I dont know about SCWCD Exam Study Kit 2nd Ed. But I read HFSJ for my exam and scored 97%. I prefer HFSJ first for the exam. If you still want to go ahead you can think of others after HFSJ.
Rizwan
SCJA, SCJP, SCWCD, SCBCD, SCDJWS.
Alexander Kolesnikov
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I have read both HFSJ and the Kit for my exam and passed with 86% today.
In the very beginning of my preparation when I was reviewing the material on servlets, and I've got some experience with them, it seemed to me that the Kit was better. But when I came to the topics which I knew much worse, HFSJ became very helpful. They contrast and compare things and they are trying hard to keep you awake, while the Kit just puts the stuff out as a brick. And when you are already tired by the end of your preparation, you'll enjoy the informal style of HF.
Also I must say that the quality of the book itself (HF) is much higher. In the Kit you get slips and omissions. And some things got me really mad, like for example, writing "Java technology programming language" instead of simply "Java" (to make the book thicker? ), or when as an example of a directive they use all the time <%a page language="java" %>, even after explaining that there are no other languages in JSP 2.0.
Some statements in the Kit are really doubtful, and they keep discussing details of buffering in JSP - and I didn't have even a single question about this stuff on my exam.
I have HF EJB for my next exam, and I am not going to buy any other book.
Alexander Kolesnikov<br />Java Web Developer<br />SCJP 1.4, SCWCD 1.4, SCBCD 1.3<br /><a href="http://sundraw.ws" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tapestry 5: Building Web Applications</a><br /><a href="http://sundraw.ws/batik.jsp" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Java Drawing With Apache Batik</a>
Seenu Reddy
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Hi Guys, Thanks for your suggestions. Today i will own the HF book. I already bought the SCWCD study kit and i use it as refrence. if you have any more suggestions on SCWCD exam, you are most welcome. [ November 17, 2005: Message edited by: Seenu R ]
Hong Anderson
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IMO, HFSJ isn't much better than SCWCD Exam Study Kit 2 ed. as many people keep say. I think it's just a fashion. I think SCWCD is better than HFSJ if you want knowledge, but if you hurry and want to get high score in the exam HFSJ is the better choice (Who can write the book for exam better than the creator?). However it's also good for read both.
SCJA 1.0, SCJP 1.4, SCWCD 1.4, SCBCD 1.3, SCJP 5.0, SCEA 5, SCBCD 5; OCUP - Fundamental, Intermediate and Advanced; IBM Certified Solution Designer - OOAD, vUML 2; SpringSource Certified Spring Professional
Alexander Kolesnikov
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I would disagree with this because theKit isn't always precise about knowledge. I have written elswere on this forum about how they treat URI in taglibs - i.m.h.o. far from perfect. Yes, HF concentrates on passing the exam, but they do provide important pieces of understanding for real life also. Could you show me a book which would explain you how web container decides whether the visitor has cookies enabled (so no URL rewriting needed) or not? The only known to me book which explains this is HF.
Sometimes I had an impression that the Kit is a little bit rusty on some pieces of knowledge. Like they say you should always configure your TLD in web.xml.
Yes, the kit explains some valuable technical nuances, which are not in the HF (and which I didn't see on the exam). So might be the best option would be just to read both books, if possible?
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), or when as an example of a directive they use all the time <%a page language="java" %>, even after explaining that there are no other languages in JSP 2.0. 