Claus Ibsen - Camel in Action /

The open source Apache Camel project has been at the forefront of the widespread adoption of Enterprise Integration Patterns on the JVM for many years. In fact its been so popular that some developers of other popular programming languages have cited it as a strong influence when theyve implemented similar efforts. Apache Camels easy, intuitive, and extensible approach has made it possible for even novice developers to produce reliable solutions to complex problems in a realistic period of time. The vibrant open source community of contributors and users has helped evolve the project into new areas such as the cloud, mobile, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This positive feedback loop looks strong. Innovation continues on a daily basis led by a number of key contributors, most notably the authors of this book, Claus and Jon.

I first heard of Claus and Jon when I became an early user of Apache Camel in a previous role. Their programming style was clear and concise, matched only by their patience, ability to communicate complex concepts at all levels, and their insatiable thirst to learn from the community of Apache Camel users and contributors in order to continually evolve and grow the project. Fast-forward a few years, and I was able to work much more closely with them and the rest of the Fuse team when Red Hat acquired FuseSource. I've learned that my initial love of Apache Camel was not misplaced, and weve seen huge success internally and externally with it.

In this revised edition of their incredibly popular book, Claus and Jon stay true to the original formula that helped make the first version so approachable: they know their subject better than most and obviously like to help others to learn and gain that same level of understanding. The book has been structured well and encourages you to jump around and across topics, dipping in and out where it helps you to accomplish your task. Claus and Jon are great writers too, relying on figures and diagrams where needed, with lots of code snippets and worked examples, which are always necessary in good technical books.

As I mentioned, Apache Camel has seen a lot of changes over the years, as has the industry, and the authors manage to reflect this within the updated edition. There is coverage of how the project is used within IoT, for instance. But probably one of the biggest changes in the software landscape relevant to Apache Camel since the books first edition is the evolution of service-oriented architectures (SOAs) toward smaller-grained services known as microservices, as well as a move to the cloud with technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes. Claus and Jon manage to cover these relatively new and fast-moving topics, showing how Apache Camel should remain a key part of the software architects toolbox.

Dr. Mark Little

Technical Director of JBoss

Vice President of Engineering, Red Hat