Enterprise SOA : Service-Oriented Architecture Best Practices (The Coad Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to the Concepts
Review: I just got a new employee, a very bright young computer science graduate. She knows all about a half dozen languages, databases, operating systems and more. I'm sure she could write wonderful code.

Unfortunately she has no concept of the retards that are going to be running the machines that put the data into the system. I suspect that she has even less understanding about the managers that are going to be using the output of the system to make real decisions. And I know that she has no concept at all about getting a project finished just in time for the specifications to change to meet new laws, new ideas, or just the way a new VP would like to see the information.

One of the first things I did was give her my copy of this book. She won't understand/believe it just yet. But this will at least give her the framework to hopefully understand just what we are trying to do. The case studies in particular just might help her to understand that programming in the real world isn't a quick overnight project but an ongoing process, a journey not a destination.

I have to agree with other commenters that this isn't a complete story, it's an overview, a summary, a great place to start.

Rating:
Summary: Misleading title
Review: I was surpised to see that this book uses 4 chapters to go over what SOA is and what 3 tier architecture evolved.

This book may be useful for someone who is oblivious to enterprise architecture developments in the past 5 years.

The authors wander from one vague concept to another not really laying any sort of foundation. There is a whole page that explains "synchrony".

I would expect the authors to tackle issues like concurrent execution of multiple versions of the same service. Security patterns. Preasent at least a few "anti-patterns". I also wanted to see them address issues around comnpensating transactions and extra large payloads in the SOA domain.

This book provided to me the same level of information I would get while chatting with a few techies over a couple of beers.

The only reason you wouild ever want to buy this book is if you had been asleep for the past 5 years and you want to "speak intelligently" (for example a salesperson for a software vendor) about SOA.

One place to get some indepth analysis of todays pressing enterprise computing issues is on the blog at http://softissues.blogspot.com

Rating:
Summary: Useful Book
Review: The service paradigm is spreading to all areas of computing, including telecom, finance, and energy. Technology now takes a back seat to business solutions especially where the latter are packaged as distributed services. This book provides an authoritative account of the historical context and current best practices in the emerging field of SOA. Its content has depth as well as short sharp practical guidelines for the implementation of real world systems. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Good for the tech, great for the management advice
Review: There are a number of books on service oriented architecture. Most concentrate on the technical side of the equation. Talking about the standards, the APIs, the cross-platform issues and other low level issues. This book takes an architectural route by covering every aspect of the SOA space with well written exposition and extensive use of UML.

One section, which I haven't seen in any other book on the topic, is on the managerial issues around SOA. How to tell SOA in the organization. How to build support the architecture. How to incent the engineers. These are important topics. And what's better is that the author illustrates the management level problems and their proposed solutions with real world cases studies.

An excellent book on SOA for readers looking for an architectural overview.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect starting point
Review: This is the first book on SOA i came across that provides deep and very helpful insights in architectural, organizational and management aspects as well as concise hands-on guidelines to handle most common problems regarding a SOA implementation without digging deep into soon-to-be-outdated matters as current technology and programming language issues.

It is a valuable source for everyone interested in SOA, from software developers looking for a starting point into this matter or looking for the big picture, to project managers in search for advice how to cope with challenges SOA puts on software development projects
--- and it is based on the authors practical experience from many large scale projects, illustrating given guidelines with real world case studies.

Definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Actionable Architectural Guidance
Review: Too many "SOA" books are either API documents or high-level hand waving. You can tell that this book is based on actual project experience. The authors manage to give actionable guidance and explain their reasoning well without diving into too many technology details. If you are interested in the "A" of "SOA", you will like this book.