I have been writing data-import utilities off and on since the early 1980s.

I have learned, of the most important qualities a file import or host-to-host data transfer utility can have is gooddiagnostics.

An import routine should understand what it is importing, at some level, and use that information to tell the user what is wrong when something goes wrong. Not if – when.

This book introduces a very clever parser written in a mini-Prolog that was programmed in Java. I liked this example a lot on many levels, for many reasons.

The book also has a cute graphics environment that embeds the Prolog interpreter. You write graphics programs using short rules. It is pretty neat.

The one flaw with this book is that the Prolog interpreter in it seems to have disappeared from the web. That is a shame. It was a good one.

It comes on the CD that is included with the book. It would be nice if it was open source and could be downloaded from the web. Or they could at least have simply supplied the binaries & sources in a ZIP archive file.

A couple years ago, this book was one of the “shots fired over the bow” of EJB. It and a couple others, plus a lot of feedback from the field, probably led to the sea change that ultimately produced EJB 3.0.

When this book was written, EJB 3 was just a gleam in some people’s eyes – literally – if even that.

Now, EJB 3 is out. The problem it cites, the pre-3.0 EJB architecture, is no longer a problem.

Things like the Spring framework, the nano container, and stuff like that are still around. However, they might have been eclipsed by the very thing they were created in response to!

EJB 3.0 uses annotations rather than cumbersome, lengthy, complex XML files. Annotating methods, classes, and packages is way simpler than writing/maintaining huge XML files.

In some ways, those XML files can be more flexible. A lot of the time, you will not want/need that flexibility.

I recommend you look over EJB 3.0before you buy this book. If you think EJB 3.0 persistence is not going to work for you then look at something like the Spring framework and buy this book.

My guess is most people will use EJB 3.0 and have no need for this. Those that do forgo EJBs might want to read this.

This book will teach you a handful of things that are outside the run-of-the-mill Java lessons.

Flip through it or read the summary for it on a book site, to see if you plan on doing some of the things it will teach you. If you are, it will help you do a better job.

This is one of those, “learn from my experience” books written by a Java programmer who has been there and done that.

The book is a good introduction to the original Java language: JDK 1.0 or JDK 1.1 era Java. It is vintage 1996!

So, what you are not going to see in here is any JDK 1.2 or later Java features. No J2SE, no Swing, no J5SE, no annotations, no XML, or any of those “new” things.

What you will find is a pretty good introduction to Java as a traditional third-generation, procedural, object-oriented programming language.

It is a big book too – about 1.5 inches thick. It really is a beginner’s book, however.

If you already know another programming language or two, get a more modern book. This one is a decade old. So much has been added to the language and its libraries since then, you should read something more up-to-date.

If you do give it to a beginner, do not just hand it to them and walk away. When this book was written, there were no Java IDEs! No Eclipse, no NetBeans – not even the venerable JBuilder since it did not come out until summer 1997!

You will need to help them download Eclipse or NetBeans. Otherwise, you might swing by their desk a few hours later – and find them editing their programs with Notepad.exe or vi!

A customer at Amazon said you can get the source code for the book here – make sure you get the book or you will not be able to read it!

There is a more in-depth review of the TV.com website that you should read.

If you think the site sounds interesting but cannot make up your mind, go read that review.

That review has been specially marked up with metadata using the hReview microformat standard.

So, if you use Firefox 2.0 and have an hReview microformat aware microsummary, you should get a little more info out of that page than someone with a regular browser can see.

I have used the Juiceman Junior a lot for creating healthful drinks quickly in my own kitchen.

When you make beverages yourself, directly from produce, all the vitamins and natural enzymes are intact when you drink them.

If you buy drinks made from the same vegetation made here in the US, they will have been pasteurized to kill bacteria that might have slipped in during the canning/bottling process. Sadly, this breaks down the enzymes and vitamins.

The fresh drinks taste really good too.

I think people who have a Juiceman Junior or a similar juicing product care about their bodies and their health. To me, that is pretty cool.

This is one of the best new albums I have heard in a long time. I am really picky and I thought this was great.

Most of the songs on the album are extremely good. The ones that are not, are sill good to very good. Not one track that is a clinker in the lot.

First exposure I had to Bif Naked was when one of her songs made it onto the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show and, subsequently, one of its soundtrack CDs.

They are thinking about their health when they choose the foods they eat.

Consumers have some more choices today at the supermarket than they did way back when. Sometimes, neither choice is good – like with high-fructoes corn syrup versus so-called diet soft drinks.

Another dilemma is butter versus margarin. Lee Iococca’s company has broken that stalemate with a third choice. His product is spread made out of olive oil. It is healthier than margarine. Despite the unusual ingredient, it tastes very good. It tastes pretty similar to margarine or butter and has exactly the same consistency as spreadable versions of either of these.

I figure that someone eating this is taking care of themselves by watching what they eat. Rather than sticking with old, less-than-healthy choices – they are striking out and trying unconventional foods that are a little better for them.

Scoops tend to get too much salsa in them and Restaurant Style are so big you have to break them, which is kind of messy. Rounds are just the right size and flat: perfect.