementioned discussion of raw JavaScript programming that'll be completely new to most people. But for those not wanting to engage in the massive task of writing syntax by hand, the major libraries available are thankfully referenced.
The book also isn't a "copyist's" title, one that can provide working code right out of the gate. Also, the audience for this work should be fairly sopisticated and experienced with modern-day web programming, as the book assumes a certain level of competency and doesn't waste time with rudimentary concepts or examples. Crane and Pascarello take a platform-agnostic look at incorporating Ajax-style programming into web applications, citing examples in PHP, Java and .NET, and accordingly the examples are all partial and abstracted, to be implemented in whatever platform the developer/reader is familiar with.
This is also one of the few books that I've ever recommended people read the appendices in addition to the chapters. Most titles have supplementary info that doesn't match the flow of the chapters, or exclusionary stuff you can skip, but this book is really a tome of good reading. Appendix B is an outstanding discussion on JavaScript OOP, providing an introduction to and examples in JSON.
Ajax programming is a lot more complex than it lets on, but not as daunting as you might think. This book is critical in your understanding of how to make the next big thing in web development to work for you. A must-have.

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Val's Blog "A tremendously useful field guide specifically written for developers down in the trenches...waiting for the killer solution..."

Web users are getting tired of the traditional web experience. They get frustrated losing their scroll position; they get annoyed waiting for refresh; they struggle to reorient themselves on every new page. And the list goes on. With asynchronous JavaScript and XML, known as "Ajax," you can give them a better experience. Once users have experienced an Ajax interface, they hate to go back. Ajax is new way of thinking that can result in a flowing and intuitive interaction with the user.

Ajax in Action helps you implement that thinking--it explains how to distribute the application between the client and the server (hint: use a "nested MVC" design) while retaining the integrity of the system. You will learn how to ensure your app is flexible and maintainable, and how good, structured design can help avoid problems like browser incompatibilities. Along the way it helps you unlearn many old coding habits. Above all, it opens your mind to the many advantages gained by placing much of the processing in the browser. If you are a web developer who has prior experience with web technologies, this book is for you.

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Ruby on Rails 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)There are as many rails tutorials on the web and in book form as there are ruby methods. An infinite expanse of information - most of it leading to heartbreak and frustration.
Hartl, with this book as well as the first venture, takes the reader by the hand and gently guides him/her/it/them/monkeybacon through the world of ruby and ruby on rails with the excitement and ease a master has when taking students along for a ride.
I have a collection of books and tutorials and, WITHOUT FAIL, each and every one of them ends somewhere with some sort of mistake in code that I've never been able to get over (including the first book by Hartl, by the way). Not so with this one. I completed the project outlined in this book. First time that's happened with any of the other books/tutorials.
As I am a functioning idiot, this is no mean feat. It is quite an accomplishment. Not by me, but by the author.
If you are able to view the tutorial videos, those will make your life that much better.
Buy it. Now.

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"Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial: Learn Rails by Example by Michael Hartl has become a must read for developers learning how to build Rails apps." —Peter Cooper, Editor of Ruby Inside

Using Rails 3, developers can build web applications of exceptional elegance and power. Although its remarkable capabilities have made Ruby on Rails one of the world's most popular web development frameworks, it can be challenging to learn and use. Ruby on Rails™ 3 Tutorial is the solution. Leading Rails developer Michael Hartl teaches Rails 3 by guiding you through the development of your own complete sample application using the latest techniques in Rails web development.

Drawing on his experience building RailsSpace, Insoshi, and other sophisticated Rails applications, Hartl illuminates all facets of design and implementation—including powerful new techniques that simplify and accelerate development.

You'll find integrated tutorials not only for Rails, but also for the essential Ruby, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL skills you'll need when developing web applications. Hartl explains how each new technique solves a real-world problem, and he demonstrates this with bite-sized code that's simple enough to understand, yet novel enough to be useful. Whatever your previous web development experience, this book will guide you to true Rails mastery.

This book will help you

Install and set up your Rails development environment
Go beyond generated code to truly understand how to build Rails applications from scratch
Learn Test Driven Development (TDD) with RSpec
Effectively use the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern
Structure applications using the REST architecture
Build static pages and transform them into dynamic ones
Master the Ruby programming skills all Rails developers need
Define high-quality site layouts and data models
Implement registration and authentication systems, including validation and secure passwords
Update, display, and delete users
Add social features and microblogging, including an introduction to Ajax
Record version changes with Git and share code at GitHub
Simplify application deployment with Heroku

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