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How fit Head First Java book with SCJD requirements?

 
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Dear all,

this is my first email here at SCJD, so I like to say hello to all in the SCJD corner.

I take this opportunity to put my first question to you. Do you think that Kathy's book Head First Java (HFJ) covers the SCJD requirements?

To my opinion it does, except the OO design section.

Do you agree? Or am I completely wrong ?

Regards,
Darya
 
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Head First Java is a pretty good book for covering many Java topics, and it does talk about some of the skills you will need for the SCJD, such as RMI. But if you are preparing to take the SCJD, I would recommend The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4 , commonly referred to as Max's Book. It does a better job of preparing you for the types of challenges you will meet during the assignment. Better yet, use them both!
 
Darya Akbari
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Hello Paul,

I already read the HFJ book. Now after reading the K&B book and passing the SCJP 1.4 exam the HFJ book came again into my mind that it would in great parts cover the SCJD. However that is only my first impression after reading about the SCJD requirements from Sun.

Right now I just have continued with the K&B SCJD part to finish this book. I remember comparing the Max and K&B books at JavaRanch that the K&B book got 10 from 10 horseshoes at JavaRanch while the Max book got 8 from 10.

Can someone explain why that is

Regards,
Darya
 
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I read both when I prepared for SCJD.

Personally, K&B focus on general design issue (and it is only part of the book, the main focus of the book is SCJP), and Max focus on all basic requirements (must requirements) and covers all objectives for SCJD.

I suggest Max's book as the core reference and K&B as supplementary readings.

Nick
 
Darya Akbari
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Hello Nicholas,

would you say that what the K&B book is for the SCJP exam, Max book is for the SCJD? I just want to remember that the Max book is from year 2002.

What are the main differences between these two books (Max and K&B)? And what do you think about the HFJ book?

Regards,
Darya
 
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If I may:

I think Kathy & Bert do an fantastic job in every one of their books, and I'd recommend them to anybody. However, we do take different approaches with regards to the SCJD. My book is more technical, insofar as the SCJD is concerned, and digs pretty deeply into the nuts and bolts of the project. The KB, on the other hand, gives excellent and solid advice on general considerations, and frankly, addresses that area much better than my book does.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is no best book. It's a matter of the best book for you. I suggest that you take about fifteen minutes the next time you're at your local bookstore, browse through both, and see which one is the best fit for your needs.

Or better yet, buy both

All best,
M
[ February 22, 2005: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]
 
Darya Akbari
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Hello Max,

I'll try to find your book in one of our bookstores here in Germany.

Of course I understand you when you say buy them both . However I hope you understand me when I try not to buy things twice . At least not when it is not really necessary.

Can you say that your sample project as it is presented in your book would pass the SCJD exam itself? Could I use your book (or better your sample project) as a reference like I did with the K&B book self tests for the SCJP exam and build my own assignment project according to yours?

When you say yes, I can spare the time to find a bookstore and I straight order it from Amazon.com

Something else, looking to Sun's SCJD site and the training they offer for SCJD and reading the K&B SCJD part indicates that Object Oriented Analysis and Design (OOAD) is a hot topic for SCJD. Now OOAD is something I did online at UCSC Extension (Santa Cruz) til last christmas, following an advise from Dan Chisholm. Creating a good object model is not an easy task and I wonder that this is only the lowest weighted part in the exam because to my opinion this is the foundation for any other category.

Categories - Maximum points
General Considerations - 100
Documentation - 70
Object-Oriented Design - 30
GUI - 40
Locking - 80
Data Store - 40
Network Server - 40


These are my questions running around in my head. But when you say my book is a reference for the SCJD exam, then it would change the whole issue for me and I could take your book as a reference.

Regards,
Darya
 
Max Habibi
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Dara-Jon,

The following are Kathy's Amazon comments

title:This is the best developer cert book!, January 14, 2003[/qb[
[qb]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 gift certificate in your lap, well, then might as well get both ; )
 
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Hallo Darya,

It will be easy to buy this book at amazon.de instead of amazon.com when you live in Germany.

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590590309/qid=1109175105/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/302-5468918-2598431


Lena
 
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Originally posted by Darya Akbari:
Hello Max,

I'll try to find your book in one of our bookstores here in Germany.


I've found Amazon Germany mostly cheaper than bookstore.
I got mine for 20.30 Euro. Now offers are at 29.80 Euro.
http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/detail/offer-listing/-/1590590309/all/ref=ufu_lmi_/028-9496007-5489363
I wasn't sure first, but from my experience one can trust those cheap amazon book importers (better deal than regular amazon.de price)
Not sure if I am going to have time & energy to take the exam soon, but I can recommend the book, especially for exam canditates. Have made it to page 200 or so and am going to finish this weekend. Gave some for me new insights in the "bread & butter stuff" like threads/ serialization & RMI. Good writing style. Its not Head First. Kind of more exam focussed and technical. Nevertheless definitively not a dry read. I especially liked some examples from real world to make the points clearer and a few concise diagrams I haven't seen elsewhere.

Axel
[ February 23, 2005: Message edited by: Axel Janssen ]
 
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Kathy and I continue to recommend that if you can buy only one book for this certification, buy Max's! Our SCJD info is really supplemental - Max's really has the juicy stuff.
 
Darya Akbari
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Mehran (Max) jan, pesar goli,

seems to me your answer is YES to my questions

Ok Ok, I'm going to buy this book (be khoda agar rad misham miyam donbalet). Forget the last sentence that was only for Max .

Regards,
Darya
 
Darya Akbari
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Bert,

donbale to ham miyam. Max translate

Regards,
Darya
 
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Hi everyone,

You can read more comments by Kathy on Max's book, and Max on Kathy's book here.

If you are purchasing through Amazon, how would you feel about JavaRanch getting a referers fee?

All you need to do is add jr_bunk-20 into the URL after the ASIN number, and Amazon will recognise JavaRanch as the referer. For example, the URL to Max's book becomes:

http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/detail/offer-listing/-/1590590309/jr_bunk-20

This does work on the USA Amazon site. I assume it works on the other language sites as well.

Regards, Andrew
 
Darya Akbari
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I already placed the order. However I asked Amazon.com support to add the referers fee.

Who is jr_bunk-20? I hope it is JavaRanch itself and not someone who like to collect some bonus points due to my kindness

Regards,
Darya
 
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Originally posted by Darya Akbari:
I already placed the order. However I asked Amazon.com support to add the referers fee.

Who is jr_bunk-20? I hope it is JavaRanch itself and not someone who like to collect some bonus points due to my kindness

Regards,
Darya



Darya,
I guess it'll be contributed to a part of the hosting and server maintenance expense to run the Ranch... This is one of the ways that we can help the Ranch back to be able to run for a long long time...
 
Darya Akbari
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Hi Ko Ko,

I have absolute no problem with this. This site is giving a lot to me and of course I would use Andrew's suggest to give something back to JavaRanch.

Andrew,

I placed the order at Amazon.com so I am not sure whether it works out. Amazon Support told me that a transfer between different Amazon sites is not possible.

Can you explain me the concept of the bonus program (referer fee?) at Amazon? By this I could more argue with Amazon.com Support.

Regards,
Darya
 
Max Habibi
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It's not really worth arguing with them, but here's the deal:

When Amazon knows that you went to them because we suggested it, they give JavaRanch a few pennies. Eventually, those pennies add up, and Paul(who owns JavaRanch), can get a server upgrade, or whatever we need. This helps keep the site free. That's pretty much the whole deal.

All best,
M
 
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Hi Darya,

Who is jr_bunk-20? I hope it is JavaRanch itself and not someone who like to collect some bonus points due to my kindness



As Max said, all money from the jr_bunk-20 identifier goes to Paul, and he allocates it to new hardware / paying the bill for the hosting service / paying for bandwidth etc. Basically all the things that are needed to keep JavaRanch alive. So far we have been lucky that day to day expenses seem to be covered. Every so often we need a major upgrade of hardware, in which case we do a special fundraising drive.

There are a number of identifiers that Amazon have allocated to Paul, and we could use any of them. The jr_bunk-20 just seems to be the one we use the most (from memory it was originally for the JavaRanch Bunkhouse) but we seem to ignore most of the other alternatives these days.

If you create a link that lists JavaRanch as an explicit referer (as I did before) then we get a little bit of money from Amazon. If you then click on another link on the Amazon site and purchase that book (e.g. purchasing Kathy & Bert's book) JavaRanch will still get a little bit of a referrer's fee, but not as much as a direct link.

Regards, Andrew
 
Darya Akbari
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Hello Andrew,

I think for this one (Max book) it's already to late . In future I'll check first with The Bunkhouse at JavaRanch before I get a book.

Regards,
Darya
 
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I would add a third book to the mix for newbies to OOP:

Beginning Java Objects: From Concept to Code by Jaqui Barker

This book, like Max's, takes a sample project and uses Java and OOA/D to first design then build the project. I come from a procedural programming background, and this book brought me quickly up to speed on many of the OO concepts and, more importantly, how they apply to a Java project. (Such as SCJD!)

That would give you:

Max's book for in-depth exam topic coverage.
KathyBert SierraBates for general considerations.
Barker's book for OOA/D and applying it to a Java project.

Good luck all!
 
Andrew Monkhouse
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Hi Jeff,

I would add a third book to the mix for newbies to OOP:

Beginning Java Objects: From Concept to Code by Jaqui Barker



Thanks. I have added it to our JavaRanch SCJD Reading Material FAQ.

Regards, Andrew
 
Jeff Bosch
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Hi, Andrew -

I'm glad you're adding this one to the list. The book's especially valuable for people like me who have come from an extensive procedural background and who need to learn the OOA/D way of doing things and how that information relates directly to a requirements statement and to Java itself. Beginning Java Objects brought me up to speed where several other books failed, possibly because they already assumed OO experience.
 
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