Bitter Java, by Bruce Tate

It has been a while since I've read a Java book, and this one subtitled "The lessons taught by server-side Java antipatterns" seemed pretty interesting. It is amazingly dated, showing just how fast technology has changed in the last decade: CORBA, Microsoft FrontPage, and dial-up modems all feature in various examples. Most surprising was the authors insistence in using Vectors and Hashtables rather than Collections; Collections were already well-established in 2002 and wouldn't have made the code samples any more complicated. In a book largely concerned with efficiency and scalability I find this fairly surprising and bordering on irresponsible. That said, the writing is readable and engaging, and despite being behind the times the patterns presented are still applicable in today's world. I'd recommend this to a neophyte designer, but a more seasoned architect I suspect will find it pedestrian.

First Sentence:

On a cold day in Eastern Tennessee, my kayak is perched precariously atop a waterfall known as State Line Falls.