Preface

JDBC 3.0 is the latest revision of Sun’s Java Database Connectivity API. Since its introduction on the market in the mid-90s, Java has evolved from a language and environment suited for applets to a rich enterprise platform. JDBC played a determinant role in Java’s maturation. JDBC is now used as a core technology to integrate companies’ databases and leverage legacy data to provide unprecedented access to new applications via emerging channels such as the wireless Internet and WebServices.

JDBC provides a rich set of features to store, retrieve, search, and update various types of data formats in traditional databases. Java is a language for object-oriented (OO) programmers, and traditional databases as such aren’t very object-oriented. JDBC doesn’t bridge the gap entirely by itself, but it provides the foundation for persistence mechanisms such as J2EE’s Enterprise JavaBeans. JDBC is one of the most important bricks in the whole distributed component technology stack.

This book, which is an update of JDBC: Java Database Connectivity from IDG Books Worldwide (now Hungry Minds, Inc.) by the same author, provides a tutorial approach and comprehensive examples on every aspect of integrating with databases using a call level interface such as Java’s JDBC. From simple queries and updates to transactions, cursors, batch processing, prepared statements, stored procedures, and database metadata, you will learn anything necessary to design and write great professional applications. An API reference covering JDBC and its extensions is provided at the end of the book.

Who Should Read This Book

This book is targeted at developers who are new to Java and who want to use JDBC to deliver database-enabled robust Internet-based applications, WebServices, N-tiered applications, and traditional client/server applications. Knowing the Java language is a prerequisite for this book: In general, an academic knowledge will be sufficient. Although this book doesn’t provide a complete SQL and relational database reference, developers who are new to these should be able to understand most of the techniques discussed. Developers not familiar with SQL may want to take the SQL Primer available online from Sun as a companion when reading this book.