Java Persistence with Hibernate

Java Persistence with Hibernate explores Hibernate by developing an application that ties together hundreds of individual examples. You'll immediately dig into the rich programming model of Hibernate 3.2 and Java Persistence, working through queries, fetching strategies, caching, transactions, conversations, and more. You'll also appreciate the well-illustrated discussion of best practices in database design, object/relational mapping, and optimization techniques.

In this revised edition of the bestselling Hibernate in Action, authors Christian Bauer and Gavin King-the founder of the Hibernate project-cover Hibernate 3.2 in detail along with the EJB 3.0 and Java Persistence standard.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

If you're confused about JPA+Hibernate and want to be even more confused..., 2008-10-02
1) the book is way too long, it should have been released as two separate books: an update to Hibernate in Action and a new Java Persistence in Action (see Mike Keith's Apress book on JPA!)

2) why is there a random Seam chapter at the end? obviously it ties in with the implementing conversations (chapter 11) and the purpose of Seam is essentially to improve and simplify Java EE while tying together JSF and EJB 3, but does it really need to be in this already way too long book? And if you're interested in learning about Seam, read Seam in Action by Dan Allen, that's the best book out thus far on Seam.

3) there is no chapter on when and why you would use the Hibernate API (e.g. Criteria) which is not available in the current JPA 1.0 spec. When and in what scenarios is it worthwhile and/or necessary to deviate from JPA? And if you do, what are the possible consequences (e.g. if you subsequently use a different persistence provider, then you must refactor the Hibernate AIP out). What is currently deficient about JPA 1.0, etc.?

4) there is no chapter on comparing and contrasting the various JPA persistence provider options like OpenJPA, Kodo, Hibernate, Toplink Essentials. Why should one use Hibernate if Toplink is the reference implementation for the JPA spec?

5) there is no chapter on using Hibernate/JPA in a clustered environment (although there is some coverage on JBossCache, JGroups and second level cache).

6) Caveat Emptor Seam version is still not available (and there is no release date)!

7) there is no ORM design patterns chapter which would describe material like DAO and Open Session in View pattern, for example.

8) it would be nice if there were some more pictures (Seam in Action does very well in this regard!)

9) last but not least, and this is the main reason I'm rating this book so poorly, is that there is a ton of information in this book but it is EXTREMELY difficult to read, follow, and digest. The authors go back and forth between JPA code and Hibernate code (and XML configs) constantly and it is very, very confusing.

So. If you want to be more confused about JPA and Hibernate (ORM is definitely not the easiest subject to digest and learn), then waste your money and buy and attempt to read this book.

Otherwise, just stick to the specs, reference docs and forums. Or wait for the potential Hibernate in Practice (there is a Spring in Practice book coming soon!)




0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Be prepared for some heavy reading, 2008-09-09
Its long since I wrote a review and as I am reading this book, I felt an immediate need to write one. This book is definitely the bible for hibernate, no doubt about it. But the way its written... hibernate and jpa, annotations and xml and everything clubbed together really slows down the reader. I already read the authors defensive note. But the problem is that a reader wants to do one thing at a time and wants to quickly master it. Hopefully this will be rectified in the next version!


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Stick with Hibernate in Action, 2008-08-26
Hibernate in Action is a great book that I go back to again and again. It was very well written for a technical book.

Java Persistence with Hibernate is disappointing. The first half adds very little to what is available in Hibernate in Action and the second part is half-baked. The authors should have waited for the specs to gel and written a book purely on implementing JPA with Hibernate. They should have left out the first part of the book and pointed people to Hibernate in Action.

Bigger books are not necessarily better books.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Look elsewhere, there are better options..., 2008-08-23
I have over 5 years of JavaEE development experience, mostly with Struts/EJB2 apps and more recently with JSF/Seam/EJB3 apps.

There is a lot of useful information in this book. This book covers a very interesting and complex topic (using Object/Relational Mapping in your persistence tier) but the book needs a lot of help. It is one of the most confusing Java books I've read and would only recommend you use it if your employer pays for it (i.e. don't buy it yourself!) Hopefully, ORM books like these will become obsolete when OODBMS takes a firm grip one day in corporate enterprise environments. But until then, we're stuck with solutions like JPA and Hibernate.

If you're writing a JSF/EJB3 application, you'll most likely use JPA 90% of the time and Hibernate for the remaining 10% that is not supported by the JPA spec (e.g. Criteria API, soon to be supported in JPA 2.0) Remember that if you ever need to port your application to another persistence provider and/or runtime environment, using the standard JPA interfaces only is an advantage over using JPA and Hibernate or TopLink API in your code.

So if you're working on a Seam application, for example, which uses JSF and EJB3, then you'll be more interested in learning about and using JPA. If you're working on a Spring/Hibernate application, then you'll be more interested in the Hibernate-specific information in this book.

Unfortunately, it's difficult to filter out the information you're interested in because the JPA and Hibernate examples are typically juxtaposed and this is extremely confusing, especially when you first begin to read this book. Often times, the authors go back and forth between Hibernate and Java Persistence in the same section, making it difficult to follow (see examples below).

For the following reasons, I am giving this book a poor review mark:

incoherent presentation of topics and explanations (e.g. section 8.2.2: integrating stored procs does not state if it's using JPA- or Hibernate-specific API or configuration in the beginning of the section and whether or not JPA even supports stored proc integration)
another example of confusion: in section 2.2.1: Using Hibernate Annotations, the authors state "let's first use Hibernate Annotations to replace the Hibernate XML mapping files." Then in the code list 2.10 we see the following import statement: "import javax.persistence.*". Are these the same as Hibernate Annotations? Perhaps similar, but if you download Hibernate Annotations 3.4.0.GA, you'll see that the @Table and @Entity interfaces are both in the org.hibernate.annotations package, not javax.persistence package. Very confusing to the reader.
sections 2.1 and 2.2 cover starting a Hibernate project and Java Persistence project, respectively. The coverage keeps switching back and forth from Hibernate and Java Persistence and it's very diffcult to read and follow.
Generally speaking, the book is too long and too heavy. It should have been released in two volumes.
Although well-written and consise, the Seam chapter is unnecessary and makes the book even longer.

cursory coverage of Hibernate 2nd level cache and whether or not the cache is available in JPA (added Cache interface in JPA 2.0)
CaveatEmptor Seam application is not available book website


Better alternatives:

Pro EJB 3: Java Persistence API by Mike Keith (uses Toplink Essentials RI persistence provider examples instead of Hibernate)
Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0 by Bill Burke (covers JPA)
POJOs in Action by Chris Richardson (covers JPA and Hibernate)
Hibernate in Action by Bauer and King
JSR-000220 Enterprise JavaBeans 3.0 Final Release (persistence)
Hibernate Forums online
Hibernate Reference Documentation online
JBoss Developer Support subscription

On a bright note, the index in this book is decent and helpful for reference purposes.





1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

A boring book, 2008-08-06
This is a boring book and hard to understand. If you want to learn Hibernate, don't buy it.

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