Download Application Architecture for WebSphere: A Practical Approach to Building WebSphere Applications eBook

Disclaimer: the book is not that bad per se, but what got me is the price..
The learning curve for a developer with experience is rather flat, knowledge to price ratio is one of the worst I've seen ( this is an informal metric ;)

Also, if the book had been titled *for dummies* or *executive summary*, I would not have been duped into buying it.
The *Application Architecture for WebSphere* to the book's content is like *Advanced Computer Science* to MS Word / Excel proficiency training.

A lot of the book's content is the recycled, tried-and-true basic common knowledge available from every corner of the Web: the importance of standards and conventions, issues of logging, tracing and error handling, review of persistence and WEB UI technologies, etc. However, in most cases the author fails to build on top of basic knowledge and provide some actionable advice or at least, some research-based comparison. Instead, for most cases he concludes with a generic statement like "The approach should be as simple as possible" (p. 42, Logging and Tracking), or "Aspects can play another role in instrumentation of code that can be very powerful" ( p. 51, Why Not Use Aspects ). The latter pearl of wisdom is the embodiment of the typical advice of the book: vague, inconclusive, lacking assertion of authority, i.e., I think this may be useful but you may have to figure for yourself.

Additionally, the book is bloated with truisms that take space but convey little useful information. Consider this on setting logging levels dynamically via WSAS Console: "This approach is invaluable when diagnosing a problem in a running environment where you suspect that a restart would mask the problem, or make it go away for a while" ( p. 49, Working With Logging and Tracing ). I wish, instead of this profound conclusion, the author had told me something else about WebSphere specifics related to logging, like limitations, configuring rotation, multiple servers configuration approach, scripting / programmatic approach, etc. Nope. All you have is a screenshot and two paragraphs of text, with the second paragraph devoted to praising this "invaluable approach".

Regarding WebSphere specifics level, consider this sentence: "I cannot stress enough that System.out messages are not to be tolerated within any code deployed to WebSphere Application server" ( p. 43, System.out ). Wow, that's really a WebSpere-specific advice.

The Persistence Matters, Chapter 3, may have been conceived as a high-level review of persistence frameworks. But at the very beginning it sounds like a lecture for teenage kids: "I want to warn against picking a framework because you think it is popular or because you want to learn it" ( p. 66, Type of Persistence Frameworks ). In the same paragraph: "Choosing a framework just because you think it is cool is not a good use of business dollars". I guess, this is very useful for the idiots who think otherwise. The next sentence spells even a greater wisdom, a real guideline: "Some diligence is necessary to ensure it is the right framework for the job and that it will serve the needs of the business without undue modification or too many complications". Wow. What can be more profound than this? Tell the people that stealing is bad and one should wash hands before meal? The rest of the Persistence chapter is devoted to describing iBATIS and EJB3 persistence. There is better reading on both subjects, so you may think it's tied to WSAS in some way? No, it is not. It's just out there making the book thicker.

so, long story short, I bought the book for full price and that's the reason I'm writing this caustic review. The book fails to deliver on details and substance of expected subject. I think, a fair price for this quality is up to $15.

good

I am a Project Manager. I wanted to be up front about who I am so you can evaluate this review based on my job function. I have also been an analyst, an architect and a developer but this review is as a PM.

This is a great book! I found it easy to understand and easy to read. My current large project is a WebSphere project. I found as I was reading this book that I felt like I had a WebSphere application builders cheat sheet. My team was working on a future release and I was asking questions about standards, caching, single sign on, performance and many other topics based on what I was reading in Joey's book. He speaks the truth on every page. What is difficult is convincing those around me that they don't know as much as they think they know where WebSphere portal is concerned.

I feel that anyone who performs function that includes building WebSphere applications would truly benefit from this read. Joey does a great job of touching on all points to help you in getting off to a good start and keeping you on track.

Cover to cover, it was worth every penny!

PS - I have had the pleasure of working with Joey on a project. If you ever have the opportunity to work or even talk with him you will quickly realize that the words he put on paper in this book are written exactly as he speaks. He is pragmatic and does not mind letting you know his opinion (whether you like it or not). And I saw him prove time and time again that he knows what he's talking about, which makes the book even more valuable in my opinion.

This review is way overdue, since 've read this book (specially chapter 2) more than once since it came out. As some of you may already know, Joey Bernal is a prolific author and speaker in the world of Application Architecture specifically for the WebSphere stack including WebSphere Portal. In this book, Application Architecture for WebSphere, Joey unleashes his expert knowledge, wit, and his so well used common-sense and pragmatism on the topic of Application Architecture. This book is a must-read for anyone involved in web application development, everyone in a team that does that type of work; developers, architects, analysts, and even project managers, as mentioned in a previous review here in Amazon.com.

Although the book is based on WebSphere Application Server, his approach and most of the content could easily apply to any application server, specially those in the Enterprise Java family. The first two chapters alone (Application Architecture and Development Standards) are worth the price of the book, not to mention chapters 3-5 where he walks the reader through the most important topics and current technologies available in the Java Enterprise Edition world and provides with plenty of practical examples on what to do with confronted with issues on your design. Joey is a very known expert on WebSphere Portal and his chapter here is a great encapsulation of what is needed to know when using such a development framework while using the WebSphere software stack.

If you have not read this book and you do work in this area of web application development I urge you to get it and read it ASAP. I'm sure you will thank me later for this free advice and I'm sure you will end up recommending this books to friends alike.