IBM Rational(R) ClearCase(R), Ant, and CruiseControl : The Java(TM) Developer's Guide to Accelerating and Automating the Build Process
by
Kevin A. Lee
IBM Press
1 edition
June 2006
384 pages
Reviewed by Jeanne Boyarsky, July 2006
(8 of 10)
"IBM Rational ClearCase, Ant and CruiseControl" walks the reader through setting up automated builds. It is useful if you are doing exactly what the book discusses. In particular, you should be using all three of these technologies and want to do standard builds.
The concepts were excellent. There was a strong emphasis on understanding the terminology. For examples, configuration management and build terms were clearly discussed. The roles involved were also described.
The author introduces code as constructs/idioms rather than as syntax. He calls these "best practices." I don't think of them as best practices, but the idioms are very useful in getting started quickly. Due to this approach, the book doesn't offer much instruction on customization.
The coverage of ClearCase was very thorough. The book includes both the Base ClearCase and ClearCase UCM. Ant and CruiseControl were covered enough to automate a standard J2EE build with ClearCase.
This book will save you a lot of time in getting an automated build working if you haven't used the technologies before. It supplements the materials available on the web nicely.
(8 of 10)
