This is not a low level programming book, but rather a high level look at the concepts of building business objects, high level plug and play components that represent objects relevant to business processes. The CD contains a Business Object Facility 'Lite' package from Systems Software Associates Inc. (SSA), pre-loaded with some sample objects and data to allow you to complete the (not too taxing!) examples in the book. The two authors both work for SSA and contribute to the Object Management Group's 'Business Object Domain Task Force'.

The first half of the book is mostly concerned with concepts, the second half with the more practical business of requirements capture, analysis and high level design. During the first half the authors work through identifying what they mean by business objects and the type of generic attributes, such as easy to integrate, minimise component coupling, embrace change' etc. that define them. This might sound a bit obvious to structured design gurus, but this is not about code design, but high-level object design. The second half is more concerned with the practicalities of implementation transaction design etc., but at the logical level rather than differences between CORBA and DCOM. There is a particularly good chapter about the characteristics required of distributable components. Although there are a few snippets of code in the book some UML diagrams, this book is readable by anyone concerned with the design of systems, from IT managers and system architects downwards.

The book is well written, in clear easy to read English, with a clear layout and good bullet point summaries of each section. The first half is quite a 'light' read, but the second half is much more serious and demands more thought to get the full benefit. It is a bit heavy on TLAs in the second half if you rashly go on holiday half way through reading it you might need to backtrack slightly to refresh your memory on these! Recommended as a good concept book for people building object based business systems.