Mamta Swain

Hi
I am interested for 70-306 exam ( related to Visual Basic.net ) certification.
Could anybody give me useful web links related to this certification ?
Also any suggestion on the preparation for this exam,such as relevant books, mock exam weblinks etc. would be very much helpful.
Thanks
Mamta

Congratulations Doug & Nitin for your success.
Best Wishes
Mamta

Hi Niharika
Congrats for your success....
-Mamta

Hello everybody
I am sorry I am bit late in replying.
Thanks for your wishes.
Sunil - >
I started learning XML 2 months back. And after 2 weeks I heard that IBM is giving free voucher for XML, so I gave the sample and got the voucher. Only then I started preparing seriously for it.
Well I started with Beginning XML by David Hunter ( Wrox Publication ) and then went to Professional XML ( 1st Edition ). But 1st Edition has got old topics like SAX1. So I think for certification 2nd Edition will be better. Moreover I heard that 2nd Edition touches almost all topics on Certification.

Apart from the above I have gone through a lot of web sites for gathering information.
Among those few websites I would like to suggest based on topics.
1. For Schema ( www.xfront.com. Roger L Costello’s Schema Tutorial on Powerpoint slides along with the sample lab work was worth to take.)
2. For SAX2 ( www.megginson.com. You can get the structures of all the new and old interfaces )
3. For XSLT and Xpath – XML Bible ( Sample Chapters available on web)
4. For DOM ( www.w3.org)
5. www.xml.com , www.ibm.com ( for different articles)
I hope I have given all the required answers.
Thanks
Mamta

Hi All
Today I successfully completed Test 141 and have become IBM Certified Developer for XML and Related Technologies.
My scoring is 72% (far less that my SCJP2 94% scoring…...
For me the question-percentages from the 5 sections were
Architecture – 19%
Information Modeling – 26%
XML processing – 33%
XML rendering- 11%
Testing and Tuning 11%
Below are the few points that I thought I should note down.
1. We should be thorough with XSL, XPath concepts.
2. Difference between DOM and SAX2 ( in which case DOM should be applied and in which case SAX2 should be applied )
3. Structure of DOM.
4. I found questions on Schema to be very basic and easy. But then we should never neglect it.
5. I didn’t find any syntax related questions on XSL-FO or CSS (About which I was apprehensive before the exam). But we should know the applications side.
6. On web services I got few questions.
SOAP -> Mainly on basic concepts on which SOAP is built
UDDI -> for what we use UDDI.
7. I found DTD questions are easy to answer. I found questions mainly on entity, notation and entity reference. Difference between DTD and Schemas should be known properly.
8. I got one question on Security basically asking about the minimum validity requirement for XML Signature Specification
What I felt from the exam -> IBM gives stretch on XML Technology application side questions rather than on syntax related questions.
Thanks
Mamta

Thanks Nitin.

Thanks Niharika for your reply.
Could you help me out with the following questions.
1.An online parts supplier is creating an XML-based application to deliver data to B2B suppliers and vendors, and also for use by B2C clients of various types. Which of the following provides the BEST design solution for the various clients consuming the XML data?
a) Use a single XSL stylesheet to transform XHTML1.1 linking to a CSS2 stylesheet for formatting.
b) Let the application process the HTTP request and execute client-specific XSL transformations according to the client's capabilities.
c) Let the application evaluate the client's needs based on the HTTP request and deliver formatted HTML to the client.
d) Let the application deliver XML content to B2B clients and XHTML/HTML to B2C clients.
e) Pass XML directly to B2B clients, and use Active Server Pages or Java Server Pages to deliver customized HTML to B2C clients.
Ans: d ??
2) An XML developer is formatting XML output to HTML for multiple client types. Client memory footprint is a consideration. Which of the following approaches would BEST suit this environment?
a) Use only a subset of XHTML 1.1, relying on Format Objects to apply style.
b) Let the client process both the XML and the XSL documents.
c) Output HTML via a server-side XSL Transformation and embed CSS2 style information in the xsl:template actions.
Ans: c ??
3.
--------------------------------------
The web site for a financial services company will include both web-based trading (e-trades) and the financial research reports to help investors make their decisions. As part of application architecture, XML will be used in several ways:
As the data interchange format between the web based application and the comapny's legacy trading systems
As the EFT ( Electronic Funds Transfer) data interchange format with the customer's bank , from which funds will be withdrawn to settle the trade
As the source format for the financial research reports , which will be searchable and displayable from the web browser.
-------------------------------
Which of the following is MOST likely to be required in the design ?
a) XML from the financial institution must be validated and transformed into a format expected by the legacy system.
b) XML from the legacy system must be transformed into a format expected by the financial institution's application.
c) The DTD for financial reports must be consistent with element names used by the financial institution.
d) The DTD for EFT transactions must be consistent with element names used by the browser.
Ans : c ???
4) Again from the above case - > To build the interface between the legacy trading system and the web application, which of the following is LEAST likely to be part of the design?
a) An XML transformation process that produces data in the legacy trading system format.
b) An XML parser that produces a DOM representation of the XML.
c) An XSL processor that reads the legacy data and transforms it to XML.
d) Java or other code that reads the DOM and produces data for the legacy system.
Ans : b ???

Thanks
Mamta

Can anybody help with the answers to the sample questions....
1)Which of the following are TRUE about Web Services Definition Language?

a) WSDL defines the XML structure for messages using DTD.
b) WSDL defines the XML structure for messages using XML Schema.
c) WSDL can be used to describe a SOAP Service.
d) WSDL is a method for performing RPC.
e) WSDL is less suitable to describe Web Services than UDDI.
Ans: c & e ??
2) Arguments over whether it is best to use elements or attributes to store values are common in XML applications. Which questions should an XML developer ask to determine whether it is best to use elements or attributes to store values for a particular situation?

a)Is the data flat or hierarchical?
b)Do multiple values need to be offered?
c)Do child information items need to be ordered?
d)Does information need to be distributed over multiple devices?
e)Does information need to be queried?
f)Does the value have one of an enumeration of values?
Ans: a,b,c,f ???
Thanks
Mamta

Me too got the free voucher.
Mamta

Thanks Hema.

Can anybody give some useful links on XML encryption and XML signature ?
Thanks
Mamta

Thanks all of you for your wishes.
For Babu...
First of all I started with Java2 complete reference by Herbert Schildt and Patrick Naughton, which gave me basic idea of Java2. Then I went through 'Thinking in Java' by Bruce Eckel( available free on web). This book gave me deeper knowledge on OO Concepts. I also referred Java Tutorial by Sun.
After that I thought I should go for certification and I bought Bill Brogden's old copy. I gave many mock tests on web. Believe me or not when I started giving mock tests, it was pretty bad scoring for me. Then I knew where my weaknesses were and worked on those points. I took 3 weeks to prepare for test.
My Section analysis
Declaration and Access Control-------------- 100%
Flow Control and exception handling -------- 85%
Garbage Collection-------------------------- 0%
Language Fundmentals ----------------------- 100%
Operators and Assignments------------------- 85%
Overloading,overriding,runtime type and
Object orientation-------------------------- 100%
Threads ------------------------------------ 100%
java.awt ----------------------------------- 100%
java.lang----------------------------------- 100%
java.util----------------------------------- 100%
java.io------------------------------------- 100%
For threads I did lot of coding myself for clearing my concepts ( not writing big big codes but by executing small programs ). Most useful one for me was Java Ranch discussion group. I did a search on 'Thread' on Java Ranch's Java Certification group and got hundreds of archived discussions. I went through quite a lot on them to see how much I myself know about the topic and also it gave me an idea how we get questions on exam. Trust me these archived discussions on Java Ranch helped me a lot.
After giving exam I felt , only by knowing the IO constructor would have suffice for exam. But then you never know what other aspect you will get from IO. So I suggest you should first go through all the basic methods of IO to have an overall idea. And for exam point of view you can stretch your memory on all IO Constructors.
I guess I gave all answers to your questions. Let me know if you have any other question. I will be glad to help.
Thanks
Mamta

Hi All
Yesterday I became SCJP2 with 94%.
Thought of sharing with you little bit about my experience.
I feel Javaranch is a 'MUST' for anybody who is preparing for the exam. Though I have posted just 2/3 questions, I went through past archived discussion quite a lot on this web site. It was really helpful.
I followed Java2 Exam Cram By Bill Brogdan(old one) and ofcourse I did go through various websites for clearing my fundamentals and did a lot of coding/testing myself on each of the concept.
I really appreciate Marcus Green for his remarkable 3 Mock Exams, which I found very close to the actual exam. I had 5-6 questions on Thread out of which 2 were bit tricky. Got around 7-8 questions on I/O (easy if you just know the IO constructors). I got 3 from AWT on FlowLayout, GridBagLayout and Event listener and 1 from UTIL. What I found from the exam is that the most important thing is to clear your fundamental knowledge on OO concepts.
I thank all of you for helping me out in your own wonderful way through this website.
Thanks Again
Mamta

Thanks guys...
I didn't know that finally overrides an exception return.
Thanks for your information.

class Test
{
static int call(int x) {
try {
System.out.println(1/0);
return 1;
}catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(1/0);
return 2;
} finally{
return 3;
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(" value = "+ call(5));
}
};
why the above method gives output as
value = 3
Since it throws another ArithmeticException in catch block, shouldn't it give ArithmeticException in output also, like
value = 3
java.lang.ArithmeticException: /zero
If you include the same in main without calling a method as below
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
System.out.println(1/0);
System.out.println("try");
}catch(Exception e){
System.out.println(1/0);
System.out.println("catch");
} finally {
System.out.println("finally");
}
}
it gives output as
finally
java.lang.ArithmeticException: /zero
Please help me in my understanding on the above.