This weeks Giveaway

[Carl Trusiak]

This week we are giving away 4 copies of the book "SCWCD Exam Study Kit"
And the best part... The Authors, Hanumant Deshmukh, Jignesh Malavia and Paul Anil, will be online to answer your questions!
Lets give them a warm JavaRanch welcome.
Thanks to the people at Manning Publications Co. for the book's!

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Hello Everybody!
Thank you for your warm welcome and support. It's a pleasure to participate in this forum. We hope that SCWCD Exam Study kit will be helpful to everybody preparing for the SCWCD exam.
Please do post your questions and concerns and we'll try to address them.
Best of luck,
Hanumant.

[Ren Li]

Hi Hanumant,
Could you please tell how your book is different from Java 2 Web Developer Certification Study Guide? And please post the table of contents of your book. Thanks.
Ren

[Kevin Thompson]

Great! I sure would like to win it. I sure NEED to win it.
1. How do I become eligible for the giveaway?
2. You do this every week?
3. Is there some other place on javaranch that has details about giveaway eligibility, weekly giveaways, etc.?
thanks!
[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Kevin Thompson ]

[Raj Paul]

Hi Hanumant,
I have read the sample chapters,it was just wonderful. I am very much interested to read chapter on Taglibs. But i couldn't get the book.
Can you give us some light on that.
Thanks & Regards
Mike

[Jessica Sant]

1. How do I become eligible for the giveaway?
You're eligible if you have a valid Display Name (which you do) and you post in the SCWCD forum during the giveaway week.
2. You do this every week?
Practically -- check out the July Newsletter it lists this month's giveaways.
3. Is there some other place on javaranch that has details about giveaway eligibility, weekly giveaways, etc.?
-- yup -- check out the link to the newsletter above!
Enjoy!

[Dave Vick]

Kevin
Jess gave you the low down on the give away, for all the nitty gritty details check out the book promo page.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Ren Li:
Hi Hanumant,
Could you please tell how your book is different from Java 2 Web Developer Certification Study Guide? And please post the table of contents of your book. Thanks.
Ren

Hi Ren,
I haven't received that book yet so I'll not be able to compare it just yet. However here are some points that I would like to mention:
1. We have included some useful appendices like Exam Quick Prep for last day cramming, Tomcat Installation, Intro to XML, A sample web.xml that shows all the elements.
2. Besides including the 3 tests from JWebPlus, API, Specifications, and Tomcat, we have also included some relevant RFCs on the CD for people who want to go in more details.
3. To make the book more useful, we have also covered topics like Filters which I think they haven't.
Some of the ranchers who have received the book may be better able to comment on the above points.
You can see the TOC for our book here
thanks,
Hanumant.

[Srini Vasu]

Hanumanth,
1) To pass this exam, what shold be the level that one should have in related subjects?
2) How your book helps to reach that lever?
3) What are the required topics needed to this exam and is your book covers all of those?
Thanks,
Srini.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Mike Kumar:
Hi Hanumant,
I have read the sample chapters,it was just wonderful. I am very much interested to read chapter on Taglibs. But i couldn't get the book.
Can you give us some light on that.
Thanks & Regards
Mike

Thanks for the appreciation. The book is printed and copies have been shipped to Amazon already. You can buy it from Amazon or from www.manning.com.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Srini Vasu:
Hanumanth,
1) To pass this exam, what shold be the level that one should have in related subjects?
2) How your book helps to reach that lever?
3) What are the required topics needed to this exam and is your book covers all of those?
Thanks,
Srini.

1. The exam tests on the understanding of the basic concepts. So a person need not have a lot of industry experience in developing JSP/Servlets. But that does not mean you need not code anything at all. You will need to write a lot of small JSPs/Servlets to get a feel of the technology.
2. For people who are new to this topic, we have provided three chapters that give a basic idea of what JSP/Servlet are all about. After that, the chapters correspond to the exam objectives. This ensures that we stay focused and don't miss any topic. We have tried to give small and focused examples that are easy to run and play around with.
3. Since the chapters of our book correspond to the exam objectives given by Sun, we believe that we have covered each and every topic that is required for the exam. You can check out the Exam Objectives to see what topics are needed for the exam.
thanks,
Hanumant.
[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Hanumant Deshmukh ]

[Donald Wedding]

I have awaited your book for many months. Now that it's out, I am already hearing good (great!) things about it. I'll be purchasing it this week (unless I win the book giveaway).
As for Sybex, I am skeptical that it will be any good. I purchased Philip Heller's book on the "SCJP/SCJD" exam in order to prepare for my "SCJD" certification. I found it next to worthless. He'll not get my business again!
Has anybody who purchased Sybex found an improvement in the quality over the last book?

[philip,angles]

Does the book ordered from Amanzon.com also contain Jweb+?

[philip,angles]

Sorry, i got the answer from Amazon.com:
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Aimed at helping Java developers, Servlet/JSP developers, and J2EE developers pass the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (SCWCD), this guide covers all the important aspects of the Servlet and JSP technology including Design Patterns and Filters. Also covered are the installation of Tomcat and the basics of XML, and Exam Quick Prep for refreshing important concepts at the last minute. The accompanying CD includes JWebPlus, the exam simulator from Enthuware that contains three full size tests on the SCWCD pattern. More than 300 questions in the form of Quizlets, Review Questions, and JWebPlus are included

[Tybon Wu]

Hi. Does SCWCD Exam Study Kit use UML? For the mock exams on the CD, are there answers with explations or just answers? And an off-topic question, how long did it take you to write this book? Thanks
[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Tybon Wu ]

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Tybon Wu:
Hi. Does SCWCD Exam Study Kit use UML?

No.

For the mock exams on the CD, are there answers with explations or just answers?

Yes, JWebPlus includes detailed explanation of the question as a whole as well as brief explanations for options whereever appropriate telling why that particular option is right or wrong.

And an off-topic question, how long did it take you to write this book? Thanks

About 8 months.

[Mike Cunningham]

There are always several books that roll out on each certification. Then people ask around which is the best, which has the most errors, etc. I was wondering if you have tested your book out on someone who is relatively new to the topics on the SCWCD exam. Then had that person take the test to see if your book can get the reader the certification they are stiving for. I would think that might be a decent approach for a durability test on the book. Instead of that approach, I suspect you just take the exam several times and reword the material so that it is covered in a similar (but not duplicate) manner. If you can shed any light on how you know your book covers all the necessary material that would be helpful.

[Frank Shaw]

Hi Hanumant,
I'm very interested in using your book as the main study guide for the exam. Is there any other material you would recommand as a supplement to the SCWCD Exam Study Kit?
Thanks,
Frank

[Thomas Kijftenbelt]

Hi,
Have a look at the SCWCD links page:
http://www.javaranch.com/scwcdlinks.jsp
I am currently reading "More Servlets & Java Server Pages", and it really is a great book... if you consider buying a book in addition to a exam study guide, I would recommend this one!
Greetings,
TK
SCJP

[Laurie Haischer]

How could this tool be best used to prepare for the SJWDC? In other words, what is a good strategy or "recipe for success" using this kit?
Thanks,
Laurie Haischer

[Bernd Stransky]

Hi,
I purchased the JWeb+ SCWCD test suite which includes the exam kit book in pdf format. I really like what I have seen so far.
The CD of course is not included (it is not possible to copy/paste) so all examples I would like to test need to be 'hand-coded'.
Question: Is there a way to download the data/examples which is on the CD?
Thanks,
Bernd
SCJP

[Jaspreet Singh UK]

just email JWeb+ tech support and they will send you all the examples!
Jas

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Mike Cunningham:
There are always several books that roll out on each certification. Then people ask around which is the best, which has the most errors, etc. I was wondering if you have tested your book out on someone who is relatively new to the topics on the SCWCD exam. Then had that person take the test to see if your book can get the reader the certification they are stiving for.
I would think that might be a decent approach for a durability test on the book.
Instead of that approach, I suspect you just take the exam several times and reword the material so that it is covered in a similar (but not duplicate) manner. If you can shed any light on how you know your book covers all the necessary material that would be helpful.

And I agree with you on this. But it is quite difficult to implement because it is just like the chicken and egg problem You can't test the book before it is ready. However, it is not that bad with this book because:
1. We had a good experience with JWebPlus. After reading customer feedback, we think that it does cover almost all that is required. So when we started writing the book, we already had the required material and experience about what to include and what not to include.
2. The book is also reviewed by about 10 technical reviewers [Thank you]. In fact, most of them are avid javaranchers who know about this exam (you'll find their names in the Ack )
3. To ensure that we don't miss anything, we organized the chapters and the sections of the book exactly as per the exam objectives.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Laurie Haischer:
How could this tool be best used to prepare for the SJWDC? In other words, what is a good strategy or "recipe for success" using this kit?
Thanks,
Laurie Haischer

This is the page you are looking for

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Bernd Stransky:
Hi,
I purchased the JWeb+ SCWCD test suite which includes the exam kit book in pdf format. I really like what I have seen so far.
The CD of course is not included (it is not possible to copy/paste) so all examples I would like to test need to be 'hand-coded'.
Question: Is there a way to download the data/examples which is on the CD?
Thanks,
Bernd
SCJP

You can download the examples from here.

[Sudha Deshmukh]

Hi Hanumant,
1. Is the SCWCD Exam Guide self-sufficient to pass the exam or Is it more kind of a reference material.
2. Does the book contain a lot of sample applications, Jsp's and servlets to practice for.
3. Is the book meant for beginners or experienced programmers.
4 .Is it just enough to just know java programming to read this book.
Thanks
Sudha.

[Roy Cantos]

Originally posted by Thomas Kijftenbelt:
Hi,
Have a look at the SCWCD links page:
http://www.javaranch.com/scwcdlinks.jsp
I am currently reading "More Servlets & Java Server Pages", and it really is a great book... if you consider buying a book in addition to a exam study guide, I would recommend this one!
Greetings,
TK
SCJP

Yes, i'm supplementing the SCWCD exam kit by More Serlvets and JSP

[Tao Liu]

Hanumant,
Your book will definately help us a lot for the SCWCD exam. I have read the two sample chapters, which shows a lot attractive features of a good book. I am wondering whether there will be an acompaning booklet, which sketches the key ideas and points covered in the book and elaborate a little bit on common pitfalls and traps. I believe this kind of things will be a great help for passing the exam.
Many thanks,
tao

[Sam Tilley]

Hi,
Your book looks great and from what i can see here the necessary material to pass the exam seems to be JWebPlus and More Servlets & Java Server Pages and your book, would you concur with this??
On the down side over here over here in the UK we do not yet have your book, do you have any idea when it will be published over here (i am quite happy to be your first UK reviewer if you like )... Otherwise is there a way of getting a printable PDF version or something to tide me over before i take the exam??
I am currently working in Servlets but have little experience in JSP, which has the greater emphasis in the exam or is it 50-50 and how much relevance is placed on servers (is Tomcat the important one?) and XML (which thankfully you seem to cover)???
Thanks
[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: Sam Tilley ]

[Robert Gordon]

Well, I am based in London, and have checked with WaterStones, they can arrange the book for you. Similarly, you can get the book from Amazon.co.uk as well.

[Juanjo Bazan]

Hi Hanumant, thanks for share your time with us,
I would like to ask you what do you think about the future trends on sun certification exams.
Do you think there will be more different exams covering 'little' areas of java? Do you think that specialization will make this certifications more or less valuable/useful?
And concerning the JCWCD...from your experience, how do you think the companies value this cert?.
Thank you.

[Pam Ginther]

Good Morning,
I have been programming in Java for 1 1/2 years and passed the Sun Certified Programmer exam in October (by the skin of my teeth). I came from a Cobol background. I am now interested in studying for the SCWCD exam. My department just purchased More Servlets & JSP by Marty Hall and I plan on either winning or purchasing the SCWCD Exam Study Kit. Does the exam strictly focus on the web component issues or are there questions on basic java fundamentals as well? Should I review the programmer material in addition to the web component material? Thank you in advance for your time.
Pam

[JeanLouis Marechaux]

Originally posted by Juanjo Bazan:

And concerning the JCWCD...from your experience, how do you think the companies value this cert?.
Thank you.

My feeling is that it really depend on the country where you live.
Some have a "certification culture", other don't.
Moreover, I guess (I hope ) the certification by itself is not valuable.
What you need first is practical experience. Then you can talk about certs.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Sudha Deshmukh:
Hi Hanumant,
1. Is the SCWCD Exam Guide self-sufficient to pass the exam or Is it more kind of a reference material.

Yes, the goal of the book is to be the one stop resource to prepare for the SCWCD exam. We do not think you'll anything else other than the book and the accompanying CD.

2. Does the book contain a lot of sample applications, Jsp's and servlets to practice for.

It does not contain big applications but it contains a lot of small and runnable JSPs and servlet. Every example focuses on the topic at hand. They are also given on the CD.

3. Is the book meant for beginners or experienced programmers.

It is meant for people who are studying for the exam. Now, the reason I say this is, even experienced people have difficulty in passing the exam because we do not use a lot of functionality that is covered in the exam in day to day coding. So it will be useful to the experienced programmers as well.
We have provided first three chapters for the beginners who are totally new to JSP/Servlets. These three chapter explain the basic concepts about JSP, Servlet and the HTTP protocol. These are the chapters where we discuss the standard "Hello World" servlet/jsp from multiple angles.

4 .Is it just enough to just know java programming to read this book.

Yes. Experienced people may not need to run the examples but if you have never coded any servlet/jsps then you should actually run and play with the given examples.
thanks,
Hanumant.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Frank Shaw:
Hi Hanumant,
I'm very interested in using your book as the main study guide for the exam. Is there any other material you would recommand as a supplement to the SCWCD Exam Study Kit?
Thanks,
Frank

Actually, no If your goal is to pass the exam, you'll get everything you need in the book and the included CD. In general, I would say, you should consult the Servlet and JSP specifications whenever in doubt. Of course, they are included in the CD too

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by tao liu:
Hanumant,
Your book will definately help us a lot for the SCWCD exam. I have read the two sample chapters, which shows a lot attractive features of a good book. I am wondering whether there will be an acompaning booklet, which sketches the key ideas and points covered in the book and elaborate a little bit on common pitfalls and traps. I believe this kind of things will be a great help for passing the exam.
Many thanks,
tao

There is no accompanying booklet but there is about 40 page appendix named "Exam Quick Prep". This appendix has exactly what you are looking for. It gives a collection of key concepts and corresponding "gotchas" that you should look for in the exam. This is also organized as per the exam objectives.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Sam Tilley:
Hi,
Your book looks great and from what i can see here the necessary material to pass the exam seems to be JWebPlus and More Servlets & Java Server Pages and your book, would you concur with this??

Yes, although we believe that the SCWCD Traning Kit is sufficient since it covers all the objectives and comes with 3 JWebPlus tests, "More..." is a good book to have if you want another book.

On the down side over here over here in the UK we do not yet have your book, do you have any idea when it will be published over here (i am quite happy to be your first UK reviewer if you like )... Otherwise is there a way of getting a printable PDF version or something to tide me over before i take the exam??

I am not sure why Amzon has not started selling yet. The copies were delivered to them last week itself.
I think Manning has started selling the ebook. I don't think it is printable though. Please send an email to [e-mail] to get more details.

I am currently working in Servlets but have little experience in JSP, which has the greater emphasis in the exam or is it 50-50 and how much relevance is placed on servers (is Tomcat the important one?) and XML (which thankfully you seem to cover)???

1. There is no reference to servlet container or XML. BUT, you need to know a little bit about both. You need a servlet container to practice and you need basic XML knowledge to understand the DTDs for web.xml and *.tld files. Since, Tomcat is free, easy to install and conforms to the specs, it is good enough to practice.
2. Questions on servlets are more on a conceptual level, there is not much of a syntax to worry about.[You still need to know the API though]. JSP seems a little tougher because of the Syntax based questions such as how do you write an include directive (and in the options, you have the JSP syntax as well as the XML syntax ). For a person who has never written JSP pages, it gets confusing sometimes. Then there are Custom Tags too. So yes, that way you need to put more effort on the JSP related sections.

[Sumit Amar]

It's a great offer from JavaRanch, but more importantly, it's significant to have Hemant, answering queries.
I am planning to take this exam, but since there is no certification guide sort of a book, I haven't yet started.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Juanjo Bazan:
Hi Hanumant, thanks for share your time with us,
I would like to ask you what do you think about the future trends on sun certification exams.
Do you think there will be more different exams covering 'little' areas of java? Do you think that specialization will make this certifications more or less valuable/useful?
And concerning the JCWCD...from your experience, how do you think the companies value this cert?.
Thank you.

1. From my experience, I have seen that the value of a certificate varies from manager to manager. Some managers, usually from non-technical background, feel good about a candidate if she is certified in the relevant area while some, usually from hard core technical background, hate certifications...or well, don't give any importance.
Now, in this kind of market, one faces many interviews till one gets a job so I think it is better to be certified. Also, before you even face a client, you've to pass through the middle parties and they almost always ask if you have any kind of certification.
2. Since the enhancement of the technology is going on at a very rapid rate, it is very difficult for one person to know everything. In such a scenerio, I believe, specialized certification will be more sought after. For example, companies using WebLogic will definitely prefer a BEA certified developer. But again, this is at a developer level. As you go up, at an architect level, you do not need to know how to configure the DD, but you are expected to have an overall idea of all the technologies.
3. In many cases, industrial web applications also involve writing EJBs but SCWCD does not cover this area. And this, I think, is the only limiting factor for this exam. Because usually, such projects do not have a separate servlet developer and an EJB developer. I think, either they should have another exam focusing on EJBs (for developers, not architects) or add it in the SCWCD.

[Hanumant Deshmukh]

Originally posted by Pam Ginther:

Does the exam strictly focus on the web component issues or are there questions on basic java fundamentals as well?

No, the exam strictly focuses on the JSP/Servlet issues. However, for certain topics such as Multi Threading, you should first have a clear understanding on Threads in Java.

Should I review the programmer material in addition to the web component material? Thank you in advance for your time.
Pam

No, that is not needed.