Taking SCJP in September. Should I go for 1.4 or 1.5?

Hello all

Just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

I'm a newbie to Java programming but have quite a lot of experience in scripting and procedural coding (JSP / Cold Fusion).

I'm planning to take the SCJP exam in late September, giving me just over 5 months to prepare.

I've got the Head First Java book (KS/BB second edition covering 1.5) as well as Beginning Java Objects by Jacquie Barker (great objects intro). I plan to purchase a certification-specific book once I've answered the following question:

I'd like to know whether you'd advise to go for the 1.5 exam or stick to the 1.4? My instinct is to go with whatever is newer but am worried that there might be a paucity of certification study material for the new exam, even though I won't be taking it for a few months.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

Thanks, David

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David Murphy
Java Neophyte
SCJP - planned for Sept '05

Well you don't have a choice. It will be only the 1.5 exam given in September.

Mark

Mark, do you have a reference for the information that "It will be only the 1.5 exam given in September"? The 1.2 exam has been around for a long time despite the introduction of the 1.4 exam. How do you know that the 1.4 exam will be gone by September?

Originally posted by David Murphy:
I'd like to know whether you'd advise to go for the 1.5 exam or stick to the 1.4? My instinct is to go with whatever is newer but am worried that there might be a paucity of certification study material for the new exam, even though I won't be taking it for a few months.

David, start learning from the books you have. If you want to take SCJP 1.4, you have to know that. If you want SCJP Tiger, you need to know it too. SCJP Tiger covers almost everything SCJP 1.4 has, introducing new jdk 5.0 features. So whichever exam you want to take, you must know all this 1.4 stuff. Then, after few months of learning and practicing, you wile decide on your own if you want to learn new 5.0 features or not - and that will be the answer to your question you ask today.
[ April 19, 2005: Message edited by: Adam Czysciak ]

Sun has always run previous exams in paralell with new ones for a significant amount of time and so I would be startled if the JDK 1.4 exam was not available in September.

The benefit of going for the 1.4 exam is that there is a very large amount of material both paid for and free to use for studying. The 1.5 material will have started to come through by then but there will not be as much.

Employers are not that clued up or fussy about which version you take, but four years down the track it would be nice to have 1.5 instead of 1.4. Your choice.
Marcus

Originally posted by Marcus Green:

Employers are not that clued up or fussy about which version you take, but four years down the track it would be nice to have 1.5 instead of 1.4. Your choice.
Marcus

Thanks for the info. I asked a question concerning 1.4 and the new exam and employers/employment a couple days ago in the thread 'SCJP 310-035 Test Validity' but didn't get a specific answer. Your answer here was what I suspected.

Pete.

hi
Till what period the SCJP1.4 will exists.
if i wrote 1.4 will its value degraded after the intro of 1.5

can i able to write SCWCD after writing 1.4.

when is the proposed date to remove the 1.4.

can anybody please know me the latest syllabus of 1.4
whats the difference between 1.4 and 1.5
[ April 19, 2005: Message edited by: Parameswaran Thangavel ]

Till what period the SCJP1.4 will exists.
if i wrote 1.4 will its value degraded after the intro of 1.5

It depends on your needs. Still, most of the companies are using J2SE 1.4, its value is still there. But for technology wise, getting certified in new technologies will be of some advantages.

can i able to write SCWCD after writing 1.4.

Yes, as the SCJP requirement does not specify which version to be taken.

when is the proposed date to remove the 1.4.

Based on the SCJP 1.2 experiences, SCJP 1.4 will not retire till next major J2SE version release.

can anybody please know me the latest syllabus of 1.4
whats the difference between 1.4 and 1.5

Why dont you simply check them out at SUN's homepage?
http://www.sun.com/training/certification/java/java_progj2se.html

Nick

hi nicholas

i am reading only K&B this is the content of the book is this is the certifikcation book which all members in ranch refer it as bible for the certification or some other edition exists

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Language Fundamentals

Chapter 2: Declarations and Access Control

Chapter 3: Operators and Assignments

Chapter 4: Flow Control, Exceptions, and Assertions

Chapter 5: Object Orientation, Overloading and Overriding, Constructors, and Return Types

Chapter 6: Java.lang�The Math Class, Strings, and Wrappers

Chapter 7: Objects and Collections

Chapter 8: Inner Classes

Chapter 9: Threads

peoples are talking about colleciton class but which is not covered by K&B what to do
[ April 19, 2005: Message edited by: Parameswaran Thangavel ]

In your post you have the following

Chapter 7: Objects and Collections

I think this means the book covers Collections

i am sorry marcus
i overlooked the contents

is this book helps for 1.4

is this book helps for 1.4

Yes, K&B's book is an excellent book for SCJP 1.4.

Nick