Database Programming with JDBC and Java, 2nd Edition: Amazon.co.uk: George Reese: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

JDBC is one of the three Java Enterprise APIs--the others are RMI and IDL. JDBC enables you to access a relational database from a Java application. Already you know you will have to read about SQL and the three-tier application architecture. And so it proves.

Being an enterprise-level Java programming book you get plenty of patterns, courtesy of UML. This is good material in a theoretical kind of way. Fortunately, Reese goes well beyond theory. There is an unusually high level of attention paid to the real world. For example, you get a list of database vendors who supply JDBC drivers. Now that's useful. And "useful" is a word which well describes Database Programming with JDBC and Java. It's packed full of the kind of information which comes from hands-on experience using JDBC in live projects. For example, the early section on setting up a connection to a database provides solid information about setting class paths and other practical details which are often glossed over as too obvious to point out. Nothing is too obvious until you know it.

The discussion concerning user interface design is equally interesting. Reese argues your presentation layer should be trivial to change for use on a variety of display devices, which means completely disconnected from the database itself and referring only to the business objects encapsulated in your Java code. This argues against using rapid development tools which base presentation on data structures making it awkward to edit. The new section on Swing integration with JDBC is particularly welcome as is the inclusion of a detailed discussion of the JDBC Optional Pack, which makes database connections far simpler and is gradually gaining vendor driver support.

If you are a working Java programmer who needs a practical course on JDBC this is a hard book to beat. --Steve Patient

Product Description

Java and databases make a powerful combination. Getting the two sides to work together, however, takes some effort--largely because Java deals in objects while most databases do not.

This book describes the standard Java interfaces that make portable object-oriented access to relational databases possible and offers a robust model for writing applications that are easy to maintain. It introduces the JDBC and RMI packages and uses them to develop three-tier applications (applications divided into a user interface, an object-oriented logic component, and an information store).

The book begins with a quick overview of SQL for developers who may be asked to handle a database for the first time. It then explains how to issue database queries and updates through SQL and JDBC. It also covers the use of stored procedures and other measures to improve efficiency, where these are available.

But the book's key contribution is a set of patterns that let developers isolate critical tasks like object creation, information storage and retrieval, and the committing or aborting of transactions.

The second edition includes more basics of JDBC and SQL, with more examples, and a deeper discussion about the architecture of a robust, maintainable database application. The second edition also explains the relationship between JDBC and Enterprise JavaBeans.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

You can get all this from the JDBC javadoc .... 27 July 2004

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This is poor. I expect more from O'Reilly books. The ugly bias towards avoiding stored procedures sums up the book. Many developers writing DB apps want to get the maximum performance out of their database. They really don't care whether the code ports well to other vendors, because that is outside their remit. Worse still, the chapter on Meta data is very lightweight. The author glosses over implementation details. The fact that every JDBC driver I have seen calls SQL under the bonnet, then wraps that in a Java API should be explained. Often you can do better by writing your own MetaData classes.... Some JDBC drivers simply return the ** WRONG ** Meta Data. That should be pointed out. A serious DB developer needs to know what is going on under the bonnet and this book does not help.

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Useful and practical guide to JDBC 30 Jan 2000

By Douglas Clinton

I used this book as the basis for the development of a commercial application. The design presented in the book proved complete and flexible enough to meet my needs.

JDBC, RMI all in one book 5 Nov 1998

The best Java book covers 3-tier application. I found this book covers RMI is even better than other "JAVA RMI" book. The code is well organized and use good design patterns.