Customer Reviews

Mike Meyers' Java 2 Certification Passport (Exam 310-025)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Multiple authors with differing styles is OK. The information is mostly well presented and targeted for the exam. But the sample test questions are a disaster. They are awful. About 10% of the questions in the book and on the practice CD are woefully wrong. Examples abound and range from questions that don't list any correct answer as an option, due to a type-o (p. 211 #2), to questions on the software exam that say "select two" and then give radio buttons, thus making multiple selections impossible. If you are looking for a second or a third book to read to prepare for the exam, you'll be able to extract enough good from this to merit the purchase. Plus, debugging the [messed] up questions is good practice! But if you are looking for one book with which you hope to prepare, avoid this one. Much better is that from Roberts, Heller and Ernest (Also has some errors, but there is an errata list on the website). The folks at Osborne also have an errata page, which doesn't mention this book...
As series editor, blame must fall squarely on Mike Meyers, who says "I love every aspect of this book you hold in your hands". Next time, better look at all the aspects of a book before sending it to press.

I'm a Java instructor and I really like this book. It's succinct by nature with the ultimate goal of passing the Sun 310-025 certification exam. However, there are many surprises in this book for students learning Java without intending certification. For example, chapter 10 on "AWT2: Making the Screen Work," is the best single chapter I've found that progressively takes the reader through the event model and implementing listeners. If you're having trouble understanding anonymous inner class listeners, buy this book for that reason alone.

What's Good:
1. Gives you good overview of what to expected on the exam.
2. Questions at the end of each chapter and their answers (not all answers are clear but overall it's acceptable).
3. Quick summary at the end of each chapter.

What's Bad:
1. Tons of errors. Just look at the book's webpage. The lack of professionalism on the publisher's part is quite evident. Let me put it this way, if I had know it had this much errors prior to purchasing this book, I wouldn't have purchased it.

2. Very weak in area's where explanation IS necessary. It really annoys the hell out of you after a while. This is definitely not a book for beginners, but even if you are an expert some statements in the book will make you say "huh, what the heck are they talking about?"
3. The accompanying CD is worthless! Just go to "JavaRanch.com/maha" for mock exams.

What's Ugly:
1. The book's index is just horrible! You can hardly find what you are looking for even though something pertaining to it is discussed in the book.
2. No glossary. What's an exam book without a glossary? The book make's it nearly impossible to do last minute check on things you don't fully comprehend. If the back of the book index was good the lack of a glossary would have been acceptable but it isn't.

I would recommend that you go to your local library and check it out rather than purchase it. You definitely shouldn't rely on this book alone to prepare you for the exam.

Mike Meyers' Java 2 Certification Passport
by Cindy Glass, Jane Griscti, Margarita Isayeva, Ajith Kallambella, and Kathy Sierra
Publishers : McGraw Hill Osborne
List Price : $ 29.99

This book is organized according to the objectives of the Programmer Certification exam. Each chapter corresponds to a major objective of the exam and is broken into sub topics based on detailed objectives. At the beginning of each chapter the authors list the approximate amount of time you will need to spend on that chapter based on your level of expertise. Although I consider myself between newbie and intermediate, I was able to cover the chapters in the range mentioned for experts. This probably means that their time estimates are rather generous.

All chapters include notes, tips and warnings especially targeted towards the exam. There are questions at the end of each chapter that help you assess how well you have understood the topic. Be aware of the typos and errors in the questions / answers. I hear that the publishers will be putting up an errata page soon.

Common problem areas for people new to Java, such as Garbage Collection, Threads, immutability of the string object, passing arguments to methods etc. are covered in great detail. Wise use of diagrams to represent these concepts makes them easy to understand. The bitwise operators are also explained graphically with plenty of examples. The methods of the Math class, objects in thejava.lang package are covered in more detail than in some other popular books.

The chapters on AWT and java.IO packages strictly adhere to the exam objectives. There is no in-depth coverage of the topics. The AWT chapter could use more sample code demonstrating the policies of various layout managers along with images of the frames /applets corresponding to the code. Gridbag and Card layouts - which are the two most complex layouts - get less than a page of discussion. The actual exam has at least one or two questions related to the GridBagLayout and the attributes of the GridBagConstraints object.

Even though the chapter on Threads seems poorly organized, it does cover the basic concepts in detail. Few more examples and a little reorganization of the material will make this chapter a complete reference, far beyond the exam objetives.

In summary I would recommend this book as a companion book but not as the only book needed for certification.

I have been working with Java for 4 years now and decided to finally get certified.

I decided to go against my instinct and not read amazon's reviews before purchasing the book. It was a terrible decision.

There are so many errors in the testing sections of this book, that I will most likely have to pay more money and get another book just to straighten my mind out. Examples of this include things where the author suggests you choose 3 out 5 possible answers for a multiple choice question, and then only lists 2 correct answers in the solutions. Now granted this inhumane struggle is a great way to learn the langauge, but isn't that what I paid the author to do in the first place?

Do not waste your time on this or other passport books.

I purchased this at the last minute, more than anything else for the practice exam on the CD. I was immediately disappointed as the test on the CD had significant and fatal errors as other reviewers have pointed out (I was able to run it, but the questions were missing text, had the wrong interface for answers, etc). When I contacted the publisher to express my issues they told me that this was a problem only with the first print run, but when they didn't immediately offer me a replacement CD I expressed my opinion on that to them also. By the time they offered me a solution (in the form of a download from their web site with a secret login), I had already passed the test and didn't need their help anymore.

I did try to use the book itself to try to cover a couple of topics I was not sure about before I took the test, and found it difficult to follow and gave up. Others seem to like it, so maybe it was just me. I found the "Java 2 Exam Cram" to be far more useful and actually plan to keep that book as a reference, while I threw out the "Passport".

I wasn't even looking for a Java cert book, I was just needing something to give a me a bit of a jumpstart into Java when a friend of mine recommended this book. What a fun book to read! So much less stuffy than the thousands of or programming books I've read in the past. I really liked it...

I pass the exam this morning with 83 %. From total time I spend 70% time reading this book. This book is good if you have limited time to prepare for SCJP. It doesn't have boring description. The authors have done excellent job to extract out core concept from exam point of view. However, there are some typos and cds is not useful. I couldn't able to access what is inside cds. Anyway it was worth Canadian $ 55 investment. I did refer Khalid Mughal book to clear some of the funda and practice examples.

The subject says it all. This book isn't designed to teach a newbie to code Java, but for those that have Java experience and want to know what subjects are needed to pass the certification. There are other books that go into greater detail, but you will pay 2x more. If you have the $, go for the others, but for the cost, this is a great buy!!

This is a very good Java book for not only the certification exam but also the one which helps you to get clear concept. I have experience in programming Java and now decide to go certified. I do feel this book help me quite a lot in the exam preparation. It serves as a very good review for the Java knowledges I have. The price of the book is also very nice. I can say that you get far more than you paid. One thing I would like to mention is this book probably a little bit tough for the newbies. If you are new to Java and do not have much OOP experience, I will not recommand you this one. Although most of comments here are negative, I still want to give this book a high rating.