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Tips for learning API content

 
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Hi Ranchers,

I'm wondering what tips and techniques you used for learning API contents?

Unlike the other concepts, like OO, threads, flow control etc, these require just rote memorization... and there are SO MANY methods of SO MANY classes... I just find it impossible to remember signature of all the important methods. My least favorites - IO, Serializable, Formatting & Parsing.... oh, the list is too long.

So, how do you manage to remember the right methods (AND their arguments, AND their return type) for these classes/interfaces? Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated !!
 
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I don't remember them all. I remember that they exist, or even guess that they might exist, and then I look up the details, if I need to know them. Or I get my IDE to look up the details for me.
 
Nidhi Sar
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Paul Clapham wrote:I don't remember them all. I remember that they exist, or even guess that they might exist, and then I look up the details, if I need to know them. Or I get my IDE to look up the details for me.



Yes, that's what I do exactly... but IDE and online API docs are not available in the exam... so I was asking from the point of view of exam.
 
Paul Clapham
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Oh, sorry, I didn't realize I had strayed into the SCJP section. I have no idea how many classes and methods you have to memorize the names of (if any) so I have no suggestions.
 
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Hi Nidhi,

I'll give you some ideas, AND I'd like to hear what ranchers who have taken the exam think...

First off, you don't need to memorize ALL of the methods in the classes you're studying. Only the most commonly used ones. So that brings up the question, how do you know which are the most commonly used? Well the surest way is to get a book for the exam. Most of the authors have tried to focus on just the methods you'll need to know. The next idea is to ask here, and finally, part of the reason that the APIs are on the exam at all is so that candidates such as yourself will get used to using them. So, my guess is that if you looked at a given class, and used your common sense, you could probably do a pretty good job of determining which of the methods the exam creation team thought would be the most commonly used.

Another way of thinking about this is to understand what the exam creators had in mind with the APIs. Their goal was for candidates to be familiar with the basic capabilities of the most common classes. They really aren't trying to make this a trivial competition, they tried to get you to learn the stuff that they think you'll use over and over again in real life.

Now, it's true that the exam includes a few APIs that you won't use a lot, and there are some reasons for those exceptions, but in general, if you understand the most common reasons to use the classes listed, and you understand the most common methods you'll use in those classes, you'll do well on those portions of the exam.

I'll give you one example: You should know that 'put()' is for Maps, and so it has two arguments. Similarly, you should know that 'add()' is for Lists and Sets, and so it has one argument.

hth,

Bert
 
Nidhi Sar
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Bert Bates wrote:Hi Nidhi,

I'll give you some ideas, AND I'd like to hear what ranchers who have taken the exam think...



Bert,

Those are some good tips. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on this
 
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