Practical WebObjects

Rating:
Summary: needs an introduction
Review: Hill and Mallais wrote this book in order to address what the back cover describes as a dearth of WebObjects documentation. While commendable, the book could have been easily improved. It lacks a short introduction that summarises the book and indeed, explains broadly what WebObjects do. Plus, it might also usefully explain what prerequisites you need.

To someone new to WebObjects, the first chapter offers little guidance to these issues. The material it covers is fine, but it is potentially confusing without that introduction. Indeed, it is only by the second and third chapters that the reader gets some glimmerings of what this is all about.

Granted, the authors are probably writing for those already knowing something of WebObjects. But an introduction can make this explicit. Especially since WebObjects are still a fairly specialised topic. If the authors want to increase its usage, they need to accomodate neophytes. The incremental cost of a few pages of introduction is negligible to address this.

Rating:
Summary: Well written overview of WebObjects/Java
Review: Leaving aside for the moment the market viability of WebObjects/Java as a web application platform, this is an excellent book on the topic. It covers the entire WebObjects/Java application development platform. Illustrations are used effectively and kept to a minimum, code is not overused and the exposition text is easy to read and focused. The book is introductory in nature, it's not a reference work for the platform.

I recommend this book to anyone looking into the platform or for those that are actively using it. I don't think it exposes enough of the architecture to provide insights into the design of WebObjects/Java as a web development platform for architectural design purposes.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for WebObjects developers
Review: The Apple-provided WebObjects documentation is sufficient to get developers started, but it barely scratches the surface of the WebObjects frameworks. Practical WebObjects takes you beyond the tutorials and explains features, implementation details and best practices that will make you a more effective WebObjects developer. The two chapters on Enterprise Objects alone would justify the purchase of this book -- and EOF is one of the more thoroughly treated frameworks in Apple's documentation. The material in Chapter 6: The Secret Life of Components is essential stuff that, frankly, I haven't seen covered adequately anywhere else.

When I saw the pre-announcement of this book on Omni's WebObjects-dev mailing list I had very high expectations. (Chuck Hill is a frequent contributor to the mailing list and a recognized authority there.) I pre-ordered my copy as soon as Amazon had it listed. I have not been dissappointed. Highly recommended to anyone working with WebObjects.

Rating:
Summary: A must have book.
Review: This is not a beginner's guide, but any WebObjects developer beyond the complete novice will find this book full of practical advice. If you are just starting out buy Joshua Marker's Quick Pro Guide but get Practical WebObjects too. When you need more detail than the QP Guide supplies, Practical WebObjects will be there for you.

The sections on the request-response loop and editing context locking alone are well worth the price of admission. Each chapter clearly details its subject's processes and pitfalls in a way the benefits even the most seasoned WebObjects developer.

The book offers advice and solutions to many common development tasks with code and resources from the community (WOCode, Project Wonder, Eclipse/WOLips) and its own Practical WebObjects framework. So although this book was written by two authors, it is clear that there was a concerted attempt to include the <em>best practices</em> for developing WebObjects applications, regardless of where they came from.

If it is not obvious at this point, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Belongs on the shelf of every WebObjects developer
Review: Well, I am not much of a fan of books on programming. Learning from book just doesn't work for me. I advocate learning by doing: grasp the basics and then set yourself challenges to resolve with the documentation at hand.

Nonetheless I recommend this book to everyone who is serious about WebObjects. I have read this book cover to cover. Admittedly I practiced 'accelerated reading' on parts I know inside and out. This book is an interesting read as it tries neither being a reference nor tutorial. It is more of a guide and mainly a problem solver.

The authors do an excellent job of explaining crucial concepts like the request-response loop, the EOF stack, object graph concepts, validation, etc. Unlike other books this one cuts directly to the chase. For beginners some chapters act as road map through Apple's documentation. Mind you, this book does not target the complete novice. Alongside the usual prerequisite of strong knowledge of OO and web application concepts, some WebObjects experience is required. Those who bring this along can expect a substantial boost up the learning curve.

To more advanced user this book is more than an excellent way to recap core WebObjects concepts. Its a problem solver - the WebObjects edition of the Swiss army knife. The authors present ready-made solutions to many common tasks. This is book will save you hours if not weeks. And it does so while completely explaining not only the solution but also the reasonings and techniques behind it. This makes the book an interesting read and it just may spark the idea needed to solve even problems not covered.

Unfortunately the book's strongest points also make for its weaknesses. For one, I find the book to be a bit too confined in the current state of things. It discusses bugs in both the current incarnation of the frameworks and the developer tools. Such information is bound to become outdated rather sooner than later. While helpful I don't think a printed book is the appropriate media to vehicle such volatile information.

My other gripe is that the authors don't make it sufficiently clear that the proposed solutions and approaches are not the only ones out there. They were chosen based on the authors personal preferences. Diverging opinions exist and the reader would do well - and should be advised by the book - to dig for further views.

All in all "Practical WebObjects" is an excellent book. It belongs on the shelf of every WebObjects developer. Novice or expert.