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Java Data Access: JDBC, JNDI, and JAXP Review by Darren Spurgeon
An Effective Tutorial, a Solid Guidebook, and a Great Read
When I pulled this book off the shelf, it just felt right, like all the pieces I needed were there. I'd been looking for a JDBC-type book for some time, but I didn't want a simple quick reference that left me wondering how to code for applications. I also didn't care to sift through a 1,000-page API reference in order to understand what JDBC was all about. This book is something completely and impressively different.
This is not a book for newcomers to the Java language, though I suspect anyone who's developed in Java will be able to follow along quite well. In fact, it's the author's writing style that makes learning JDBC almost effortless. The examples are numerous, easy to follow, and largely independent. However, the author frequently ties the concepts together nicely and it's plain to see how the examples may be incorporated into larger applications. I like that approach.
Another thing I especially appreciated was the author's effort to provide useful tips for solving real-world problems. In many cases, Todd provided an example implementation, but would describe cases where such an implementation may not be the most appropriate solution. Then, he would either give a short description of what to do instead or provide a snippet of code. That's a mark of a good instructor.
Other enjoyable and extremely useful parts of the book include patterns for implementation, discussion of JDBC data types and how they may differ for some databases, attention to the use of result set meta data, overview of EJB and JDBC uses, and various means for connecting to data sources including JNDI and LDAP. There's even a complete framework for wrapping JDBC calls within application logic. All of this is presented in the context of JDBC 2.0 and 3.0 and Todd clearly defines the version differences as they relate to implementation where appropriate.
I must point out that a few of the chapters were written by contributing authors, specifically chapters 15, 17, 18, and 19 (from what I can tell). These chapters are less related to JDBC itself but do concern the topic of "data access;" though, you may find that these chapters naturally have a somewhat different feel.
I can hardly imagine buying another JDBC book because I believe I've found most, if not all, of what I need. With great authors like Todd teaching us, we'll all end up experts!