I passed SCWCD with 96%. I took the 1.3 exam. If you start down the road of taking an exam for every version of the jdk that comes out, you will end up repeating all the exams for the rest of your
Java career. Since jdk1.5 beta is out now, will we end up taking the exam for that version too? Also, if you go to the Sun CertManager website and login:
https://i7lp.integral7.com/durango/do/login?ownername=sun&channel=sun&basechannel=prometric you'll see that the exams are marked 'always valid', implying exam results used to have a shelf-life. From what I recall about taking my old SCJP exam back in March 2000, the shelf-life was about 2-3 years. That's right, they used to expire! (Notice how I passed the SCJP exam back in 2000 and yet Sun allowed me to sit for the much more recent SCWCD1.3 exam anyway). Sun now clearly states that all exam results are always valid, so I see no real need to keep up with the latest and greatest jdk for exam taking.(Unless there is a tremendous difference between versions, e.g. newer
servlets no longer compile in old container, or something).
Anyway, if you do decide on the 1.4 exam, then as a previous poster stated, virtually all the books are all based on 1.3. The differences are noticeable; 1.4 includes Filters, and there is no SingleThreadModel marker interface in 1.4 anymore. I cannot think of any other differences, although I'm sure there are a few more small discrepancies. Be careful with commercial exam simulators too, make sure you purchase the right version. Good luck!
-jeff walker