I have only read the first two chapters of this book thus far (I will update this review when I have finished the book), but based upon what I have read this is an excellent book. I have been playing with GWT for a couple of weeks and, as another reviewer has stated, I wish that I had read this book earlier. I have one other GWT book that I purchased on Amazon, and it was very disappointing.

The authors of GWT In Practice are clearly seasoned Java programmers, and even in the second chapter they have introduced patterns that are appropriate for GWT solutions. They explain how GWT meshes with the MVC pattern, as well as other relevant patterns. Also, even in the first example, they introduce user-defined classes that extend widgets ... a very promising example of their direction through the rest of the book.

One caveat: I am not certain that this book would be easy to comprehend for someone who is a beginner. But I think this is generally true for GWT itself, and that anyone who wants to use GWT should have some training in Java.

One gripe: This is an unfair gripe, because there is no way that the authors could have achieved what I would have liked to see, specifically, a book based upon the 1.5 version of GWT (the book is based upon the 1.4 version). I haven't used GWT 1.4, but I get the impression that there are enough changes in 1.5 to make the information significant. But I'll get over it, if the book is as good as the first two chapters promise!

I don't often say this as fervently, but here's my recommendation: buy this book if you are learning GWT (and probably even if you already know GWT)! :)

Never will I buy a Manning "In Action" book again - they are consistently incomprehensible.

GWT In Action is no exception. The examples have glaring bugs. The text contradicts itself over and over. It's simply impossible to glean any useful information from this book. The structure is badly organized to boot. They dive into unnecessary detail at totally inappropriate sections without first discussing why they're rambling on about tiny intricacies or explaining how you would use an API from a user's top down perspective. I battled through this, not gaining much useful advice until Chapter 6 on Events, where the quality takes a serious dive. After a few hours of trying to decipher this text I've decided that I wish this book had never been written. Like a bad movie, it is just wasting my time. Don't let it waste yours!

My first thought upon reading the first few chapeters of this book was "Where was this thing when I started to use GWT a few months ago?" The authors have done an excellent job really showing how to use the Google Web Toolkit. My eternal fear when I read these books is that there won't be any content outside of what the product already ships with. Not so in this case at all.

The authors cover the GWT basics, to be sure, but more importantly, they demonstrate a way to really use GWT. They hit upon one of my thoughts when first trying to get my head around GWT: GWT is not a framework; it is a platform at best. They recognize this and help you work with the power and around the limitations of GWT.
The authors demonstrate common patterns and practices in the "language" of GWT. It was extremely satisfying to finally, with the help of this book, be able to articulate and execute all the patterns that I've been using in other systems, (e.g. MVC, PropertyListeners, etc.)

The authors also demonstrate how to use GWT in a variety of environments and build system. These concepts were useful, but I found myself skimming over pages at a time to get back to the "good stuff." (This was my primary knock in not giving it five stars.)

All in all, I highly recommend and I'll be ensuring that my team each learn the concepts presented.

GWT In Practice is well worth having as a reference for any developer who will be using GWT toolkit or is already using the GWT toolkit. The book makes for easy reading and not only covers the key areas of GWT but also the deployment and continuous integration of your GWT applications. The book's code samples are also very helpful in understanding the GWT concepts and usage. I highly recommend GWT In Practice!!!

GWT In Practice is an essential book for any web developer who works with or wants to work with the GWT toolkit. In addition to covering GWT fundamentals, the book really focuses on real world applications, not just Hello World type apps which are largely useless. The ample code samples throughout the book make applying GWT to solve something in your web application easy. I highly recommend this book.