Pro JSP, Third Edition

Simpler, faster, easier dynamic website development based on new additions to an established and proven technology&emdash;that's what JavaServer Pages (JSP) 2.0 is all about. Pro JSP, Third Edition is the most comprehensive guide and reference to JSP 2.0 yet. It equips you with the tools, techniques, and understanding you need to develop web applications with JSP and Java servlets.

The new features of the JSP 2.0 and Servlet 2.4 specifications make developing web applications easier than ever before. The new JSP Expression Language (EL) provides a new, simple language for creating JSP pages and tags. In addition, by also using the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL), you'll never have to use a Java scriptlet or write spaghetti code again.

Beyond covering the JSP and Servlet APIs, this book shows you how to choose and implement the best persistence option for your web applications; how to secure your web sites against malicious attack and accidental misuse; how to improve the performance and scalability of your JSP pages; and how to architect and design your applications to be reliable, stable, and maintainable through the use of design patterns and best practices.

Finally, no JSP book would be complete today without looking at the role that open source projects such as Ant, Struts, XDoclet, JUnit, and Cactus can play in making your web development even easier.

User review
Thorough, detailed, and usable
This book is somewhat of an amalgamation between two other Apress books, `Beginning JSP 2: From Novice to Professional`, and `Foundations of JSP Design Patterns`, however there is more information in those two books in regards to their respective topics, and this book has much more detail in topics those other two books do not address.

While this book is designated for intermediate to advanced developers, it could be used as an all-in-one for a novice if they have decent Java knowledge and are able to read at a relaxed pace. I found chapter quality to be consistently good. The provided examples are useful and expertly selected (not too short, not too long).

Topics discussed include JSP page `anatomy`, servlets, expression language, the standard tag library (JSTL), a surprisingly concise and well done chapter on JavaServer Faces (JSF), custom tag development both from a legacy and modern approach, data access, filtering, security, performance, scalability, web application design and best practices, and Struts.

The majority of topics are discussed in great detail. Some of the more detailed topics such as performance and scalability have as much detail as could be expected in a non-specialized book and at the very least provide you with information on where to learn more about the topic.

I have been working with JSP and JSF for 2 years and I found this book useful to fill in some knowledge gaps. I recommend it without reservation.

User review
Very Comprehensive Text
Java's web technology has always been my fascination. This book opened up a whole new perspective on Java and JSP for me.
The book that I truly started learning JSP with is `More Servlets and Java Server Pages` by Marty Hall. That book breaks down piece by piece how it all works. It's a really great book. `Pro JSP` shows you how to exploit that knowledge to turn it into something truly useful. If you are a Java web developer you know that Java web applications can be slow and clumsy. Have you ever wondered how the sites like Amazon are written in Java and can handle millions of hits a day? Well, that book explains the technology behind those kinds of applications.
The book makes very extensive use of EL (not something I am very fond of). It shows you how far you can go with JSTL by utilizing it in creating Java Server Faces. So it doesn't just tell you how amazing JSTL is because it can connect to a MySQL db from a jsp page (I mean maybe hardcore PHP programmers would find that feature cool. I don't). As far a JSF, the book shows very clearly how to do it. And you can easily try it out on your server. Still I do not believe the book does a good job providing examples of when you would really need the JSF technology. It's pretty much up to the reader's imagination. The book does a good job breaking down the use of managed beans in the context of JSF.
I think the coolest chapter of the book is the chapter on filters. Let me tell you I still have hard time comprehending the entire filtering technology in JSP. It's a really advanced topic. I had no idea you could control users' requests to that extent. The book shows graphs on how requests to your web application travel through layers of filters. So it's really clear as to when you need a filter in your applications. And it's not hard to figure out how to optimize your application's performance using filters.
I can really go forever, so I will stop here and let you see the rest for yourself.

User review
Excellent Book for All Levels
I have been a Java developer for five years now, and have worked with JSP and Servlets for a number of years. As many in the software industry can attest to, you can quickly get tied down working on applications that were initially designed several years ago. This can leave you with little time to explore all the new features that come out with the latest release of the Servlet and JSP specs. Wanting to get a handle on what JSP 2.0 has to offer, I decided to get a book on the subject matter that starts from the ground up. Although a lot of the material would be review for me, I always find it important to read this information over again as it helps to strengthen my overall understanding.

`Pro JSP' is probably one of the best books on JSP that I have read in a long time. To me a good technical book needs to do three things. First it needs to explain how the technology works. Second, it needs to explain how best to use this technology in the real world. And finally, it needs to do the first two things in a clear and understandable manner. The reader shouldn't be left scratching their head trying to figure out what the author was trying to say.

On the first point, `Pro JSP' does a thorough job of explaining the ins and outs of the JSP 2.0 release. The expression language, JSTL, tags, filtering, security, deployment; all of these important topics are covered. There are an amazing three chapters devoted to tags and another two chapters on filtering! The authors do an excellent job of focusing in on some of the more complex aspects of JSP and spending the time to fully explain all the nuances. Based on just the technical content alone, a person will walk away from this book with a solid understanding of the power available to them with JSP 2.0.

But of course `JSP Pro' doesn't just end there. Unlike many books that simply throw a ton of information at you and then leave you to figure out how to use it, this book goes much further. The authors spend a considerable amount of time discussing the best practices to use when including this technology in your applications. From repeatedly hammering home the need to keep scriplets out of JSP pages, to the chapters devoted to web application patterns and performance enhancements, the reader will be left well prepared to use their newly acquired skills on their own projects.

The writing itself is also very well done. The examples are short and to the point, and the writing is clear and understandable. I never found myself struggling to understand what the author was trying to convey, or tripping over complicated code to see the examples in action.

The only caveat I would have would be with the last chapter dealing with using `Struts, Xdoclet, and Other Tools'. The authors recommend that the reader have an understanding of these tools before reading the chapter. They then dive right in to how to best use these tools without a lot of explanation. This may be just a little too much for someone coming to this book as a complete beginner to JSP. This chapter will of course prove invaluable to a more experienced programmer, but the abrupt change of pace from the rest of the book felt a little uneven.

All in all I would definitely recommend this book to JSP programmers of all levels.

User review
Good Book, A lot of information but not a beginner book
When I first bought this book was totally new to JSP and XML. I started reading it and then i realize that it was not a beginners book. It was great because it would force me to study a little bit more. I read a XML and JSP tutorial and it was enough to begin studying JSP with this book.
It has lots of detailed information about client/server persistence graphics and models too.
I bought this book because the history of the author, Simon Brown, and the last edition was five star recomendation on JavaRanch and Amazon reviews.

User review
A good reference book for JSP tags and struts
Title: Professional JSP Tag Libraries
Author: Simon Brown
Publisher: WROX publisher Ltd.
ISBN: 1 861006 217

Reviewer Name: Ravi Mahalingam
Review Date 23 Apr 2003.

Overall Value of the book: 4
Instructional value of the book: 4
Reference value of the book: 5

Like every WROX, this book covers different aspects of tag libraries
of JSP (custom and regular) in a detailed fashion. The author Mr. Brown
has done a good job to explain the concepts of tag libraries.

the book has useful code snippets that can be used for real
world problems. the book also provides screen prints of the
actual output making it easier for the readers to find out the
result of the code.

THE author has explained how STRUTS work and has explained
it in great detail.

overall, this book is a good reference and will find a place in
my office shelf. we are in the process of developing a jsp
based user application which uses STRUTS.