Rating:  - 12 Authors, 1200 pages; uneven at best (but some good)
This book has something to offer, the question is, can you find it? There are at least 12 authors, some brilliant, and some that should take up another line of work. The sections are not associated with author's names or initials, so you have read the sections to figure out if that section's author was good. The word "I" is used a lot, but it may not be the same "I" as the last time you saw it. "Unix Power Tools" (Amazon) has a better format for this type of work; we know Tom Kyte is smart, but which is his stuff? The section on database fundamentals is awfull. A minor gripe, all the refernces to other texts (and there are few) are to other texts by this publisher (wrox). If you are looking to learn a subject, this is not the place. For instance, JSP and Oracle are covered much better by Hougland and Tavistock in "Core JSP" (available at Amazon). If you have a complex project that happens to be like one of the examples, you could easily get your money's worth out of this book, but you would need to be at a level of understanding where you could figure out how to use the good parts. That is, you need to know more than the editors did. If you know what the topic is you want to research, there is a better book on it, and the best will lead you to other books, no matter who publishs them.
Rating:  - A must have for all using Java/XML on the Oracle platform
One of the best books around for database application developers working with Java/XML on the Oracle platform and who don't nowadays! The book is up-to-date with Oracle 8.1.7 and covers new aspect such as JDBC2.0 and the Java to native compiler (NCOMP). I give it five stars because it covers all important Java/XML aspects in great detail and because it already proved its worth by providing me with solutions for really tricky problems. The only neagtive thing I can think of is its size. But I guess the American authors probably got paid per line.
Rating: - A Unique Book
This book is one of the more comprehensive I have read about Oracle programming. It has very good examples and you will find tips and information you won't find in any other books/web sites/forums etc. This book has been written by genuine Oracle developers and you will get a depth of real-world knowledge and application. I recommend highly it for the serious Oracle, Java and XML developer.
Rating:  - Overall a fine book, even with obvious weaknesses
Like any other recent Wrox titles, this one contains jewels and pretenders. On the bright side, quite a few of the Java and XML chapters are strong, and I particularly liked the ones on EJB, PL/SQL-Java inter-operation, and SOAP. There is also a chapter at the end on setting up the environment to run the book samples. On the not so bright side, the PL/SQL chapters are disappointing, because they cover either fundamental stuff that anyone who calls themselves an Oracle developer should know, or irrelevant technologies like OAS PL/SQL cartridge and PSP (huh?). The chapters on JDBC and connection pooling wasted 60% of the pages by talking about the basic JDBC API and showing the details of a connection pool manager class, rather than talking more about Oracle's extensions to the JDBC 2.0 standard and optional packages API. Finally, there is one glaring omission - MTS (I am talking about the Microsoft stuff here), although it does contain an informative chapter on ASP/Oracle. One more thing: this book covers Oracle8i Release 2, not the latest 3.
With everything considered, you may still want to own this title, as it is the only book under the sun that covers all (well, almost) current distributed programming technologies that interface with Oracle (both J2EE and Windows DNA). It also covers promising Oracle proprietary technologies such as interMedia, BC4J, and Portal (aka WebDB).
Rating: - Definitely worth your time and money, very helpful.
There has never been a Oracle book like this one that demostrates so much detail about Oracle 8i internet development feature with Java and XML. If you want to stay ahead of your peer, you can't afford to miss this book.
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