Any reviews of this book?

[Harkaran Bedi]

Hi,
I'm thinking of purchasing the following book:
Java 1.4 and the Sun Certified Developer Exam by Mehran Habibi, Jeremy Patterson, Terry Camerlengo.
I couldn't find more than one review of this book. If anybody has read/bought it, then I'd really like your opinion on how good it is.
I'm new to the developer forum and am going to be a regular visitor now that I have decided to take on the SCJD!
Thanks,
-Karan.

[Joe Man]

Karan,
The book is pretty good. It covers alot important components needed for SCJD. Especially the Threads component, it cover more then what is needed. However, two things i'm not 100% satisfy.
First:
The sample project source code is not ready yet. So you can't download it. At least not right now.
Second:
The sample code in the book is not 100% clear after reading it. Especially the variables being declared and used. I kind of get confused after reading the souce code and try to understand what the author is trying to focus on.
However, the text itself is very good. After reading few chapters, you will know what you need to accomplish and prepare for the real thing. I just hope the new SCJD 1.4 project(coming soon) will allow you to use all those things mentioned in the book. I just hope...

-JM

[Anonymous]

One of those authors (Mehran Habibi perhaps) is a frequent contributor to JavaRanch discussions. Check out his posts.
I used the RHE book and was quite satisfied with it. Seems like most of what is in there would be applicable to the 1.4 test.

[Samual Harvey]

I have already ordered the book and will update my review shortly.
Thanks.

[Mark Spritzler]

I just started reading it myself and will also leave a review.
Mark

[Rich Mills]

I started reading it last week to prepare for SCJD, so far I'm finding it very useful, as it has been over a year since I wrote the Programmer exam.
The source code is now availiable for download from www.apress.com
Rich

[Nate Johnson]

Too bad the source code is password protected

[Max Habibi]

Nate,
well, I guess that depends on who you ask
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4
[ September 24, 2002: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]

[Junilu Lacar]

Max, I just read you guys' bios. Imagine that, practically in my own backyard (my house is off of Sancus, just a mile or so south of the Bank One HQ). So, all three of you are Buckeyes, huh. How about that game with UC last Saturday? Close shave...
Would you guys be interested in doing a session for CoJUG? It can be any topic you want. I can hook you up with the guy who runs it, if you don't already know him. He works for ODJFS at the Air Center on Fifth Ave (my current assignment).

[Max Habibi]

Originally posted by Junilu Lacar:
Max, I just read you guys' bios. Imagine that, practically in my own backyard (my house is off of Sancus, just a mile or so south of the Bank One HQ). So, all three of you are Buckeyes, huh. How about that game with UC last Saturday? Close shave...

Yeah it was. I'm more of a soccer fan, but Terry's kind of a nut for football. Drop me a line if you want to get together for lunch sometime, and we'll discuss the merits of each .

Would you guys be interested in doing a session for Cojug? It can be any topic you want. I can hook you up with the guy who runs it, if you don't already know him. He works for ODJFS at the Air Center on Fifth Ave (my current assignment).

Actually, I already spoke at cojug earlier this year: the topic was threading. I'm a little busy right now. I'm teaching two SCJP 1.4 courses @ Franklin University, just got back from lecturing in europe two weeks ago, might teach a SCJD course next quarter, have two books in the oven for December(one's a secret, the other's a SCJP 1.4 book), in addition to a full time job.
But sure, I'd love to speak again .
Drop me a line @ [e-mail]. Do you know Brian Sam-Bodden? He's pretty heavily into Cojug, and he was our Lead Tech Editor for the book. Brian's a very sharp guy, and a hell of a martial artist: I'm still sore from rolling with him at his Brazilian Ju jitsu school a few months ago.
all best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4
[ September 25, 2002: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]

[Lasse Koskela]

Is this book good for the old (1.2?) certification. I've downloaded the assignment some time ago, but started working on it just recently and I'm looking into buying some kind of a guide to assist me in the process.

[Max Habibi]

Hi Lasse,
I'm glad to hear that you're taking on the SCJD. To answer your question: Yes.
One of the clearest goals of our book was to help with the existing exam. if you're looking for a step by step, how to approach, then you might want to thumb through it at the local bookstore, and see if it's consistant with the way you learn.
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4

[Lasse Koskela]

Thanks Max,
I think I'll pick up the book tomorrow after work.

[Max Habibi]

Good Luck with the Exam. Drop me note and let me know how it's working out for you. I can be reached @ [e-mail].
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4

[Pete Lyons]

I read this one and overall found it pretty helpful. I do think that $50 is too expensive, though, especially for a book whose shelf-life as a reference book is significantly less than most of the better O'Reilly Java books. I agree that the material on Threading was the strong point. I found several type-o's in the Logging section and thought that not mentioning log4j was a serious oversight. It also really pisses me off when authors write about a new API by going over the methods 1 by 1 and explaining what they do. That's what javadoc is for. We want overall strategies, guidelines, and wisdom gained by using the API in many situations in real programs; we know how to look up method signatures. This book suffers from that do a degree (not awful though).

[Max Habibi]

Originally posted by Pete Lyons:
I read this one and overall found it pretty helpful. I do think that $50 is too expensive,

I'm pretty sure it's about $30 through Amazon.

though, especially for a book whose shelf-life as a reference book is significantly less than most of the better O'Reilly Java books. I agree that the material on Threading was the strong point.

To be honest, our goal to provide material on Threading, Swing, RMI, and IO that you could use in the future as reference material. But I'm glad that you liked the Threading section, since I wrote that material.

I found several type-o's in the Logging section and thought that not mentioning log4j was a serious oversight.

Actually, using log4J is a serious oversight that will cause your exam to be failed immediately, since it's not part of the standard Java package.
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4

[Pete Lyons]

Originally posted by Max Habibi:

Actually, using log4J is a serious oversight that will cause your exam to be failed immediately, since it's not part of the standard Java package.

Yes, I know you can't use it in the exam, but on p. 44 the 4th paragraph from the bottom, you discuss what people did before J2SE1.4, and do not mention log4j, which AFAIK served as a model for the J2SE implementation (after serious complaints and a petition about the weakness of Sun's original implementation). I just feel that it should have been mentioned in addition to the commercial APIs and in-house solutions, as well as perhaps mentioning its usefulness on projects where J2SE 1.4 is not guaranteed to be available. That's all.
About the price, after I lost my job I went into new certification panic mode and walked directly to Barnes and Noble so I could get started that night, so I think I payed somewhere around $50 for it. It was worth it for the level of detail it provided about the exam, so I knew what I was getting into before coughing up $250, but I would have been happier paying $24.99
Cheers,
Pete

[Max Habibi]

Originally posted by Pete Lyons:

Yes, I know you can't use it in the exam, but on p. 44 the 4th paragraph from the bottom, you discuss what people did before J2SE1.4, and do not mention log4j, which AFAIK served as a model for the J2SE implementation (after serious complaints and a petition about the weakness of Sun's original implementation). I just feel that it should have been mentioned in addition to the commercial APIs and in-house solutions, as well as perhaps mentioning its usefulness on projects where J2SE 1.4 is not guaranteed to be available. That's all.
Pete

Ahh, I see where you're coming from now: We actually struggled with this quite a bit. That is, what material to leave in because it's useful, and what material to remove because it was not directly relevant. For example we had(IMO) an excellent chapter on XML, but decided to leave it out, because it wasn't directly relevant. In hindsight, I'm comfortable with our direction, and I think we've produced a book what will of some use to the Java community.
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4
[ September 29, 2002: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]

[Tom Doyle]

I found the book to be well worth the financial and reading time investment. I have refactored several aspects of my solution based upon concepts I found in their sample project. For example, my original record locking code was reduced in size by at least half from some thoughts that their narrative inspired.
Don't buy this book if you are expecting to simply parrot their code as it addresses the high level requirements of the SCJD without giving away the specific solution.
Due to work-related travel I had not touched my SCJD project for several months This book was an excellent tool to help me brush the rust off of my Java skills and finally complete the project.
My hat is off to the authors for a valuable aid in the SCJD process.
Tom Doyle
Ohio State University '76

[Max Habibi]

Thanks Tom, I'm glad you found the book useful: Specially since you're a fellow buckeye . If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a line @ [e-mail].
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4
[ September 30, 2002: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]