Advanced Java Networking, Second Edition — an excellent introduction to sockets, RMI, IDL/CORBA, JDBC, and other APIs — surveys all the ways to create state-of-the-art server-side solutions with Java. If you're a developer or architect, this book can help you build scalable Internet solutions.
Advanced Java is notable in at least two ways. First and foremost, it presents each Java networking API with real intelligence and enthusiasm. The authors of the second edition (who have revised the book thoroughly) prove they have considerable teaching experience by including plenty of interesting examples. The same application (for a simple appointment-scheduling program) is used throughout the text. You learn how to use sockets, RMI, IDL/CORBA, and even servlets and JSPs to build different versions of the same application. This comparative approach gives you a sense of the strengths of each API. (A final chapter here outlines when to use each API, depending on your design needs.)
Besides hands-on coding examples, several chapters present a high-level introduction to new Java APIs like JINI, naming services, and JNDI, plus EJBs and network management with JMAP. Generally, this book strikes a good balance between explaining the underlying technology behind each Java API, and providing basic sample code to help get you started. While you certainly don't need to use every networking API for every project, this title introduces them all so that you can choose the best approach. The new edition of Advanced Java Networking packages an excellent mix of sample code and technological expertise — of value in choosing the best options for networking on today's Java platform.