Re:EJB is REALLY Bitter (Score 1)

Thanks for all of the comments. I'd like to make a couple of points. First, all of the authors on the team see EJB as just another tool in the box. If it makes our lives easier, we use it. If not, we'll reach for something else. Second, I do think that when most people say "I hate EJB", they basically mean "I hate EJB entity beans." MDB and session beans are fair abstractions. A (late) kayaker named William Nealy used to have a book that contained a section on running rivers in flood. He had to dance around the issue of whether he was actually endorsing the practice of running rivers in flood. So, he said something like this. "If you asked me if you should run rivers in flood, I'd say 'No. But if you do, here are some things that you should know.'" I find myself in a similar position with this book. EJB is a massive framework, and fairly invasively. I'm not a huge fan, but believe that facades with MDB or session beans are reasonable. If you can live with those limitations, check out Bitter EJB. You'll be glad you did. Even if you're fairly experienced, we're likely to lead you away from one land mine that you've not seen before. If not, I encourage you to check out some alternatives. For persistence, I'm a big fan of JDO. Kodo is a fabulous product, and is the reason that I recruited Patrick Linskey to the team: he's CTO of that company. For a generic container, check out Spring, or maybe Pico. They are light weight containers that let you do some amazing stuff, with containers that are light enough for a JUnit test case. And your objects don't depend on the container. One final point. I'm proud of the fact that the two Bitter books have personality. Too many editors try to strip personality out of a book, for fear of offending the audience. I'd rather offend you than bore you. So if you'd rather be bored than offended, please pass. Take care, and thanks to all who have made this book a success.