The Java language itself is not strictly open-source (Sun has held onto control, albeit with lots of public input). There is, however, a large open-source development community around this highly capable language. Java Open Source Programming describes and provides tutorials on some of the most interesting public Java projects, and is designed to enable a Java programmer (who's worked through the basic language's initial learning curve) to take on more ambitious assignments. The authors generally treat the covered open-source packages as resources to be used, rather than projects to be contributed to, and so it's fair to think of this volume as the "missing manual" for downloaded code. In that spirit, the authors devote many sections to "how to" subjects (addressing, for example, a good way to retrieve stored objects from a database and the procedure for calling an action in XWork).
Java Open Source Programming takes a bit of a risk by devoting a lot of space to the development of a complex application (an online pet shop), as such a didactic strategy can be hard to follow. The authors pull it off, though, and manage to show that their covered technologies can be used to create a feature-rich and robust application that uses the versatile model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. This book will suit you well if you're planning an MVC Java project and want to take advantage of open-source packages. --David Wall
Topics covered: The most popular open-source Java packages, particularly those concerned with Web applications and the model-view-controller (MVC) pattern. Specific packages covered include JUnit and Mocks (code testing), Hibernate (persistent storage of objects in databases), WebWork (MVC), SiteMesh (Web page layout), Lucene (site searching), and WebDoclet (configuration file generation).
Discover how to develop full-scale J2EETM applications quickly and efficiently using the best Open Source tools
Written by leading authorities in the field, this book shows you how to leverage a suite of best-of-breed Open Source development tools to take the pain out of J2EE and build a complete Web-based application. You’ll combine these tools to actually reduce the points of failure in your application, while increasing overall system stability and robustness. Along with the tools introduced here, you’ll develop the PetSoar application, which follows the PetStore application used by Sun Microsystems to demonstrate features of J2EE. With PetSoar, the authors focus on developing a maintainable and flexible application, rather than showcasing the end result, so that you can apply the material in your own projects.
In addition, the authors provide methods for utilizing Open Source software components for each stage of the development process.
The Open Source products covered include:
- Hibernate to aid with simple,flexible, and speedy transparent object persistence
- OpenSymphony WebWork to allow for pluggable view technologies and extensible configuration
- JUnit and Mock Objects to assist with rapid and robust unit testing
- XDoclet to assist with generating code and configuration files automatically
- Jakarta Lucene to add Google-style smart search capabilities to data stores
- OpenSymphony SiteMesh to aid in the creation of large sites with a common look and feel
- OpenSymphony OSCache to easily cache slow dynamic sections of Web sites resulting in faster-loading pages
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