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Rating: 
Summary: A great book, but not the best starting point for JDBC
Review: Having read over two-thirds of this huge volume, I am now of the opinion that it probably is not the best place to begin exploring Java database development. The word "Beginning" in the title is a bit misleading: you shouldn't approach this book without a solid grounding in Java and databases in general. True, the introductory chapters cover essential SQL and other database concepts, but there is a steady ramping-up in the difficulty level as the book progresses, and it doesn't ever really level off. For example, Lauinger's treatment of his own Java Layered Frameworks open-source project in Chapter 16 is long-winded and daunting. And the later chapters assume complete familiarity with XML, JavaBeans, Servlets, and other more "advanced" topics. So, all in all, for the JDBC beginner I think that this is not the best book to begin your explorations of JDBC.On the other hand, this is an exceptionally thorough book, very well written and with few typos. The authors are likeable, the price is affordable, the presentation and the coding are laid out well, the printing and binding excellent. So it may be just the book for you if you have the patience to plod through its 900 pages. Certainly, the book makes an excellent reference. However, it only covers the business logic of Java database applications. Most of the examples in the book are console-based programs for testing the business logic. There is no coverage of GUI-related topics, for example how to present data in a grid. As one of the authors remarks somewhere, their purpose in writing the book was not to present "pretty GUI's" but rather to concentrate on the internals, the business logic. While I can understand the importance of business logic, I also would have liked these experts to have given me some good pointers on how to present data in various data-aware controls in a GUI. After 600+ pages, I'm still waiting....
Rating: 
Summary: Great book to have a good feel of java
Review: I am not a java programmer nor want to be one at all. As an Oracle DBA I have been looking for a book that helps me to understand what java's all about and enough knowledge to help developers. Although This book doesn't deal with the latest specifications like EJB 2.0, JSP 1.3 and Servlet 2.3, it gives us a good explanations and good examples on how java interacts with databases,especially Oracle. Reading this book you can try some simple codes yourself and will get a hang of it. This is great book for a Java beginner to start with.
Rating:
Summary: Good tutorial
Review: I thought that this book was quite good at explaining Java programming of databases. Many of the examples in the book, though, use the Oracle personal edition database. This is a 600MB file that you download from Oracle. Or, you can pay them [money] to send it to you on CD-ROM. Alternatively, you can use another database - like SQL Server - and modify the examples to work with that database.
Rating:
Summary: Good tutorial
Review: I'm using this book as my text book for my independent study of database programming with Java. This book is the tops! The primary focus is programming with the Cloudscape database, but it does give you code snippets to use if you're using Oracle or one of the Microsoft databases (like SQL Server). What impresses me about the book is it's one of the few instructional books that teaches a programmer how to wade in the water before it teaches the programmer how to dive in 20-ft deep water and swim. Although the book is HUGE, it really explains in detail why the programmer is writing the particular code. I also liked the idea that it dedicates a few chapters on SQL and database concepts. Although this may appear to be a rehash for experienced database programmers, it's still good to review, since it covers the topics from a Java perspective. I teach at a college part-time. If the college decides to offer a third-level Java programming course to its students, then I would highly recommend this book for the class. Excellent job again, WROX Press!
Rating:
Summary: This is a GREAT book!
Review: This book is great! I read this book from cover to cover and I still use it ALL the time as a great reference for DataSources, Transaction APIs, etc. The appendixes are more helpful than I could have imagined, they summarize so much stuff that I read in the book, but don't use very often, and have a hard time remembering sometimes. If you are looking for a good book to guide you through ALL the steps of database access with Java, then I highly suggest at the very least sitting down with this book for a while to get the feel of it, and see if it's for you. The book moves at a great pace, spending most of the time covering the basic, everyday, important stuff, but also spending enough time to show how to use some really neat more advanced features. Overall... another great book from WROX!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor
Review: This book is not very good. The numerous authors attempt to cover too much in this book and as a result don't cover anything worthwhile. The book isn't well focused and has lots of mistakes.
Rating:
Summary: Good survey circa 2002 of JDBC programming
Review: This book is somewhat dated. It still is a GREAT book for someone who knows how to compile java programs with packages and who wants to get a solid introduction to database programming, including some good chapters on how to create a good logical model, before you create the physical model. If this were 2002, I would give it 5 stars for what it is. I am a database administrator by profession. If it covered Hibernate, I'd still give it 5 stars, although they present the idea of using a JDBC framework predecessor to Hibernate in the book. Good CD includes a Java database to play with, including ODBC drivers. For advanced ideas, they switch to how to program to Oracle JDBC drivers.
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