POJOs in Action, Manning
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Contents |
C# Online.NET Book Review
Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs) have been the standard development platform for enterprise applications written in the Java language. However, in many new projects, Java developers are opting, instead, for lightweight frameworks like the popular Spring Framework. For persistence, they are using lightweight technologies—Hibernate, iBATIS, JDO, etc.—which support POJOs.
POJOs—Plain Old Java Objects—are simple, easy-to-use, Java classes used in place of EJBs. (EJB version 3 supports POJOs, alleviating many past criticisms and making EJB development easier and simpler.)
This book describes the new lightweight approaches and mechanisms as they are used in the field. It covers back-end development including business logic development with POJOs, POJO façades, procedural design, ORM (Object Relational Mapping) frameworks, Java Data Objects (JDO) 2 for domain model persistence, and database concurrency. There is good coverage of the popular Hibernate—a high-performance object-relational persistence and query service.
The author is obviously one who learned his lessons in the trenches as a battle-hardened, veteran developer. For example, unit testing is employed throughout. His experience and knowledgeability allow him to lay out both sides of any argument; so, we can select pragmatic solutions for our own projects. In fact, he makes a point of showing how to develop using various techniques despite their shortcomings.
The resulting book is not only a great read, but an educational one for application engineers, developers, and architects. The approach is pragmatic problem solving using a variety of approaches and frameworks, in other words—real world. The balance of low-level detail and high-level design is performant. But, the book does not address presentation tier technologies.
In the developments and experiences of countless large-scale Java projects, there are many lessons for enterprise C# and .NET developers. Remember: they have been at this a lot longer than the Microsoft-only shops.
Bottom line
POJOs in Action is required reading for battle-weary EJB developers and for new developers who want to avoid the sins of the fathers by using lightweight frameworks.
Other books in this series
Other reviews
"Highly recommended."
—The Pragmatic Architect
From the back cover
There is agreement in the Java community that EJBs often introduce more problems than they solve. Now there is a major trend toward lightweight technologies such as Hibernate, Spring, JDO, iBATIS, and others, all of which allow the developer to work directly with the simpler Plain Old Java Objects, or POJOs. Bowing to the new consensus, EJB 3 now also works with POJOs.
POJOs in Action describes these new, simpler, and faster ways to develop enterprise Java applications. It shows you how to go about making key design decisions, including how to organize and encapsulate the domain logic, access the database, manage transactions, and handle database concurrency.
Written for developers and designers, this is a new-generation Java applications guide. It helps you build lightweight applications that are easier to build, test, and maintain. The book is uniquely practical with design alternatives illustrated through numerous code examples.
What's inside
- Leverage the frameworks’ strengths, avoid their weaknesses
- Apply enterprise patterns in the lightweight world
- New patterns like POJO Façade and Exposed Domain Model
- Build rich domain models
- How Aspects improve design
- Lightweight testing strategies
- How to be agile
About the author(s)
Chris Richardson is a developer and architect with over 20 years of experience. His consulting company specializes in jumpstarting projects and mentoring teams. Chris has been a technical leader at Insignia, BEA, and elswhere. He has a computer science degree from the University of Cambridge in England and lives in Oakland, CA.
