Review By: Harry L. Kirkpatrick
06/23/2010This book is easy to read and understand. I would recommend it to people eager to know about the technologies: UML, Java, & J2EE.The book has great organization. The book has a couple of chapters that introduce J2EE and RUP. The remaining chapters address the primary subject of the book: How to develop J2EE applications. The remaining chapters provide the guided tour of the process. The appendix section has some additional meat for the reader as well. One appendix describes software architecture, the next one is on modeling conventions, followed by a great glossary of terms and acronyms used in the book. Last, but not least, is a very useful index.

The chapter on the introduction to the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE platform) was brief, yet packed with more than enough information to get the job done. In less than thirty pages, you’ll be familiar with the technology. The figures and the sample code fragments work to tie things together nicely. Chapter three introduces the Rational Unified Process (RUP), the process framework on which the book is based. The RUP process framework’s goal is to ensure the production of high quality software that meets the needs of its end users within a predictable schedule and budget ("better software faster"). After being in this business for over twenty years, I can’t say that it is in the norm to deliver high quality software that meets the end users needs. Most of the time, I think "Good Enough" is the norm.

The book was written with three audiences in mind. The first audience is software architects, designers and developers familiar with the J2EE platform and its technologies, wanting to understand how to apply them in the context of a software development process. The second audience is the development team members familiar with RUP, looking for help in applying the process to J2EE development. The third audience is software professionals who are neither familiar with J2EE nor with RUP, and are looking for an example of how to use RUP in development of a J2EE application.

With those three audiences in mind, you would start to think that the book could weight several pounds. Yet in less than three hundred pages, the authors completed their mission. I view myself as part of group three, neither familiar with J2EE nor with RUP. Nevertheless, the book did the trick for me. I get a lot of material placed on my desk, in my e-mail and in my mailbox, so I don't have much free time. Amazingly, at I started the book, it didn’t take me a lot of time to complete the book and walk away with some new skills. The figures, code fragments, examples and overall flow of the book impressed me. I do think it is a book that can be used by both novices and experts, and those in between.

This book is easy to read and understand. I would recommend it to people eager to know about the technologies: UML, Java, & J2EE, the process: The Rational Unified Process (RUP) and a great sample application for applying this new knowledge. The book has great organization. The book has a couple of chapters that introduce J2EE and RUP. The remaining chapters address the primary subject of the book: How to develop J2EE applications. There’s a chapter to introduce the J2EE developer roadmap. There’s a chapter to introduce the sample application. The remaining chapters provide the guided tour of the process. The appendix section has some additional meat for the reader as well. One appendix describes a software architecture, the next one is on modeling conventions, followed by a great glossary of terms and acronyms used in the book. Last, but not least, is a very useful index. I do think it is a book that can be used by both novices and experts, and those in between.