Rating: 
Summary: Good introduction to Java
Review: This a good book to get ramped up on Java. The chapters can be a bit lengthy but the examples are very clear and well explained. The language is simple and all the Java concepts are discussed in detail.However, this book on its own is not sufficient. It does list out the complete JDK 1.2 API and I find myself having to refer to Sun's java site to get the complete API specifications. But overall, I'd still recommend this book to others wanting to dive into the world of Java.
Rating: 
Summary: a complete mess, or "a mess-complete{
Review: This was a great idea for a book, but wow, could really have used a few writers and an editor on this project. It's so badly organized, badly written, badly punctuated, and so full of typos, that it's really hard to understand. Chapter 23 on EJB's will really make your head spin. WROX books are written by programmers and you really see the the down side of that approach here. If you want to understand Java2 Server Side programming, buy something else.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent reference and instruction guide.
Review: Professional Java Server Programming provides a range of programming applications using the Java platform. Web applications are the focus here, with chapters covering the basics of using Java libraries and references to build independent platforms.
Rating: 
Summary: No references
Review: As a Java Developer I was looking more for a reference and minimal set of abstract examples on how to use the syntax of jsp directives, jsp structures, and servlet practices. EJB and XML coverage was very minimal and despite my previous WROX book Professional ASP 2.0 (which was excellent) this book fails in regards to teaching the foundational practices of JSP and Servlets. It is indeed loaded with lots of examples including a good case study called, El Weeds of Limon. The explanations were very surfacy and didn't have enough of the technical details. The type of detail missed should be assumed from books that try to cover too many topics which spread the "meat" of the matter very thin. Rather than getting you started on the right track it gets you started by making you copy examples which IMHO is a poor way to learn especially if the examples are not very generic. I recently picked up a better book which includes all the jsp and servlet best practices, perfect amount of HTML mixture in handling forms, etc. and also a broad coverage of the currently available JSP/Servlet Containers like the Jakarta group's Tomcat 3.1 Container. I would recommend this book if you're looking for examples, period. However if you want to learn JSP and Servlet technology the proper way pick up Core Servlets and JSP by Sun Press. It's also more up to date with the JSP 1.1/Servlet 2.2 spec.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly organized with examples that don't work
Review: This is one of the worst books I have purchased on the subject - definitely not up to WROX's usual standards. I have yet to find an example that works mostly due to poor documentation on how their development environment was setup. The ideas presented would be great if better developed, but most (incl. XML programming) are too cryptic or limited in scope to be of much real world use. It's loaded with buzz words but not much meat.
Rating:
Summary: Very good for server-side programming
Review: Java is becoming a very good programming language for server-side software. This book encompasses almost all that fits for designing server-side software. Beginning with servlets, it covers all the other technologies such as JSP, EJB, CORBA, JNDI, JDBC etc.. A good book for all who know Java.
Rating:
Summary: My Most Frequently Borrowed Book At Work
Review: Title says it all. We like it. It is something of a surprise to find such a large book cover so many subjects so well. Between this book and the java doc bundle, I don't know why you would need anything else.
Rating:
Summary: A real smorgasbord
Review: Confession: I bought this book in a real live book shop after 2-3 hours sitting on the floor browsing all the available titles. The coverage of Servlets is among the best, and was easily enough to get me started writing useful code. Several of the other chapters I initially had little interest in but later came back to as I heard more on the web about some technology or other. Specifically: Servlets - pretty good. JSP - poor. You get that sinking feeling that the author(s) are learning at the same pace as you! XML - surprisingly good introduction, but the 'Weeds of El Limon' example chapter is a pitiful waste of space, apparently copied from an older XML book, and is easily the worst chapter of the book (IMHO). EJB: Introduction only. Jini, Javaspaces: Mildly interesting, not really worth it. The main drawback of this book is that with no less than 15 (countem' 15!) authors both style and content are rather inconsistent. Overall: I like it and keep finding new ideas in it that I missed before.
Rating:
Summary: Not how to ... why to...
Review: Professional Java Server Programming is much like all of the WROX press books in this series. It isn't a how to book which will teach you the technology from the ground up. It is geared towards telling you where and when to use the technologies, and illustrates it with simple real world examples. If you want to learn servlets or JSP or XML, this isn't the right book for you. If you know those things but want some guidance on pulling them together in a web application, then this book can help you see where the pieces fit together.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book to start Server Side Programming
Review: Good Book to start server side programming. The logical arrangement of the chapters are not good.
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