Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Bitter Java by Bruce A. Tate ISBN: 1-930110-43-X Publisher: Manning Publications Company Pub. Date: April, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 (40 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A great collection of lessons learned the hard way
Comment: While reading this book, I kept referring colleages past and present to information within as questions about "how should I..." popped up. It's an excellent set of reminders about lessons learned, and old lessons applied to current technology.
The content is very accessible to the intermediate programmer and budding architect, and the examples of implementations with problems followed by refactored improvements highly valuable. It's much better to learn learn from mistakes without making them all yourself, as the book points out.
The chapter on memory management under Java was a refreshing treat. Coming from a C++ background where resources are a major concern, I've heard many Java programmers use garbage collection in Java as a reason not to worry about resources. The book addressed how garbage collection worked in the past as well as current algorithms, and pointed out ways resources can be leaked quite easily. Awareness of a potential problem is one of the best tools a developer has, and the antipatterns addressed in this book will be ones I revisit when starting new projects. It's essentially defensive driving for developers, but fun to read!
Some sections concered areas I've only read about thus far, and it was interesting to see some problems in implementations based largely on following available "how to" guides. The list of suggested follow up reading will keep me busy for quite a while.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Must Read For Serious Java Programmers
Comment: If you're just learning how to program in Java, then Bitter Java is not for you. If you've written a few (or many) Java programs and want to become a better programmer, then I can highly recommend this book. It's jam packed with useful insights, that can only come from years of real world experience.
In the first section, Tate spends a fair amount of time explaining what 'anti-patterns' are, and why you should look for, document and exterminate them. Personally, I felt that this section could have been shorter--but, if you are not familiar with design patterns, it's worth reading.
The rest of the book is dedicated to various anti-patterns that the author has encountered, and ways of recognizing and fixing them. Unlike other design books, that tend toward the incomprehensibly abstract, this book is crammed with concrete examples that show a) a piece of 'broken' code and b) the changes (refactoring) that can be made to improve it. 'Bitter Java' is probably the most approachable book I've ever read on the subject. Near the beginning the author asserts that many programmers are 'into' extreme sports (I've never met any, but hey) and sprinkled throughout the book are short tales about his sporting experiences. While not related to Java, they usually serve to illustrate a point or two and help to make the book that much more readable.
For a short book (~320 pages), the author manages to cover a fairly wide swath of server-side Java technology, and some of the worst practices associated with them. He hits on topics such as Servlets, JSP, EJBs, connection pooling, connection topology and caching. On top of that, he devotes a chapter to 'Hygiene' (coding style, or lack-thereof), some basic OO principals and some XP principals. All of these practices are discussed in terms of how they can reduce the occurrences of anti-patterns and make them easier to find and fix if they do occur.
The only negative thing that I can say about 'Bitter Java' is that some of the example code wouldn't pass a compiler--little things like misspelt variable names and questionable exception declaration. Considering the nature of the book (high level design) and the suggested audience (intermediate Java programmers), this is a minor flaw. (To be honest, it seems to occur in almost every book on programming.)
All things considered, I'd give 'Bitter Java' about a 9 out of Ten. If I have anything to say about it, every programmer in my office will be reading this book...
(In the interests of honesty, I should mention that I was given this book in exchange for posting a review of it. I'll also mention that I've paid for many books that weren't nearly as insightful.)
Rating: 1
Summary: Absolute Rubbish
Comment: The author himself is one of the reviewers who gave this book 5 stars. That made me wonder if others who think highly of this book are somehow related to Mr. Tate. His friend? Family member? Colleague?
To me, this book is absolute rubbish. Claims big but delivers nothing. Don't believe me? Get the PDF version before you waste your money. Read the bookstore's refund policy because you'll need it.
 |
Title: Bitter EJB by Bruce Tate, Mike Clark, Bob Lee, Patrick Linskey ISBN: 1930110952 Publisher: Manning Publications Company Pub. Date: 15 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
 |
Title: Java Development With Ant by Erik Hatcher, Steve Loughran ISBN: 1930110588 Publisher: Manning Publications Company Pub. Date: August, 2002 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
 |
Title: Effective Java Programming Language Guide by Joshua Bloch ISBN: 0201310058 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Pub Co Pub. Date: 05 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
 |
Title: Eclipse in Action: A Guide for the Java Developer by David Gallardo, Ed Burnette, Robert McGovern ISBN: 1930110960 Publisher: Manning Publications Company Pub. Date: 15 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $44.95 |
 |
Title: Expert One-on-One J2EE Design and Development by Rod Johnson ISBN: 0764543857 Publisher: Wrox Pub. Date: 23 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $59.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
