WebObjects Developer's Guide (Kaleidoscope)

WebObjects is an object-oriented Web application server that is used to generate scalable Web and Java applications from reusable templates. A product of Apple Computer, WebObjects client list includes such Fortune 500 companies as Disney, Adobe, and the BBC. The productr Java 2 Enterprise Edition and its competitive pricing are expected to expand WebObjects growing position in the market for Web application servers, a market that is expected to grow by more than $2 billion in revenue by 2002 (Forrester Research).

WebObjects Developeris a unique, step-by-step guide for intermediate- to advanced-level developers. It uses a hands-on instructional approach to make the sophisticated and sometimes complex WebObjects technology accessible to developers. The book explains WebObjects concepts and paradigms, and it illustrates the art of modeling applications with the Enterprise Object Framework.

Ravi Mendis takes the step-by-step approach to show you how to make something, without spending any time to explain the concepts behind what its being shown. In my opinion, this 'teaching' style is little more useful than just giving people a CD full of code for completed projects. If you're not going to explain what the code does, why it does what it does, and how to use it, how are you going to know how to use it?

Also, this book is poorly edited: sentence fragments litter the book, as well as spelling errors. At times, it can be very difficult to read.


O'Reilly whereart thou?   August 24, 2002
 10 out of 13 found this review helpful

I'm about 70% through this book, purchased on Amazon.com last week, and have some comments to share:

So far the entire text has been pretty much a directed tutorial. The book does little to explain concepts, preferring to direct procedurally instead. This tends to make subjects more cryptic, and at times it is difficult to understand the author's objective/message in a chapter until you've struggled through it. (I'm someone who *enjoyed* the Sendmail book with the bat on the cover, so not too hard to please).

It is impossible to read and understand this book without actually sitting in front of ProjectBuilder with it; this is not an 'enjoyable' read. If you're looking for a conceptual book about WebObjects, keep looking - this one leaves you dry and perhaps even more confused if you don't have the time to 'read and do'.

Notwithstanding style, the technical content is good and eventually you arrive at the end of a section and it's like a lightbulb has been switched on - 'ahhh; now I see what he has been driving at', so I would still recommend the book given the dearth available on this subject. Also, to give due credit, it does cover some material that Apple's own doc does not.

The #2 issue I have is the amount of tedious typing of example material. This is not a high school textbook and there are no prizes for the fastest typist - in order to get through the material quickly all code passages should be provided as text files or, optimally, in project files.

If you are going to write a 400 page tutorial, at least provide the sample projects and source code referred to on CD - or, even better, a PDF copy of the book online. There is some material provided (basically image files) on the publisher's website, but it's inadequate to say the least.

I initially felt that the book was very sparse for a (Canadian) $77 pricetag, but now realise that just a few pages can result in several hours with Project Builder!

If you're a fan of the O'Reilly technical books that offer wit and humor to lighten a dry subject, you'll hate this book. Tim, what's happening on the WebObjects front please?


This is the book I've been waiting for!   July 11, 2002
 16 out of 19 found this review helpful

Finally a WebObjects book that shows you how to take advantage of the cool features of WebObjects like key-value coding, SVG, WebServices, and developing applications using components. This book has very clear and easy to follow examples that you can immediately use in real world applications. For example I was able to use the Webservices code in the chapter on SOAP and WebObjects to build a small application at work that takes advantage of a Webservice created in ColdFusion by a co-worker. I have all of the currently shipping WebObjects books and I can say without a doubt that this one is the best! If you have a good understanding of OO programming you should be able to use the hands on examples from this book to develop WebObjects applications. If you are a Mac Programmer this book and Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegas are two books you'll want to read.