ISBN:0596003870Book Description
Extreme Programming does not mean programming naked while rollerblading down the side of the Grand Canyon. It does mean a new approach to software development that is both radical and common-sense. Unlike many software development methodologies, XP has been accepted quickly because its core practices--particularly code sharing, test-first development, and continuous integration--resonated immediately with software developers everywhere. Instead of impressing developers with a body of theory, XP got programmers to say, "Yeah, that's how I'd like to work." Oddly enough, although most developers turn to Extreme Programming methods in order to code real, hands-on, and extensible projects quickly ("Code comes first"), most books on Extreme Programming insist on focusing on the theory and not the practice. Not the Java Extreme Programming Cookbook. Brimming with over 100 "recipes" for getting down to business and actually doing XP, the Java Extreme Programming Cookbook doesn't try to "sell" you on XP; it succinctly documents the most important features of popular open source tools for XP in Java--including Ant, Junit, HttpUnit, Cactus, Tomcat, XDoclet--and then digs right in, providing recipes for implementing the tools in real-world environments. Each recipe offers solutions that help you put an extreme programming environment together: then provides code for automating the build process and testing. Although the time saved using any one of these solutions will more than pay for the book, Java Extreme Programming Cookbook offers more than just a collection of cut-and-paste code. Each recipe also includes explanations of how and why the approach works, so you can adapt the techniques to similar situations. One of the biggest challenges facing developers today is sorting through the wide variety of tools available form various source and figuring out how to them effectively. The recipes in Java Extreme Programming Cookbook showcase how to use the most important features of these XP tools. Many of these tools are geared towards unit testing, while others are invaluable for continuous integration; with these practical examples, you'll be able to choose the most effective tools to accomplish your goals, then implement them in a cohesive development environment quickly. If you want to set up a test-driven development environment that allows you to focus on writing testable code--now--this book will prove invaluable./p>
Reviews From AMAZON.COM
All around great book!
I'll keep this short, since I don't think I can say anything not already said. But I just felt like sharing that I loved this book.
Great technology how-to, but not a cookbook
This is an interesting work because while it does have the cookbook format it isn't really a cookbook. The book starts with an introduction to the XP methodology (which is concise and great), and then has chapters on a number of tools (Ant, JUnit, HTTPUnit, XDoclet, Tomcat, etc.). Each of these technology chapters has a number of 'recipes' which are in fact how-to segments about commonly used tasks around these technologies. Now these sections are great and I think anyone looking at these technologies should consider this book a quick and concise way to learn the fundamentals.
That being said the book fails somewhat, and thus the four stars, because it isn't organized in the problem/solution manner of the cookbooks. Most of the chapters are about testing but these are organized around the tool and not the problem. I would have preferred a section on web development that combined information on Tomcat and Ant, and one on web testing that talked about HTTPUnit, JUnit and Ant. In that way the book addresses problem areas without relying on the reader to understand the tool that would address his problem in addition to understanding his problem at hand.
My gripe is not so critical. The content in the book still remains very valuable and if you are looking for a concise how-to in these Java technologies you should have a look at this book.