When creating complex Java enterprise applications, do you spend a lot of time thumbing through a myriad of books and other resources searching for what you hope will be the API that's right for the project at hand? Java Database Best Practices rescues you from having to wade through books on each of the various APIs before figuring out which method to use! This comprehensive guide introduces each of the dominant APIs (Enterprise JavaBeans, Java Data Objects, the Java Database Connectivity API (JDBC) as well as other, lesser-known options), explores the methodology and design components that use those APIs, and then offers practices most appropriate for different types and makes of databases, as well as different types of applications. Java Database Practices also examines database design, from table and database architecture to normalization, and offers a number of best practices for handling these tasks as well. Learn how to move through the various forms of normalization, understand when to denormalize, and even get detailed instructions on optimizing your SQL queries to make the best use of your database structure. Through it all, this book focuses on practical application of these techniques, giving you information that can immediately be applied to your own enterprise projects. Enterprise applications in today's world are about data-- whether it be information about a product to buy, a user's credit card information, or the color that a customer prefers for their auto purchases. And just as data has grown in importance, the task of accessing that data has grown in complexity. Until now, you have been left on your own to determine which model best suits your application, and how best to use your chosen API. Java Database Practices is the one stop reference book to help you determine what's appropriate for your specific project at hand. Whether it's choosing between an alphabet soup of APIs and technologies--EJB, JDO, JDBC, SQL, RDBMS, OODBMS, and more on the horizon, this book is an indispensable resource you can't do without.

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Java Database Best Practices Review,  May 31 2003
Submitted by George Reese   [Respond | View]

Bob,

I believe there is a bit of a misunderstanding related to your disagreements:

#1"It is not helpful to suggest to neophyte database developers that

character PKs are desirable"

I agree entirely. In fact, I counsel against that on page 29 where I say, "I recommend the use

of 64-bit, sequentially generated integers for primary key columns." I admit, I should have called this out in a sidebar as a best practice. Nevertheless, it is right at the front of the section on how to design primary keys.

The best practice you seem to be arguing against, however, is the following:

"Use fixed character data types like CHAR for primary keys in lookup

tables."

The important clause here is, "in lookup tables". This best practice is

about how one deals with designing primary keys for lookup tables like

Country, State, Locale, etc. For such tables you want a fixed character

data type as the primary key. Fixed, because indexing and searching against variable

length types is much less efficient and character because applications

almost always primarily search lookup tables based on human readable

codes. The alternative would be to create a State table like this:

CREATE TABLE State (

state_id BIGINT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,

code CHAR(2) NOT NULL,

name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,

UNIQUE INDEX ( code ) );

This approach would have zero performance or design benefit, add additional

application complexity, reduce end user usability, and require an

extra, useless index.

In short, I strongly stand by this best practice as it is in the book.

#2 "including the name of a table in the primary key is done to make

things easier when using CASE tools"

Personally, I do not like the fact that CASE tools are easier to work

with when you follow this best practice. I hate redundant naming, which

is what this best practice causes. However, the fact remains that it is

easier to work with, and more important, collaborate in CASE tools when

you follow this best practice. Even if you do not use a CASE tool, this

best practice does no harm to maintainability, efficiency, or

functionality of the model--the primary things you attempt to impact

with a best practice. I thus stand by this practice even though I find the need for it annoying.

#3 "I also feel that of all the CDs that could have been used in table

2-1, the author could have chosen more neutral examples to be used to

illustrate business data and sample queries."

I have two points to make regarding this issue.

First, what I like about O'Reilly books is that they contain a little bit of the

personality of the authors in them. That is also why I begin the

chapters with quotes from philosophers. By including examples from my

music tastes, I am adding a bit of my personality to the book. And

there is nothing offensive in any of these titles. In fact, they should be familiar to most of my audience, especially those with even a passing familiarity with Punk, New Wave, Industrial, and Alternative rock.

The Cure's Pornography is universally

acclaimed as the Cure's most important work. And the Cure is one of the

most influential bands to modern rock, pop and alternative. Though,

admittedly, modern pop is more influenced by Disintegration and

Wish than Pornography.

Garbage, on the other hand, is a very

popular modern band. One of their song's is the theme to the James Bond

movie The World Is Not Enough.

On a final note, I have included this CD example in both editions of

Database Programming with JDBC and Java and the only negative comment

I have ever heard was from a professional reviewer rightfully complaining about me

misspelling the name of the Sex Pistols album.

I hope this response clears up some confusion.

George


Java Database Best Practices Review,  May 31 2003
Submitted by Bob Grove   [Respond | View]

**** Sample chapter feedback ****

I saw the following statement in another review of this book:

Unlike most other books, this book is produced by Java experts

This is evident. As the database sample chapter did do a fair job of expressing goals of normalization and provided useful examples and commentary, the entire section regarding table design and primary keys is flawed. There are a number of sidebars labeled "best practice" which do not promote any best practices I am aware of. It is not helpful to suggest to neophyte database developers that character PKs are desirable, that multi-part PKs are tolerated, and that including the name of a table in the primary key is done to make things easier when using CASE tools. There are some appropriate suggestions such as using integrity constraints and cautioning against one-to-one relationships.

I also feel that of all the CDs that could have been used in table 2-1, the author could have chosen more neutral examples to be used to illustrate business data and sample queries. I'm not a prude, but I cannot share titles like "Pornography" and "Garbage" and discuss them (as example data) with my students because it may offend someone and put them off the subject. As it is presented, this book seems unsuitable even as a supplemental text for training. It may be of value to those who have few expectations of the quality or integrity of their persistent storage designs.

Please bring back Dave Ensor and Ian Stevenson! These guys understood and explained "best practice" very well in their O'Reilly title "Oracle Design".




Java Database Best Practices Review,  April 10 2003
Submitted by Ravi Mahalingam   [Respond | View]

Unlike most other books, this book is produced by Java experts. the book assumes prior knowledge of the topics and does not intend to take a beginner from ignorance to knowledge.

This book is not intended for beginners but experts in the Java domain designing enterprise level systems or even maintaining them for system

performance and enhancements.

The book is well written and all the potential gotchas and the mistakes commonly done in application design and development are outlined with appropriate alternate solutions.

The book covers all aspects of java and ejb application development and their best practices.

Overall, this a good book to have and will be used by experienced java developers and the not so experienced.

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