Web Services Book Recommendations

**Not So Wise** · 20 November 2009, 10:16

No book recommendations but but tried amazon? it normally has scanned a few pages of most tech books so you can "preview" them before buying

**RichardCranium** · 20 November 2009, 10:23

Originally posted by OrangeHopper View Post

Could people recommend books on web services.

I now understand the basics and have a number running through an apache/tomcat/axis2 environment but I want some bedtime reading to get a better overview of it all.

I am disappointed that book shops no longer keep a decent selection and you can't browse before purchase. This internet thing means you have no way of accessing the quality or otherwise before parting with ones cash.

a) Internet book shops have reviews too.

b) Tried your library service's catalogue (their "OPAC")? While benched I am going through the local library service's IT stock like a dose of salts.

c) If you are in the PCG or BCS or a bunch of other professional bodies you get free access to online techie books. Crap for reading but good for reviewing.

d) If do you just want an overview, Wikipedia really is a good place to start to find pointers to more detailed resources.

e) Since when could you not browse in bookshops? I've seen plenty of people sit and read books in Waterstone's. (Which now includes me: Banksy's big coffee table book; read over two sessions

).

f) Do you get the Visual Systems Journal? They review a few programming books in every issue; they must have a few relevant to what you want. Here's a link to their on-line articles, anyway.

How's that for starters? And 5 out of 6 are all done from the comfort of your own backside.

**scotspine** · 20 November 2009, 10:33

i've only ever come across them within the context of a particular environment, in my case, .net. i'd guess you'd be looking for something different and so maybe rc's suggestions are a good start? have a look at platform specific books and in them, you'll find chapters which cover the topic but maybe this is why you were posting in the first place?

**OrangeHopper** · 20 November 2009, 10:57

If you go back 10 years or so you would be able to walk into the bigger bookshops and find at least a dozen books on the subject you are interested in. I went into Brighton the other day and the real estate devoted to computer literature has been greatly reduced. There wasn't even a "in a nutshell" stand! Complete waste of time.

I have used the internet to sort out the problems I have encountered - that itself hasn't been easy - but I think I need something to put me to sleep at night that will give me a good overview of it all, not necessarily a "how to via .net".

Hence I wondered whether anyone had come across something that they had been impressed with in this area.

**NickFitz** · 20 November 2009, 13:50

It depends what you mean by "Web Services" - it's a very broad term.

If you mean the WS-* stuff and SOAP and so forth (which I figure you probably do from your reference to Apache Axis) then it's probably worth looking over the specs at the W3C: start at the Web of Services page. I know specs can be a bit dry, and of course they don't tend to have much in the way of practical examples, but they'll give you enough of a grasp of the fundamentals and how things fit together to allow you to craft helpful search terms so you can track down blogs, articles, and suchlike about the specifics.

**OrangeHopper** · 20 November 2009, 14:02

Thanks people. I have been crawling through amazon and other book stores this morning and have concluded a lot of the stuff is out of date. I think I have decided on Web Services : Principles & Technology as my bedtime tome and will just read stuff on the internet otherwise.

**scotspine** · 20 November 2009, 14:50

after you've finished it, would you mind coming back here and telling the rest of us what they're all about?

**OrangeHopper** · 20 November 2009, 14:58

You think I will every finish it.

I've just placed the order and I got carried away a bit. I have an account with pearson and it turns out I could get 35% off nearly everything and free postage. The company credit card is now £120 lighter.

I even ordered Effective C# and More Effective C# to go with my other "Effective" books on C++ and Java.

Web Services Book Recommendations