Programming Workflow Applications With Domino

Rating:
Summary: Good book for beginners, written more like a lab exercise
Review: As a 5 year Notes/Domino veteran, I can comfortably say that I've seen most everything with Notes, the good, the bad, and just plain stupid. This book in itself is well written. It is easy to follow and understand. It gives one distinct approach to programming workflow applications. Most of the stuff in here is a very straight forward out of the box type approach. I would say that it is a good compliment to someone just finishing their APP DEV training, and wanting to get started in development.
Lotus Notes is unlike any other development platform out there. For people coming to Notes with a C++ or Visual Basic background, this book show a good approach in how to do things the "Domino" way. Too many developers out there who are used to C++ or VB end up coding all their Notes apps in LotusScript cause they dont know any better and it is easy for them. I feel that a book like this would good for them.
Okay, now the hard facts. The first two chapters cover basic Notes design elements. There isnt enough to learn Notes, and for someone with a Notes background, it is a waste of time. They should've been eliminated. Second, this book is NOT a reference. If that is what you are looking for, DONT buy it. If you are relatively new to Notes, and want to learn a solid technique, the book IS for you. Some of the techniques are good are things like admin or profile documents. Too many developers hard code everything, and dont make their programs flexible enough for normal business changes. The problem with that is that they move on, and then the customer or next developer has to spend hours trying to find out how it is set up. With profile docs, an administrator could make simple changes like adding new products or branch office to an app, w/o the need of a developer.
The bottom line is that this one approach to design from hundreds of possibilities. It is a good book to read though and do the exercises, but once you are done with it, you will probably never pick it up again.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh aspects for a Notes Book
Review: Fresh aspects for Notes programmers that don't have a background in OOP and UML.

Too bad the sample application around which the whole book is based on does not seem to work in my edition.

Rating:
Summary: Is NOT about Domino Workflow
Review: I originally bought this book to learn Domino Workflow. However I had to notice that this book is not about this product. Instead, an own workflow framework will be written.

I still think that the book is good, supposed you are a programmer, who wants to write an own workflow application with Domino. You'll also need to know Java and UML to understand the book.

Rating:
Summary: More of a companion to a database than a programming book
Review: This book is essentially the details of a single workflow application written with Java agents. I'd estimate over a third of the book is just the Java agents printed out in widely spaced formatting. The first quarter of the book is a very broad overview of workflow diagramming and what is Notes. The rest is the fields and forms they used, some description of the agents printed in the book, and similar things.

The book is more like a companion to the database on the cd, rather than the other way around. If you're looking for a Domino workflow application that's similar to what they wrote or for a sample of one workflow application with Java agents, then it's worth a look. Even though I buy most of my books through Amazon just based on the descriptions, you might want to flip through this one in a bookstore first; it's not what I expected from a programming book. I was through with it in less than 2 hours and I'm not a fast reader.

Rating:
Summary: The key word is PROGRAMMING....
Review: This is a well laid out book providing a great overview of developing a workflow from start to finish. Several chapters outline the tools and techniques for analyzing the process before you start coding. You'll build a working application as the book progresses.

There is a considerable amount of JAVA code and some LotusScript used. The code is well laid out and well documented.

If you're an up and coming programmer, especially interested in JAVA, this book may be for you. If hard core programming is not your cup of tea....you'll probably want to look at one of the graphical workflow development tools for Domino.