Sebastopol, CA--Just a few years back, there were many people who found it difficult to describe what the Internet was. The problem was not that they didn't understand it--because most of them were fairly clear on the concept. The problem was coming up with the right words to draw all the pieces together to convey the vision. Explaining the concept of web services is equally challenging. Fortunately, the lack of clear language to describe web services precludes neither their usefulness nor the ability of developers to deploy them. For Java developers interested in learning what web services have to offer, the new "Java Web Services" book by David A. Chappell and Tyler Jewell, (O'Reilly, US $39.95) provides a detailed overview of web services, XML-based interoperability technologies, and the Java technologies designed to interact with them.
"Dave and I recognized that the Java community had a strong need to understand how Java applications exist in a web services world. Web services are key for doing application integration, but what does that mean for those applications that are built using Java? We tried to answer that question in this book," says Jewell.
Adds Chappell, "There is a great deal of hype and confusion out there about how web services technology can be used. With a myriad of evolving standards and technologies--some real and some not yet baked--we felt it was important to do the investigative work to determine what's viable now and what needs to mature. We believe that our book provides some real-world clarity."
Java Web Services is a practical book loaded with working examples of how each Java-based API can be used in real-world business-to-business communications environments. Java developers will learn how to use SOAP to perform remote method calls and message passing; how to use WSDL to describe the interface to a web service or understand the interface of someone else's service, and how to use UDDI to advertise, or publish, and look up services in each local or global registry. The book also discusses security and interoperability issues, integration with other Java enterprise technologies such as EJB and JMS, the work being done on JAXM and JAX-RPC packages, and interoperability with Microsoft's .NET services.
"This material is critical to developers," says Jewell. "CIOs have identified integration as their number one concern for the upcoming years. Web services are the technology that will make integration easier and cost effective. Developers who get on board with this technology in its early stages are preparing themselves to be at the forefront of the upcoming tidal wave."
Says Chappell, "CIOs and architects constantly hold up a now familiar schematic and say, 'We've got to build one of these.' What they point to is a new type of architecture that web services are addressing with real technology today. Chances are that the companies the readers of this book work for will have deployed a new CRM application, an e-business initiative, supply chain management and ERP and system during the last ten years of big IT spending, leaving the company with islands of isolated application domains. While integrating these systems stands to create significant operational efficiencies, until now enterprise application integration, or EAI, solutions have been prohibitively expensive, and thus sparingly implemented.
"That's about to change," Chappell adds. "Our book will give architects and developers the proper foundation of knowledge to make informed decisions about architecture and technology choices, and apply web services concepts to current projects, as well as new deployments."
Java Web Services gives the experienced Java developer an entre into the web services world by taking a broad look at the many emerging Java-based approaches to working with web services. Although the web services picture is still taking shape, the fit between the fundamental principles on which Java and web services are based mean that Java will almost certainly be the predominant language for web services development. This book will help readers understand the core web services specifications and immediately begin to use Java technologies that integrate with them.
Online Resources:
Chapter 6, "UDDI: Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration"
More information about the book, including Table of Contents, index, author bios, and samples
Java Web Services
March 2002
By David A. Chappell and Tyler Jewell
ISBN 0-596-00269-6, 262 pages
$39.95 (US), $61.95 (CAN)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000
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