Murach's Java Servlets and JSP, 2nd Edition

by Joel Murach, Joel Murach

The current edition of this book is Murach's Java Servlets and JSP, 3rd Edition. This second edition starts by showing how to install and use Tomcat as a web server and NetBeans as an IDE. Then, it teaches how and when to use JavaServer Pages and Java servlets to build well-structured web applications that implement the MVC pattern. Next, it shows how to use sessions, cookies, JavaBeans, Expression Language (EL), the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL), and custom tags. Then, it shows how to use JDBC and connection pooling to work with a MySQL database. Finally, it shows how to use JavaMail, SSL/TLS, authentication, listeners, and filters. These are the skills that you need to build professional Java web applications. A great read for any Java developer.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Reference, Technical, Nonfiction

729 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 2008

Reviews

[Pallavi Sonal · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an awesome book to begin learning Servlets and JSP. The main reason I liked this book is because of its hands on approach. It gives you enough practice on each and every topic. You can type the entire examples yourself or you can download the chapter wise examples and play on it. The exercises give enough of practice and revision of the topics covered. The concept of presenting theory one one page and code and summary on adjacent is really great. It gives a good way to recollect and revise by just going through the code and summary part, rather than going through entire book again.
I loved the book and wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who wants to learn JSP and Servlets.

[Clay Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've looked at a number of Java Servlets / JSP books, and Murach's is the only one I found very useful - I absolutely love it. Well laid out, interesting, and informative

[Larry Xu · Rating 5 out of 5]

The explanation was crystal clear. I liked the organization of this book because you can skip those things that you have already known. Even if you don't have prior knowledge about certain things such as HTML and CSS, this book helps you speed up your learning process. However, it requires that readers have to understand basics about JAVA. The code example is practical.

[Frank Palardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to review this. Still some out there!

[Jeanne Boyarsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Murach's Java Servlets and JSPs” third edition looks and reads like a Murach book. This is good. It's always nice when a book delivers what you are expecting. If you haven't read a Murach book before, it is a book meant for beginners. On each set of pages, the left side is text and the right is code/diagrams/references. Each chapter ends with very detailed exercises.

The book begins with the basics but doesn't limit itself to raw servlets and JSP. Chapter 1 explains how Spring and JSF fit into the picture. The book even covers JSF (but not Spring.) I wasn't expecting either to even be mentioned, so this is a nice bonus.

The book tries to cover real world concepts. There was a good bit about security including XSS and SQL injection. I would have liked other security techniques to be alluded to like CSRF. That might be too much to expect in a beginner book though. I haven't seen a beginner book cover XSS before either.

The book is up to date. It includes Java 8, HTML 5, CSS and even MVC. Any self respecting Servlet/JSP book should cover MVC of course. There were good disclaimers of when you should/shouldn't do something. Like that you shouldn't use scriptlets.

There was only one piece of advice I disagreed with in the book – using the Tomcat lib directory. I asked the author about that during the CodeRanch book promotion and he explained that he doesn't endorse that practice and will word it more clearly in the next edition. I'm satisfied with that answer. I also wish he covered tag files. Tag files rock. Minor things that I miss.

Noticing a theme? I'm happy with the book. It covers more than I expected so it whet my appetite for more. It highly recommend this book as your first Java web development book.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

[Ahmed Attyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best book to learn jsp & servlets, very clear way to explain jsp & servlets, many helpful projects that helps you to apply what you learned, this is the first book i read in murach's series, and definitely knew why murach's books always have high ratings & reviews, i recommend it for everyone who wants to learn jsp & servlets

[Wafa · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's a very good and helpful book. i enjoy reading it.

[Delhi Irc]

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