A mixed bag

This book is loosely divided into three parts: a conceptual overview,
an API tour, and some application case studies. The opening overview
is dense and would probably be scary for someone new to object
persistence.

The API tour is the largest section, with one chapter devoted to each
key JDO interface. These chapters read like heavily annotated
Javadocs; the subheads roughly correspond to the interface methods.
Each chapter is accompanied by a UML diagram of that chapter's
interface; a simple listing would have been more useful.

The case studies are definitely the best part of the book. Each is
filled with practical advice for using JDO in a particular environment
(servlets, EJBs, desktop apps). This material could save you countless
hours of frustration.

One thing this book lacks is code. When code does appear, it's often
an Ant build file, or a class showing how to use the "transient"
keyword, or something else peripheral to the main topic of the
book. There is essentially no real JDO code at all until the case
studies at the end of the book.

Also noticeably missing is an introductory tutorial. There's no
"Hello, JDO" program here. Many programmers, myself included, want to
see a basic program like this; its absence here is disappointing.

This would make a good second book on JDO -- a reference you could
turn to for details after you already knew your way around. Most
people would also want a book with more code and tutorial content, and
the writing is rough around the edges, but the case studies are ful of
great advice.

Other Reviews

• A mixed bag
• Say What?
• An excellent introduction to JDO