Writing Advanced Applications for the Java 2 Platform

As an experienced developer on the Java™ platform, you undoubtedly know how fast moving and comprehensive the platform is. Its many application programming interfaces (APIs) provide a wealth of functionality for all aspects of application and system-level programming. While there are many good books and online documents that detail all the parameters that an API has, finding a book that brings these APIs together and uses them to solve an advanced business problem has always been a challenge.

This book fills that void by presenting the design, development, test, deployment and debugging phases for an enterprise-worthy auction application. It is not purely a reference for the Java APIs, but a practical, hands-on guide to building successful projects with the Java platform. Like any good handbook on your car or house, it includes an entire section on what to do if things do not go so well. You will find sections that detail everything from what steps to take when troubleshooting bugs to tips on performance.

While the example application does not cover every possible programming scenario, it explores many common situations and leaves you with a solid base of knowledge so you can go on and use the Java platform to design, build, debug, and deploy your own solutions. Developing one application throughout the book is a tool to help you fast-track learning new features. For example, you gain a working knowledge of RMI in one section, and a following section on CORBA explains the similarities and differences between the two.

You can get a download of the example application source code and explore more information on any topic presented here by visiting the Java Developer ConnectionSM (JDC) web site at http://developer.java.sun.com, or the main Java web site at http://java.sun.com.

The example for this book is an auction application because of the growing popularity of and interest in web-based electronic commerce. The example runs on a real application server using Enterprise JavaBeans™ technology, which is particularly well-suited to electronic commerce applications. Later chapters expand the core example by adding advanced functionality, improvements, and alternative solutions to do some of the things you get for free when you use the Enterprise JavaBeans platform. Additional topics important to applications development such as security, transaction management, and performance tuning are also presented.

This book is for developers with more than a beginning level of understanding of writing programs in the Java programming language. The example application is written with the Java 2 platform APIs and explained in terms of functional hows and whys, so if you need help installing the Java platform, setting up your environment, or getting your first application to work, you should first read a more introductory book such as Essentials of the Java Programming Langauge: A Hands-On Guide or The Java Tutorial