"Seam in Action saved my life"

May 07, 2008

If you know me, you know that I don't really like to talk about my successes. I guess part of it is because I absolutely hate when I am the target of marketing, so I like to avoid putting other people in that situation. However, when I read the following post on the Seam Forums, I decided I just had to share it.

Dan,

I have never written a book review before but am unable to contain myself in this case. I bought the pre-release version from Manning out of desperation to make head or tails out of what I have been doing with Seam, JSF, EJB etc.

My perspective may be a bit different in that I am relatively new (7-8 months) to web development of any sort and fairly new to Java. The learning curve has been steep and painful. Compounded with this is that I am running solo with no peer group to keep me on the narrow path.

I chose SEAM after an initial web app strictly with JSF, EJB3. I was relieved at how much less code I had to write to accomplish things. However, Seam introduces a whole new set of complexities and some of the nuances have really thrown me.

The Michael Yuan/Thomas Heute book is a good resource for whetting the appetite. However it covers v1.0 Seam and it fairly introductory.

What I had been missing and was desperately needing was a full understanding of what is happening under the covers; something that fully connects the dots. Your book does just that! It has eliminated much of the confusion that was besetting me. I having been reading it voraciously since I downloaded it.

The community will greatly benefit from this resource. I love the thorough, careful, methodical explanations that step you through what is really going one. The abundant charts and graphics expose detail and subtleties that a developer really needs to know.

This will be my primary goto resource. I hope the example code will be available for download soon.

Thanks for hitting a home run with this.

- Andy Conn
Writing Seam in Action has been intriguing, but extremely laborious for me. Therefore, when I read something like this, it makes it all worthwhile. Hell, it almost brings me to tears, like when gold medalists cry after having dedicated their lives to achieving the Olympic grail.

BTW, if you are wondering what is going on with Seam in Action, I am currently pushing it through copy editing. I am taking my time because I want it to be right.

Posted at 03:58 AM in Java, Seam, Seam in Action | Permalink Icon Permalink

9 Comments from the Peanut Gallery

1 | Posted by Damien Evans on May 08, 2008 at 01:10 AM EST

I agree with the reviewer. I've been with Java for a loooong time, and even have experience with EJB3 and JPA, but none with JSF or Seam. I picked up the Yuan book and was extremely disappointed. It has many errors, typos, and is somewhat disjointed. Your book is awesome, even in early access state. Thank you for the quality job. I also look forward to the example code and final release.

2 | Posted by Dan Allen on May 08, 2008 at 03:18 PM EST

@Damien, so glad to hear. This feedback is keeping me motivated to deliver the best work I can. At the same time, I am nervous because I stay up at night worrying about mistakes. Also, the source code needs to be committed, but time has been short. But like I said, the feedback is keeping me in good spirits.

3 | Posted by Zahid MAqbool on May 09, 2008 at 12:18 PM EST

I went to buy this book, but in the payment option country is not there for India. Why is it like that.. Did you just restrict us from buying it...lol :) :)... But really when would I be able to purchase it.

4 | Posted by Frank Harter on May 13, 2008 at 03:40 AM EST

I have to agree also Dan!

In my opinion your book is the very best technical book I've ever read!!! While you very good explain the methodologies of Seam, you also go beyond the framework by explaining the things around like JPA, J2EE, integrating Spring and even some things about app servers. The hints you give from your experience is what are the little extras. I really feel like I understand things now.

Well...I guess I want to thank you for sharing your experience with your great book! For me it's not only the best book I've ever read, it's also one of the most worth books I've ever had. Keep on the great work!

5 | Posted by Lars Arvidsson on May 15, 2008 at 08:08 AM EST

Hi Dan! I totally agree with all the praises. The book is fantastic! I've read Yuan's book and the Seam documentation but they can't compete with this one. You really have the ability to explain magic that happens behind the scenes with Seam so I can understand. Keep up the good work!

6 | Posted by Tom Nicholls on May 19, 2008 at 07:10 AM EST

Indeed, can I echo the other comments - this book is far and away the best book available on JBoss Seam, and has really helped us as an embryonic development team getting to grips with this fairly new technology.

7 | Posted by Burt Prior on May 20, 2008 at 01:11 PM EST

Dan, I will add my vote and agree with these other reviewers; almost singlehandedly, Seam In Action has changed the way my team develops web applications in our large enterprise. We eagerly wait for each release on MEAP and parse every word. Seam In Action is not only the best book on Seam, but should be in every JEE5 developers bookshelf, whether you choose to use Seam or not. In my opinion, you should not be developing JEE5 applications without this book.

We understand writing a book requires an incredible amount of time and hard work.

You have our thanks and gratitude! .Burt

8 | Posted by Werner Jacobs on June 03, 2008 at 05:41 AM EST

Dan, great job, your book clarified a lot about seam and golf. A must-have on the book shelf. More comprehensive than the other seam books out there.

9 | Posted by Javin @ grep command in unix on August 04, 2011 at 09:48 AM EST

Wonderful job Dan, peoples like you make this community great. many thanks to you man. by the way I also blog my experience would be great to hear from you.