Web Design and Development Books

I really enjoyed reading Alexander's book on Tapestry 5. What I liked most was the fact that it takes the reader all the way from setting up the development environment to advanced topics like component development. Alexander's enthusiasm for the Tapestry 5 framework permeates the book and will definitely inspire any reader interested in adopting the framework. The insights provided into how the framework has evolved from version to version and how it is likely to evolve in the future are very interesting. It's obvious that Alexander has sound practical experience of using Tapestry on real life projects.

All in all a good complement to the existing Tapestry 5 literature.

Tapestry 5: Building Web Applications was not written by the creator of Tapestry, but the author Alexander Kolesnikov is a contributor to the project and has been associated with the technology for a while. I liked this since when the author is also the creator, they often want others to love their work the way they do, and the book either feels like they are selling something or it makes assumptions on knowledge required to learn the technology and misses key points.

The book builds on the features of Tapestry in an easy and nonthreatening manner, so that each example feels accessible to the reader. In fact it was quite pleasing the way that the features unfolded during the book, and to me this was more of an encouragement to use the framework than any type of forced sell. There is a pro-Tapestry stance throughout the book, but that shouldn't be too surprising!

It is worth pointing out that Tapestry was rewritten from version 3 to version 4 to version 5, and while initially this confused me and gave me fears for V6, it does allow the current version to make use of the full features of Java 5, all of which is laid out in the book. Since the book does target Tapestry version 5 only, it won't be of direct help to anyone needing help upgrading from a previous version. The book is also geared more towards learning Tapestry than being a useful resource, so this should also be taken into account when purchasing.

Now that I have read the book, "Tapestry 5" has succeeded in getting me interested in using Tapestry to build a project of my own, and the advanced section on creating your own components gave me some ideas...

The book claims to be a step-by-step guide for those who want to build contemporary web applications. And it does stick to the objective. Without wasting too much time on discussing the what and what's new of Tapestry, the author does a quick general overview of web frameworks and existing flaws and proceeds towards explaining how Tapestry 5 fits in. He does mention fleetingly that Tapestry 5 is a complete re-write and hence not much of Tapestry 4 stuff is going to work.

Touching upon how to install, configure and get up and running with Tapestry and the related tools (Eclipse/NetBeans and Maven), the author starts off on the basics of what can be done by the 3rd chapter. Explaining the use of Tapestry in the light of the fundamental building blocks of an web application and architecture, the good thing about the book is that it puts in place the good practices to adhere to while taking the example of a standard web application. Liberal use of reference URLs, notes and things to watch out for also make it possible for the developer to be aware of the various gotchas that can become part of an application code. The chapter on i18n and l10n would be of special interest to developers who desire to globalize their applications.

The layout of the book is nice. Enough care is given to ensure that there is margin space for notes and the font selection does seem to work well on the eye. The author has taken a lot of care on the Appendices as well. A fact that most books seem to neglect.

If a web developer with existing knowledge of programming in Java and frameworks wishes to come up to speed with Tapestry 5, this would be a good book to have at hand and keep well-thumbed. It does have a lot of programming insights all of which may not be obvious at the first read, but would come of use with continuous development with Tapestry 5.

Tapestry 5 is the latest version of the Apache Tapestry framework created by Howard Lewis Ship. In the book Alexander Kolesnikov takes the developer through a brief history of Tapestry identifying the differences between previous versions of the framework. Alexander also takes some time to describe why Tapestry is "Special" and what makes Tapestry appealing to developers, for example he describes how AJAX and DHTML is built into the framework without the need for Java Script coding.

After the introduction to Tapestry, its history and reasons why developers should look at Tapestry, Chapter 2 of the book describes how to create a working environment. This chapter assumes the reader has little Java knowledge as it first describes how to install the relevant JDK and Maven for both Windows and Mac OS X. Maven is not however used as the build system throughout the book, but is instead used for its support for building project templates. I found this to be an excellent idea as it enables the reader to concentrate on learning Tapestry rather than learning the intricacies of Maven. Chapter 2 continues and describes how to create basic Tapestry projects and how to open, run and debug them within both Eclipse and NetBeans. I was pleased to see that the book covers both Eclipse and NetBeans throughout whenever it refers to managing Tapestry projects within IDEs.

In Chapter 3 of the book, "The Foundations of Tapestry", Alexander describes the architecture of a Tapestry 5 application and how each page consists of an XML page template and a corresponding page class. The chapter starts by taking the simple Tapestry 5 application created in the previous chapter and describing the various components and how they all fit together, including what happens when applications crash and need debugging. The dependency injection mechanisms of Tapestry 5 are then introduced as the book describes how to pass data between different pages within a Tapestry 5 application. This includes a detailed discussion on Persistent Page Fields, Page Activation Contexts and Application State Objects.

At the end of Chapter 3, the reader should be experienced with basic Tapestry 5 applications. The next Chapter, "Simple Components" describes some of the more common components used within a Tapestry 5 application, for example, TextFields, PageLinks, ActionLinks, Ifs, Loops etc. The chapter takes the approach of describing how to build a working Tapestry 5 application rather than simply describing the workings of each of the different component types. I found this a good approach for developers as new concepts are introduced gradually with a discussion on why these new concepts are necessary and how they are applicable. The sample application is iteratively improved, for example it starts using a fixed Mock Data Source which is then refactored to show how to use either a mock or a real datasource within the application. After learning about the simple components within the Tapestry 5 framework, we are introduced to more advanced components such as the Grid, BeanEditForm, DateField and the FCKEditor rich text control. Again, all of these components are integrated into the sample application showing how each is used within both the Tapestry XML template and and the Java backing classes.

The next couple of chapters of the book cover user input validation and internationalisation and localisation - all essential features of modern web applications. As is common with the rest of the book, both sample code and screen shots are provided to aid the readers understanding.

The final chapter of the book brings together all the components that the reader has learned about in the previous chapters and shows how Custom Components can be created within a Tapestry 5 application. The chapter takes the reader through creating several different types of components and shows how this refactoring can be used to simplify application development.

The book doesn't detail how to harness the power of AJAX or how to integrate with external products like Hibernate or Spring, but that is not the purpose of this book. The book takes the reader though a journey of developing web applications. It starts with installing the required libraries and setting up IDEs, and then continues through Tapestry pages, creating simple page flows and finally ends by describing how to create custom components, concentrating on core Tapestry fundamentals all the way through.

I liked this book and found the writing style to be informative and easy to read. If you have little or no knowledge of Tapestry 5 and you are interested in it (or just want to decide if you should be using it for your applications), then this is the book for you.

I received an offer to review the Tapestry 5 by Alexander Kolesnikov from Packt Publishing. I use JSF for most of my web based work and I knew nothing about Tapestry save the name. At first, I thought that I would decline the offer, but decided to check it out to broaden my knowledge. I am glad I decided to look into it.

Apache Tapestry 5 is still in beta on the Apache Foundation website. I found it interesting that Alexander decided to write about a work in progress. It turns out that Alexander is heavily invested in the Tapestry project and has written a fair amount of the Tapestry 4 tutorials. If there is anyone who knows the project, it is Alexander.

The book is generally well written. It has definitely given me the knowledge I need to do Tapestry development based on it.

My harshest critique of the book has to do with the examples. Most of them work, but the project is still a moving target and some of the examples will not work with the latest code drops. The code seems to be based on version 5.0.6, The latest version is 5.0.11. If you use the maven quickstart project, it will currently use 5.0.10 as of my blog post. This constantly moving target makes writing a book difficult, but makes it even harder on the person trying to learn how to use it.

I would recommend the book to those who want a jumpstart on Tapestry 5 development. Based on the amount of changes in the project until a final release, the book will be further adversely affected. I would give it (3/5 stars).

Chapter 1
Introduction to Tapestry

This chapter covers the history of Tapestry, and provides some details of why it is special. There is nothing really technical about the chapter.

It does mention one item of interest. Tapestry 5 is a complete code re-write. They decided that instead of building on top of an existing framework with its flaws, that it would be better to re-write it from the lessons learned.

You could skip this one.

Chapter 2
Creating Your Work Environment

This chapter provides the basis for the following chapters. It explains how to install the JDK, Apache Maven, and create a "quickstart" Tapestry project. It also explains how to configure Netbeans and Eclipse for Tapestry projects.

The project that is created has a more current copy of the Tapestry libraries than the book was created with. The latest version is 5.0.11. My review is based on 5.0.10.

Chapter 3
The Foundations of Tapestry

This is the first chapter in which you really start learning about Tapestry. Chapter 2 prepares your workspace for this chapter. This chapter works off of the project created in Chapter 2. It explains the basics (foundations) of Tapestry. The page template and page bean style may seem familiar to those of you who do visual JSF development in Netbeans, or Sun Java Studio Creator 2.

Tapestry components can be defined in three distinct ways and the book gives adequate examples of all three.

1. The components can be defined in an XML template.
2. The components can be embedded in HTML components
3. The components can be implemented as HTML components on the page and have all Java code annotated in the page backing bean.

The third example is the cleanest separation of code as the author notes, but is not the easiest to use. The author and I both prefer the second version.

One of the coolest things I like about Tapestry is the exception handling. Let's face it, we will have bugs. The best frameworks provide the developer (and end user) with a meaningful exception page which helps to track down the errors. Tapestry has the best exception handling I have seen. It is intuitive and sensible in its approach. The best exception handling also helps novices to understand the error and how to fix it. Tapestry wins here too.

Chapter 4
Simple Components

This chapter begins to get into the meat of the framework by discussing the most common components that a web developer is likely to use: TextField, PasswordField, Label, PageLink, ActionLink, Select, Checkbox, Submit, etc.

The author begins the chapter by starting a project called Celebrity Collector. This project serves as the basis for the examples in the remaining chapters of the book. I suggest that everyone follow along with the process in their favorite IDE instead of just parsing the chapter. You will be happy you did so.

My overall impression of the chapter was that was well written and provides the basics for development with Tapestry.

Chapter 5
Advanced Components

Let me start by saying that the Grid component in Tapestry is awesome! This chapter covers advanced components like Grid, BeanEditForm, and FCKEditor. This chapter was hit hard by changes in the framework, but I have some solutions to help you along.

Remember my solutions may not work in later versions of Tapestry. I suffer from the same issue as the author that the framework is a moving target.

The BeanEditForm is another really cool advanced component. It makes the process of editing data a piece of cake. It is also extremely easy to implement.

The last component that the author covers is the FCKEditor. This is a component developed externally from the Apache Tapestry project. The author's intent is to show you how to implement 3rd party components.

Unfortunately, the project on Google Code has halted. The good news is it is part of a more extensive set of components also on Google. The old project has links to the new project: tapestry5-components. This project has a more extensive set of components.

Chapter 6
User Input Validation

This chapter covers user input validation. There have been a number of changes in the framework which have changed some of the behaviors expected. The results are the same, and I think better. The changes have made it easier to perform validation for the most part.

Chapter 7
Internationalization and Localization

I currently work for an international company, as a result, i18n and i10n are very important. If you are working in an international market: Internet. You should care. If your audience (customers) can't read the page, they will go someplace else.

This chapter shows how easy it is to implement internationalization and localization in your work. I was amazed at how easy it is to implement. If you need translations, I recommend Google Translate.

Chapter 8
Creating Custom Components

The book concludes on how to make custom components. This chapter was fun to do. It takes a lot of the work you have already done, and made it re-usable. It is quick and simple to do. If you have ever tried to make a custom JSF component, you know how difficult it can be. This is particularly true the more complex the component. Tapestry makes it so easy that I wish that this simplicity could be brought to fruition in JSF.

Appendix A
The Basics of Java for the Web

This chapter is an introduction to web development. It is for the novice who is just trying to understand what web development is about. Very basic information.

Appendix B
Creating a Real Data Source with db4o

I did not examine this chapter since I have no interest in the subject except mere curiosity. I did read it, but did not try it. I leave this to those who wish to comment on it.


Again, I would recommend the book to those who want a jumpstart on Tapestry 5 development. I would give it (3/5 stars).

I have a number of additional comments and errata located on my blog. Please see my blog for more details by chapter.
[...]

That's the best UML book I've ever read!

There're a lot of amazing detailed examples in it, the explanations are very useful and with an easy use of language.

Therefore, really the best! It helped me a lot!

Excellent for learners and as a reference. I found the book was very well structured: it was easy for me to find what I needed to know quickly. It was also not too "heavy" to read cover to cover in order to get familiar with all the aspects of UML.

UML Bible is as solid a reference as I've come across. It is extremely comphrehensive and contains many many examples. The problem with this book is the problem with every other UML book I've purchased: It's long on explaining the UML specification and short on providing examples of good architectural design practice. The book does include a case study of sorts but stops short of providing a complete set of architectural drawings depicting an application system. That is, of course, what most of us who are buying these books want. We want to design computer systems with UML.

If you are at all involved with the use of UML in your programming or analysis activities, you'll most likely be interested in seeing the UML Bible by Tom Pender (Wiley). Like all 'Bible' titles from Wiley, this book covers a wide range of topics that should give you most any answer you need to find.

The chapter breakout is in seven parts:
Part 1 - An Introduction to UML - What Is UML?; UML Architecture; UML Diagrams and Extension Mechanisms; Object-Oriented Concepts
Part 2 - Modeling Object Structure - Capturing Rules about Objects in a Class Diagram; How to Capture Rules about Object Relationships; Testing With Objects
Part 3 - Modeling Object Interactions - Modeling Interactions in UML 1.4; Modeling Interactions in UML 2.0; Modeling an Object's Lifecycle in UML 1.4; Modeling an Object's Lifecycle in UML 2.0
Part 4 - Modeling Object Behavior - Modeling the Use of a System with the Use Case Diagram; Modeling Behavior Using an Activity Diagram
Part 5 - Modeling the Application Architecture - Using Packages; Modeling Software Using the Component Diagram; Using Deployment Diagrams in UML 1.4; Using Deployment Diagrams in UML 2.0
Part 6 - Bringing Rigor to the Model - Applying Constraints to the UML Diagrams; Action Semantics
Part 7 - Automating the UML Modeling Process - Using a Modeling Tool; Customizing UML Using Profiles; XML Metadata Interchange
Appendices - UML 1.4 Notation Guide; UML 2.0 Notation Guide; Standard Elements; Glossary; Index

Now, I'm not a UML expert by any stretch of the imagination. But based on what I have read and studied to date, this book covers everything. Taking the Use Case chapter as an example, I can see that there is an abundance of technical detail and diagramming to explain the topic completely. Couple this chapter with the notation guide in the back, and you have a reference guide that is hard to beat. At the time this book was written, UML 2.0 wasn't yet released. But the author takes the specs that should be part of the final release and explains how those features are different than UML 1.4. As a result, you shouldn't outgrow this book anytime soon.

The only quibble I have with the book is the audience that the author says he is targeting. Readers new to object-oriented analysis are expected to be able to get an in-depth understanding of UML and be able to become a productive member of a team by reading this book. In my opinion, that may be a bit of a reach. If I had no UML experience, I'd find this book very daunting in both the size and complexity of the material. My recommendation would be to find an entry level UML book, and work through it before tackling this book. With the UML fundamentals fresh in your mind, you'll be able to come at this book from a much better position and benefit much more quickly.

Overall, a good book to have around...

The book is laid out very well, starting with a review of UML and provides thorough and detailed descriptions of all the diagrams and notations. I'm using this nearly exclusively to help me model projects, and is on my desk instead of on my bookshelf.

The author clearly understands UML and takes the reader effectively through the distinctions between the many notations.

Pluses
- Excellent description on the differences between UML 1.4 and 2.0, including completely different chapters where necessary
- Detailed descriptions of all the notations including less often used pieces
- Explicit definitions of key terms that limit confusion created from the "common understanding" of the definitions
- Excellent example that runs through the entire book, with appropriate departures to clarify points.
- Valuable introduction to the Object Constraint Language (OCL) and action semantics
- Most information that belongs in the appendix / late chapters is there (see below)

A few dings -

First, I would have to agree with Mr. Duff's comments on the target audience - I'm fairly experienced with Object Oriented programming and with design work, but when I tried to read this, I started getting confused and very sleepy. I started out with UML for Dummies and this made life much easier.

Second, the author included an early chapter and 50 pages throughout the book to the architecture and formal definition of UML. Frankly, I'm not sure who is really interested in the definition of the UML 1.4 four layer architecture model and the UML 2.0 superstructure library, but to me the bigger sin is to put it in chapter 2 instead of an appendix / later chapter. I didn't gain anything except a headache by reading about it earlier in the book.

Third, although he is very clear about it through the book, the version that I have came out before the final specification. This may cause some things to be different from his version to the final specification. However, he details those specifically, gives the likely outcomes, and the detailed areas are in the hinterlands of UML.

If you are planning to manage to build your small business web site with the help of your own staff, this may be the first book for the introduction to the subject. It may be the last if you decide not to get involved. There are lots of pictures, drawings, tables, windows in this book and very brief information is written down, definitely a visual book. There are base data given for the time to be allocated, costs involved and the description of core personnel for the in-house web building team. Team building and decision-making strategies are examined briefly. Major web building and graphics programs are compared. There is also a training program proposed for a green in-house web building team. An introductory web site plan and its implementation process is briefly explained. Some 30 odd pages are also spared for an in-house mock web project scenario that adds nothing to the content of the book but repetitions with half-empty pages. You may just skim through this book in order to have some vague idea about your in-house web site building project for your company. If you decide to proceed with the idea, you definitely need to look for other competent sources that cover this subject.

I really loved this book, especially since I'm new to Web development. I am a "visual learner," and I appreciate text that's adapted to my style. Good book!

As a visual learner, this book is exactly what I was looking for in teaching me how to build a web site. It is clear and easy to follow with helpful illustrations and a checklist to help users along the way. Anyone trying to develop a user friendly and efficient web page should be pleased with this book.

Finally, an HTML workbook that is clear, fun and eminently useful for people who not only want to learn the code, but to understand WHY the tag creates the look. After working with HTML editors and page creating programs, and becoming very frustrated because these programs don't always do what I want, I thought it would be fun to try to create a web site that looks sophisticated and learn the language at the same time. Well, I did it following the step-by-step instructions of this wonderful book. Each section has a minimum of text, clear examples, short exercises and quiz questions to reassure you that you actually know what you're doing, and it's all so simple! Anyone with interest and a little patience can easily create a well-designed web site with tables, graphics, and even forms. Useful additional files are freely available on the Visibooks web site. I recommend this book to the novice as well as the more experienced web page designer-to anyone interested in mastering the basics of HTML while understanding what they're doing!

I found this book a great resource for communicating with clients that have no clue about IT development as well as a refresher in the right way to plan and execute website developmnet that is often rushed and overlooked.

It is a good reminder of how to alter one's language when working with non-technical clients as well as explain what to expect. It gives an easy to understand overview of the steps in the process to create a website so that everyone is on the same page (no pun intended).

It is well worth having in one's library!

The Felke-Morris is a good starting point for wanting to know how to develop/design web pages. I would recommend it for people wanting to learn how to start designing web pages.

This is an excellent textbook for a beginning web design course. The hands-on exercises encourage active learning. The Student Files provide solutions to these so that students can self-assess their progress. There are four case studies that continue throughout the book that provide opportunities for students to apply their newly-learned concepts and skills. What really sold me on this textbook is the way it integrates XHTML, CSS, AND accessibility!

I highly recommend this book to newbie web designers/developers! The book introduces XHTML and CSS, web standards, web accessibility and web design best practices. The book's website at webdevfoundations.net contains related links, additional/new information, and chapter updates. The author did a great job starting me out with a basic foundation in web design concepts and skills I'm continuing to use!

Great book! It was easy to learn to design web pages with XHTML and CSS with all the hand-on examples and practice exercises in this book. This college textbook presents XHTML, CSS and web accessibility techniques, explores web design best practices, and even includes web promotion techniques for web designers! The companion website has links to useful websites and updates to the chapter. I highly recommend this book for web design or web development courses.

WASTE OF TIME
This book is a complete waste of time and it will sap your joy. You will learn far more with almost any other book. It is poorly written, the editing is non-existent, the educational constructs are poorly formed, the B.S. content is over the top, and the typos are serious enough to sabotage your web pages. In fact, the educational tone seems designed to sabotage your understanding of what you already know. Most of the details in the book are common sense and yet presented as ultra-orthodox truths from antiquity, as when the author refers to 10 years ago as "the last century."

LACK OF INFORMATION
The presentation of information is difficult to follow because the pages are clouded with stylistic jargon ripped-off from other publishing companies which have maintained a fine reputation for educational success because they know how to educate. To see successful authoring, go to any book store and see how many books there are in the following series: DUMMIES, IDIOTS, VISUAL, MADE SIMPLE, VISUAL QUICKSTART, or MICROSOFT PRESS. These series are designed to educate, empower, and inform. This book is designed to obfuscate.

STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE
For instance, take a look at the cover of this text book (as posted here on Amazon) and you will see a paint roller. This is the author's special icon to let you know you are still reading the same book. Section after section you see a paint roller, to open a section and to close a section. Apparently Web Design is colorful. Other icons, such as FAQ's are just "cute" but useless, because they are not FAQ's but just page decorations. Font decoration is random, extra spacing is random, and highlighting is random.

SUGGESTIONS
What the book needs is a table of contents that is useful, and a glossary so the book can be used as you read it. The index is skimpy (the most important part of the book) and each preview section and review section is non-usable. If you read as much as I do, I know that you have a method for learning, and for most people that method involves: Preview, Skim, Read, Review, and then use the book as a reference. This book does not have previews (more like hopeful affirmations) does not have reviews (except to tell you you're done with the chapter, ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT encourage skimming (the pages are meaningless jumbles of jargon) and the reading sections, when available, are short, and punctuated by meaningless faux-FAQs, comprehension-testers, points to ponder, and other monotony breakers, instead of real information. There is no way to review later because the book withheld active, authentic learning in the first place. You cannot even save this book as a reference because the tables are incomplete and incoherent, and the appendixes are poorly organized.

SUCCESSFUL OPTIONS
If you are required to use this book as a text-book for a class, just drop the class. You are smarter than that. Google the words "web design" and you will get all of this information for free! You don't need THIS book, just get a good book. The problem is, if your instructor requires THIS book then you will spend all of your time doing examples and not learning XHTML and CSS.

YOU CAN DO IT!
If you don't have other time-demands in your life then this book can walk you step-by-step through some ideas about web programming, but it will treat you like a Junior High School student. If you ARE a Junior High School student then you are WAY TOO SMART for this book. This is a text-book written for Junior College students who want to get a job, and their school is designed to make it hard to graduate. This book will not prepare them for a job. It only weeds out the students who don't have the guts to finish the course. If you want to be weeded out you won't make it as a programmer. If you want to be a programmer you won't put up with this book. If you really want to learn for fun, then get one of the other books listed above. Don't even buy this one for $.01 plus shipping. There's nothing in it worth looking at.

EDUCATION
My Bio and Bias: I am a doctor who teaches medical school, I have been programming computers for over 35 years, I am a life-long learner, I am a professional teacher, and my students would not put up with this book, nor would they put up with me if I required this book. My students, my peers, my friends, and most importantly, you...do not deserve this kind of condescension.

I found this read to be downright dry. I was sick and tired of "VOGON" which is used throughout the entire book. It was like a manual that was translated from japanese to English.

The book presents the Actionscript component architecture. It is laid out well. I'm using it as a reference not a tutorial and the information seems accurate. There always seem to be some gotcha in the Flash Components, something that just IS and not something logical. So far this book has helped sort some of this out for me. I will report back if I remember. I would say if you want an advanced text, then buy this book.

Don't know how to build custom components?
How to edit/change/revive the current components? This book is for you. Want to learn how other people make money selling custom components.......well, this is a great "Start". Some OOP knowledge would be great, but not needed, as always....Friends of ED hits the mark!

Another excellent book, as have all other titles from FoED.

I wish I could tell you that I enjoyed reading this book, but that would not be an entirely true statement. I figured I should look into this title when I realized that I didn't know much about components or their underlying architectures. I won't lie; I don't use components, at all. I find them heavy in weight and hard to customize and I like the control that I receive when I make my own scrollbars, pull down menus, and loaders. That being said, I thought it was necessary to at least gain some inside knowledge on components because I don't want to totally ignore the subject (not to mention that I may run into a project someday that I'm forced to use them with).

Before I go any further, I have to state that I read this book before I learned a great deal about OOP, which looking back on it now was a big mistake. I cannot deny, however, that Antonio De Donatis knows what he is talking about, and looking back at it now and skimming through the pages, it makes a bit more sense, but I just don't have the time to re-read this book.
If you ever wanted to know every little detail about the components that are shipped with Flash, this is the book you want to pick up. You'll digest more information than you can handle on the subject and you'll be well on your way to developing extensible components not only from the ones shipped with Flash, but also making your own component frameworks and using those in your projects as well.

I gave this book 4 stars because I know deep down inside that this is a great book, it's just not for the faint of heart. The title says AdvancED ActionScript Components, and anyone who takes that title lightly will probably be upset with the book and seek a refund. However, if you know your way around components and you want to dig deeper, this is the one-stop-shop for everything you'll want to know about the subject.

i always trust "The defenitive guide" titles from oreilly and this book is no exception , it covers everything in the Ajax world begin with the fundamentals and every related technology , then dive into how using these technologies for real world applications , then covers WEB dervices ,mashups and API , then end up with modular coding best practices during all app developements phases , and the most interesting part is the reference which covers the most popular ajax frameworks , popilar web services api , and what you need to know about Xpath and XSLT .

My previous favorite, and most recommended, book on AJAX was the one by Crane et. al. because of it's completeness in covering the subject by taking a big picture view of Web 2.0 rather than just one technology. For developers though, the book by Holdener is probably the one to own.

This book has some excellent information that seems to escape other books on this subject or is found across multiple titles. So even though it is certainly a large volume, I think there is some definite value in having quite a bit of related material in one title. For example, there are insights into JavaScript and use of JSON in programming the DOM (to name a few) that in my opinion made sense to include.

If you are going to do rich, browser-based application work, you definitely want to consider this book.

While "Ajax: The Definitive Guide" is certainly exhaustive, it's hard to have confidence in a text so riddled with errors. Other O'Reilly titles I've purchased in the last few years suffer from the same problem: very poor copy editing. In a "Definitive Guide," this is inexcusable.

Furthermore, he author's decision to rely on the Prototype framework is misguided. It saves a few lines of code per page, but one expects a "Definitive Guide" to define, explore, and use the actual objects and methods defined by the language itself, not those defined in one of many, many external libraries.

It is also somewhat comical to read on page 10 that developers, rather than browser vendors, "are to blame for not adopting standards" and that they are "stuck with the mentality of the 1990s, when browser quirks mode, coding hacks, and other tricks were the only things that allowed code to work in all environments," and then to read on page 191 that "Yes, there are always caveats in the world of standards compliance" and that "Example 7-2 will not work in Internet Explorer because Internet Explorer does not support the CSS2 rules that are used to make this work." And on page 187 that "Internet Explorer does not natively support :hover on elements other than . For this reason, instead of using the CSS that will work for all other browsers, we must use this...."

(It's hard not to laugh, too, at a sentence that begins with "To take the file menu example fully to the Web 2.0 level....")

By the time all the errata are corrected and a second edition issued, it might be appropriate for the author to wag his finger at developers who can't yet afford to to be totally standards-pure, but by then the faddish jargon will seem very dated.

And until O'Reilly starts employing copy editors, I'm not buying the first edition of any title they release.