Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0201702770, Paperback)

With its excellent cross-platform capabilities and rich enterprise-level APIs, today's Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), stands ready to build the next generation of multitiered Web applications--but architecting these solutions can be a daunting task. Written by the experts at Sun, Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition provides the official "blueprint" for building scalable, server-centric applications by using Java. This title is perfect for any manager or developer seeking to get a handle on the "right" way to design distributed applications by using Java.

This text bundles together separate chapters written by various members of the Sun "Enterprise Team." The prominent methodology here is the consistent use of the model-view-controller (MVC) paradigm for designing the server-side tiers. In MVC, data (model) is kept separate from its presentation (view), and the two are coordinated through a controller class. The book uses quite a few useful architectural diagrams, which show how to combine Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), servlets, and JavaServer Pages (JSPs) effectively. Managers or project leaders who might not code with Java everyday might learn from these diagrams how Java components work together within Web applications. Also, the authors explain the Sun "vision" for Java for a variety of e-commerce scenarios (including several business-to-business systems).

Separate chapters dig into the client, Web, EJB, and "enterprise information systems" tiers, and where to use various J2EE APIs for the best scalability and maintainability. Later sections look at deploying EJBs, as well as options for transaction management and security for the enterprise. The authors close with a complete Web application created with EJBs and servlets for an online pet store --a useful illustration of J2EE at work. All in all, this text is a valuable tour of Sun's official "vision" for enterprise-level computing with Java. It demystifies how various Java APIs can work together to create robust and scalable Web applications. Any IS manager or developer designing with J2EE will want a look at this book to learn how to take full advantage of the latest features for Java-based Web applications. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Overview of Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), for enterprise application development, application scenarios (including stand-alone clients, Web-based and business-to-business scenarios), J2EE components for client-side and server-side tiers (including applets and Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs)), platform roles for companies using Java, overview of Java APIs and services: JNDI and naming services, deployment, transaction, and security services, Java communication support: networking support, Remote Method Invocation (RMI), OMG CORBA support, Java Message Service (JMS), and JavaMail; building Web and EJB clients, the model-view-controller paradigm explained, combining servlets, JSPs, and EJBs on the middle tier, using entity and session EJBs, stateful and stateless session beans, sample applications for the enterprise information systems tier (applications for an e-store, human resources, and distributed purchasing), packaging and deployment, transaction management (JTA, JTS, and EJB transactions), Java security overview, and a case study and sample code for an e-commerce pet store.