Book Description
What do Ford Financial, IBM, and Victoria's Secret have in common? Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB). As the industry standard for platform-independent reusable business components, EJB has just become Sun Microsystem's latest developer certification. Whether you want to be certifiable or just want to learn the technology inside and out, Head First EJB will get you there in the least painful way. And with the greatest understanding. You'll learn not just what the technology *is*, but more importantly, *why* it is, and what it is and isn't good for. You'll learn tricks and tips for EJB development, along with tricks and tips for passing this latest, very challenging Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD) exam. You'll learn how to think like a server. You'll learn how to think like a bean. And because this is a Head First book, you'll learn how to think about thinking. Co-author Kathy Sierra was one of Sun's first employees to teach brave, early adopter customers how to use EJB. She has the scars. But besides dragging you deep into EJB technology, Kathy and Bert will see you through your certification exam, if you decide to go for it. And nobody knows the certification like they do - they're co-developers of Sun's actual exam! As the second book in the Head First series, Head First EJB follows up the number one best-selling Java book in the US, Head First Java. Find out why reviewers are calling it a revolution in learning tough technical topics, and why Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy says, "Java technology is everywhere...if you develop software and haven't learned Java, it's definitely time to dive in "Head First." And with Head First book, you don't even have to feel guilty about having fun while you're learning; it's all part of the learning theory. If the latest research in cognitive science, education, and neurobiology suggested that boring, dry, and excruciatingly painful was the best way to learn, we'd have done it. Thankfully, it's been shown that your brain has a sense of style, a sense of humour, and a darn good sense of what it likes and dislikes. In Head First EJB, you'll learn all about:Component-based and role-based development The architecture of EJB, distributed programming with RMIDeveloping and Deploying an EJB applicationThe Client View of a Session and Entity beanThe Session Bean Lifecycle and Component ContractThe Entity bean Lifecycle and Component ContractContainer-managed Persistence (CMP)Container-managed Relationships (CMR)EJB-QLTransactionsSecurityEJB ExceptionsThe Deployment DescriptorThe Enterprise Bean Environment in JNDIProgramming Restrictions and PortabilityThe book includes over 200 mock exam questions that match the tone, style, difficulty, and topics on the real SCBCD exam. See why Kathy and Bert are responsible for thousands of successful exam-passers-- "The Sun certification exam was certainly no walk in the park, but Kathy's material allowed me to not only pass the exam, but Ace it!"--Mary Whetsel, Sr. Technology Specialist, Application Strategy and Integration, The St. Paul Companies "Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates are two of the few people in the world who can make complicated things seem damn simple, and as if that isn't enough, they can make boring things seem interesting."--Paul Wheaton, The Trail Boss, javaranch.com "Who better to write a Java study guide than Kathy Sierra, reigning queen of Java instruction? Kathy Sierra has done it again. Here is a study guide that almost guarantees you a certification!"--James Cubetta, Systems Engineer, SGI

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
You will have more fun learning Enterprise JavaBeans programming with Head First EJB than you will anywhere else. And, because you￯﾿ﾽre having fun, what you learn will stick. Can￯﾿ﾽt hurt, right? Especially if you￯﾿ﾽre studying for Sun￯﾿ﾽs Certified Business Component Developer Exam.

This book is a wild ride: new ideas, new connections, attitude all over the place. Text that￯﾿ﾽs actually funny (not the ￯﾿ﾽalleged￯﾿ﾽ funny you￯﾿ﾽve seen in computer books before). And all these goodies weren￯﾿ﾽt bolted on at the end to enliven a deadly narrative. They￯﾿ﾽre here to make the ideas come alive. It works.

Here are Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates introducing two types of session beans: ￯﾿ﾽIf you￯﾿ﾽre lucky, you￯﾿ﾽre a stateless bean. Because the life of a stateful bean is tied to the whims of a heartless client. Stateful beans are created at the client￯﾿ﾽs insistence, and live and die only to serve that one client. But ahhhh, the life of a stateless bean is fabulous! Pools, those little umbrella drinks, and no boredom, since you get to meet so many different clients.￯﾿ﾽ Think you￯﾿ﾽll ever forget the difference?

Or how about the great ￯﾿ﾽ40s and ￯﾿ﾽ50s photos throughout, captioned to speak for the beans themselves? ￯﾿ﾽ...and then I said, ￯﾿ﾽYou want a piece of me? Go ahead -- take your best shot buddy!￯﾿ﾽ He didn￯﾿ﾽt know he was messing with an entity bean. So he threw an exception, then he crashed the server, but I￯﾿ﾽm still here! I won￯﾿ﾽt go down that easy, no siree. As long as I￯﾿ﾽm in the database, I￯﾿ﾽll just keep coming back, so do your worst!￯﾿ﾽ Ever hear a more riveting explanation of persistence?

The authors figure that people learn best when they￯﾿ﾽre fully engaged. When they￯﾿ﾽre being tickled. (And the latest research in cognitive science, neurobiology, and educational psychology backs them up.)

So they keep you rolling on the floor laughing, as they walk you through every EJB fundamental -- and every exam objective on Sun￯﾿ﾽs exam. You￯﾿ﾽll find chapters on EJB architecture; the client view of beans; entity bean relationships; transactions, exceptions, security, deployment, and more. All with the same wit, the same vivid analogies.

Why do you need message-driven beans? Imagine: ￯﾿ﾽYou have to ask someone to do a very important job. You have no idea how long it￯﾿ﾽs going to take them. You have to wait right where you are until they finish. You can￯﾿ﾽt do anything else while you￯﾿ﾽre waiting.￯﾿ﾽ Get the drift?

There￯﾿ﾽs a treat on every spread. Our favorite: a full-page argument between beans at the Tikibean Lounge. (If you￯﾿ﾽve never watched bean-managed and container-managed transaction beans trade Shakespearean-class insults, you￯﾿ﾽre in for a treat.)

Throughout Head First EJB, you￯﾿ﾽll also find answers to the so-called ￯﾿ﾽdumb questions￯﾿ﾽ other books don￯﾿ﾽt bother answering. (Why don￯﾿ﾽt stateful session beans have a pool? Why not just go straight to the database from a session bean?)

There￯﾿ﾽs only thing the authors play straight: the sample questions at the end of each chapter, and the complete sample exam at the back of the book. Even while you￯﾿ﾽre studying, though, this book breaks convention. For example, each chapter lists the relevant exam objectives and then tells you what they really mean. In English.

Head First EJB is a pleasure to learn from, and it was an absolute joy to review. Bill Camarda