Customer Reviews

SCJD Exam with J2SE 5 (Expert's Voice in Java)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

And I say that having just released a book on the same topic. If you can buy only one book on the developer exam, buy Habibi's book. It's focused on giving you what you need to actually implement the project that you must submit for your developer certification. It teaches you step-by-step how to design and write code for the project. It has a friendly, interesting, easy-to-understand style, and the certification candidates on javaranch REALLY like this book a lot.
My book, on the other hand, is focused almost entirely on the SCJP (nearly 3/4 of our book is SCJP), although it does have a "bonus" section on the SCJD which talks almost exclusively about how the developer project is *assessed*. So while my book goes into great detail about theSCJD *assessment*, it does virtually nothing to help you create your developer *project*.
There has some confusion around the title of my book (not my choice, unfortunately), because it *does* have the SCJD exam in the name, but my co-author and I strongly suggest that if you are already an SCJP and are now preparing for only the SCJD, that you get Habibi's outstanding book rather than ours.
Of course, if someone drops a huge Amazon.com gift certificate in your lap, well, then might as well get both ; )

Let's face it. The Sun Certified Java Developers Exam is tough. If you are serious about passing, this is an excellent book for anyone wishing to avoid the common pitfalls associated with many of the projects. The authors reveal various approaches to many of the issues that need to be resolved, discussing both the advantages and disadvantages of each. I found the authors' information on Threading, Building the GUI, logging, configuration, RMI vs. Sockets and "putting it all together" all extremely helpful.

Even though the book has already helped me pass the exam, I will continue to refer to it, because it is filled with great information that applies to development in the real world, as much as it does in the SCJD Exam.

Bob Rowden
Sun Certified Java Developer

The SCJD exam is tough and time-consuming. It requires a good deal of effort. So no surprise there are only like two books out that cover this topic. Fortunately, this book does a great job.
I'm an experienced developer, so I was already familar with many of the concepts covered in the book. Where this book was valuable to me was in the guidance it provided through the SCJD process. It helped me complete the assignment faster (I did it in half the time I had originally estimated). And gave me more confidence when it was time to submit my work.

Most of the time people who are preparing for SCJD will buy this book but it is good beyond that. Second edition give you practical example on actual project. It is kind of parallel to what you are doing in SCJD. Author is active member on javaranch and gives very useful tips to all post in SCJD forum. I think people who want to improve Java skills on application side should look into this book as well.

I am using it for SCJD exam. Good luck to all.

"The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4" is an in-depth how-to book on completing the SCJD Exam. This is not merely an overview; the authors designed a project similar to the SCJD exam I received and thoroughly explained how to complete the exam, from making the database thread-safe to creating the network server (covering both sockets and RMI) to developing the GUI client framework. In addition, this book also covers the new features of the Java 1.4 platform, including the Logging, NIO, and Regular Expression APIs. Even if you never used Threads, Sockets, RMI, or Swing, this book will teach you how with clear and concise details before applying the concepts to the applied project. If you plan on taking the Sun Certified Java Developer Exam, or you would like to learn the new features of Java 1.4, this book is for you. Using this book, I passed this exam earning 139/155 points (89.6%).

This book provides fundamentals with which to begin the design and coding of the SCJD exam project. I found the chapters on RMI and MVC to be the most valuable. The coverage of Swing is very good and contains information for designing the user interface much easier. Overall, this is THE book to use as your primary resource when working toward SCJD certification. Also, be sure to search for JavaRanch on the web. It is an invaluable resource.

The primary reason I cannot recommend this book is that it fails to properly address the point of its existence. For example:

o The authors devote a chapter to threading, even though the the prerequisite SCJP exam covers this topic.

o The authors devote a chapter to NIO (New I/O), even though Sun explicitly prohibits the use of NIO on the exam.

o The authors presume that the SCJD student knows Swing, even though Swing was removed from the prerequisite SCJP exam.

You can verify these points at Sun's training website:
http://training.sun.com/CA/catalogue/courses/CA-CX-310-252A.html

Finally, the book is full of typographical and other errors.

I recommend this book because I found it to be valuable in helping me to pass the Sun Certified Java Developer (SCJD) Exam with a perfect score (400/400).

This is simply the best book available for those working on the SCJD Exam. Alain Trottier's "Java 2 Developer Exam Cram 2," is a distant second. Those are the only two books available that cover this exam in an in-depth manner. Books that attempt to cover both the Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) and SCJD exams generally seem to do a good job of covering the programmer's exam, but are significantly less comprehensive when it comes to the developer's exam.

This book develops a sample project that is analogous to the project required for the SCJD examination. The complete source code is available for downloading from the publisher. The design and implementation issues explored in the sample project are similar to those required in order to successfully complete the exam. Those expecting to download the sample project, make a few cosmetic alterations, and upload the result as their exam submission will be disappointed. On the other hand, those who feel they would benefit from seeing what a complete solution to a similar problem looks like, and who would like some specific guidance about how to approach the various issues surrounding the project will be happy to have this book.

Another nice feature of this book is that it provides links to some other very helpful resources. The most useful of these is http://www.javaranch.com, an excellent Java site that provides an indispensable developer certification discussion forum for those working on the SCJD. It's the best place to go with your SCJD questions. Mehran (Max) Habibi, one of the authors of this book, is a contributor to that discussion forum.

Some of the reviews here have been pedantic and a little purile. They have picked fault with coding conventions like using 'new String("Hello")' rather than just "Hello". What they seem to miss is the SCJD is not an excercise in efficiency, but in project development the way Sun think it should be done. Its far more important that code is readable and consistent with Sun standards than to produce clever code that is hard to read or does things 'your own special way'. Noone is going to compare millisecond responces on your classes, but they are going to look at the source.

Here is my take on this book: Its great. It delivers exactly what it says on the cover : "Prepare for the SCJD exam ....". For J2EE developers like me that have never actually made their own database or server it is an invaluable and easy to follow guide. It provides clear instructions on running your project, packaging it and setting up all the little details that you might not have needed when running your servlets on Oracle 9i.

If you are a threading expert, who makes RMI based apps every day, and can create swing interfaces in your sleep, then why do you need a book to pass this exam anyway? If one or two areas are weak because your a JDBC user, or your front ends are usually JSP pages, but your OOD capabilities are good, and your java knowledge is good (as a SCJP should be), this book will help smooth the ride and give you confidence in your ability to finish the assignment.

But more than anything, this book gives you a damned good idea what to expect on the assignment. And that is worth its weight in gold.

Explains every relevent piece of the scjd, in context, and in detail. The sample project problems are layed out, then overall issues are discussed. The technologies, then the design, then various implementation issues(and thier drawbacks). All in all, I've learned more from this book then I have from any Java book since Thinking in Java by Eckel. The very best part is Chapter 4, which explains all about threading. Buy it for that, if nothing else.