Hi Marzo,
Is the table of contents available for download? Andrew: See Barry's post above.
To what extent does it cover locking (what knowledge do you assume apart from SCJP)? Andrew: We cover locking at a threading level (using both locking using standard Object mutexes and using the new Lock classes), plus we describe multiple ways (from memory we present 3 or 4 different methods) that locking could be applied at a logical level to our sample project. We also describe hand-over-hand locking using the new Lock classes.
We do not assume anything knowledge other than SCJP knowledge. We assume that there may be readers who have obtained their SCJP on earlier verisions of the JDK, so we spend time describing the features of JDK 5 both at the start of the book, plus we highlight the features as we use them.
Does it cover any Swing related topics and if so to what extent? Andrew: If you take a look at the table of contents you will see the major Swing topics discussed.
Does the book work through a sample project to give us an idea of how we might aproach the actual assignment? Andrew: Yes, we have a sample application - a DVD reservation system. It is by no means identical to the Sun assignment (in fact we have taken pains to ensure that some parts are different), but we are positive that we cover everything needed for the Sun assignment.
Does it cover design chocies at all? Andrew: Yes, both at a high level (describing what to write about / when to write it), down to the low level choices that might be made within each part of our sample application.
Are there any types of recomendations throughout the book? Andrew: I am not sure what you are asking about here, so if I don't answer your question, please just ask it again in a different way.
There are recommendations we make throughout the book, from simple things like coding conventions, through project layout, through GUI layout concepts and so on.
However we do not make definitive statements or recommendations on how the project should be handled. For example we provide chapters on both RMI and sockets, and we go into detail about what some of the pros and cons of both are, but we do not recommend one over the other.
What makes your book differ from others found on the market (apart from your great way of explaining thing ) Andrew: The first edition (Max's book) has been generally considered to be one of the best books for
SCJD, and I believe we have improved on it. Most of the other books do not focus just on SCJD, and some of them are even based on the older versions of the SCJD (the Fly By Night Services assignment). You might also be interested in
an old comment from one of our most serious competitors.
Plus, having been moderating this forum for a long time, I have seen many of the options chosen, and many of the mistakes made. I have been able to use this knowledge to provide more options and greater detail in the book.
Does it cover/compare network issues (RMI vs Sockets)? Andrew: Absolutely - we dedicate a chapter to each of these options. Our sample project works identically with either network protocol (we even allow you to choose the network protocol at runtime).
Does it cover/compare IO classes Andrew: No - we briefly discuss NIO, but due to it's dubious status we did not go into depth with it. We went straight to RandomAccessFiles.
[ October 02, 2005: Message edited by: Andrew Monkhouse ]