HFSJ - my opinion

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Hi all,

Everyone says - HFSJ is great, is awesome, its all that one needs to pass the exam. I too agree. But i have some different things to say -

The book seems clumsy at times. There are no snippets of code where its needed. This is the biggest drawback as per me.

Also, some points are explained in too much concise manner. Some points are explained in too much of detail.

And yes, not to forget about the errata list, its disgusting to find errors in mock exam questions.

The book is too like a .zip file, has lots and lots of data compressed in it.

I dont know why, but even though the book has a graphical nature, i find it dificult to remember things.

Also, it has some SHARPEN YOUR PENCIL exercises which expect you to fill in the blank coloumns out of nothing. I mean, the dont tick your brain much, as the authors expect.

But still i would like to say that it has ALL THAT ONE NEEDS TO PASS.,
but its clumsy at times.

[Bruno Kinoshita]

I disagree in some points and agree in others. The book really is like a Zip file, so I must read and understand it, like an uncompressor. About the images, did you read the Metacognition Preface? I believe that a picture is easier to remember than a lot of text. Maybe it did not work with you. HFSJ is a great book, but carries too much content.

Bruno Kinoshita.

[Vikrant Pandit]

Hmmm.... Here is what I think ...

"Great book for the freshers " ....
" Good book for the intermediate " .....

The book is like a zip file at times and unzipped at other times ....
Some topics are dealt in too short .....
but others are strecthed over pages ..... noisy book at times ....

[Bert Bates]

We appreciate all of your feedback guys. Even if it's not all good, we aim to make the next version better - so this really helps.

The only comment I will make is that if we were just going to write a book on Servlets and JSPs it wouldn't have been so big, and have so mich content, but we had to cover all the topics in the Sun exam, so it ended up getting pretty big.

If you have more specific comments like "topic X is too concise and topic Y is too verbose" we'd really like to hear them.

Thanks!

Bert

[Shivani Chandna]

Yes, I would like to state that the chapter on Custom Tags in not well dealt with. I had to refer to a lot of other sources to get the grasp on the subject. And same for Tag Files.

Also, chapter on JSP Document is non existent. Atleast a page or two for general info and understanding would have helped.

If one ignores the slight noise, the book is just perfect

Regards,
Shivani.

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Hi Bert,

Thanks for your reply. Yes i do also have the same opinion that the book lacks code snippets, where its very much necessary.

Also, at times the sequence of topics seems to be a bit clumsy. I remember that a full fledged example on custom tags was covered in a topic before custom tags itself.

I am at present reading the last chapter. I am getting a feeling that the stuff in it has a very very high level of ABSTRACTION.

Actualy there are a lot of other points that i think about the book.

Thanks,

[Niranjan Deshpande]

Hi Bert,

Thanks for your reply. Yes i do also have the same opinion that the book lacks code snippets, where its very much necessary.

Also, at times the sequence of topics seems to be a bit clumsy. I remember that a full fledged example on custom tags was covered in a topic before custom tags itself.

I am at present reading the last chapter. I am getting a feeling that the stuff in it has a very very high level of ABSTRACTION.

Actualy there are a lot of other points that i think about the book.

Thanks,

[Vikrant Pandit]

Definetly ... the chapter on design patterns definetly needs a lot of improvement ... It seems that the authors were under some deadline pressure and did not do full justice to the topics in that chapter....

[Niranjan Deshpande]

there are exercises where you are asked to fill in things like -

"what do you think is PROBLEM in this ? "

and they are asked at point in the book where have no CONTEXTUAL information about the question being asked.

another case - the THEORY on topic-FILTERS was OK fine
I read it comfortably
but the mock @ the end of the chapter, it sounded totally IRRELEVANT
i scored 16.66% in it.

Also, the SPEC page numbers mentioned next to the qnswers ( to mock exam )
sometimes dont match with the page numbers in the SPEC pdf files. I have cross checked with people to see to it that i am referring to the correct pdf files

Hey Bert, to make the discussion more concise, i will try to provide page numbers for all the issues that i have raised here.


Thanks