Product Description

Best selling author, Paul Sanghera, offers cohesive, concise, yet comprehensive coverage of all the topics included in the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 exam (CX 310-055). With a laser sharp focus on the exam objectives, the Study Guide goes beyond just being an "exam cram." The material is presented in a logical learning sequence: a section builds upon previous sections and a chapter on previous chapters. All concepts, simple and complex, are defined and explained when they appear the first time. There is no hopping from topic to topic and no technical jargon without explanation. No prior knowledge of Java programming is assumed. The single most difficult aspect of this exam is to read and understand the code in the exam questions in a limited amount of time. To help you get fluent and comfortable with the code, the book offers complete runnable code examples distributed over all the chapters and a codewalk quicklet feature at the end of each chapter.

Although the primary purpose of the book is to help you pass the SCJP exam, it will also serve as a good reference after the exam.

Special features include

• Hundreds of questions modeled after the real exam with fully explained answers.
• A complete practice exam with questions modeled after the real exam and fully explained answers.
• Hundreds of complete runnable code examples, explained in the book, that you can download and experiment with. This is a code-intensive exam.
• The Codewalk Quicklet feature based on the process-based codewalk philosophy to prepare you for efficient response to the code-based questions in the exam.
• The Exam Quick Prep feature which recaps all the important points for the last hour of preparation before taking the exam.
• Useful information and analysis for the programmers who are considering updating the J2SE 1.4 certification to J2SE 5.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #161801 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 424 pages

From the Publisher

Special Features:
Hundreds of questions modeled after the real exam with fully explained answers.
A complete practice exam with questions modeled after the real exam and fully explained answers.
The only SCJP exam book that offers hundreds of complete runnable code examples, explained in the book, that you can download and experiment with. This is a code intensive exam.
The only SCJP exam book that offers the Codewalk Quicklet feature based on the process based codewalk philosophy to prepare you for efficient response to the code based questions in the exam.
The only SCJP exam book that offers the Exam Quick Prep feature which recaps all the important points for the last hour preparation before taking the exam.
The only SCJP exam book that provides useful information and analysis for the programmers who are considering updating the J2SE 1.4 certification to J2SE 5.

About the Author
Paul Sanghera, Ph.D., SCJP, SCBCD, who contributed to developing the SCJP exam for Java 5, has 10 years programming and substantial teaching experience in Java. As a software engineer, Paul has contributed to the development of world-class technologies such as Netscape Communicator and Novell's NDS. He has been director of project management at successful startups such as Weborder and MP3.com. He has taught Java and other technology courses at several institutes in the San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose State University, Golden Gate University, CSU Hayward, and Brooks College. With a master's degree in computer science from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in physics from Carleton University, he has authored and co-authored more than 100 technical papers published in well-reputed European and American research journals. Dr. Sanghera has also presented talks by invitation at several international scientific conferences. He is the best-selling author of several books on technology and project management. Paul lives in Silicon Valley, California, where he works as an independent information consultant.

Customer Reviews

NOT a study guide nor a learning guide
your reading this based on my rating '1' stars.

The book starts off good and explains OOP (abit) but the ending chapters which is the important stuff is like a "quick cram", you know, if your buying this book to get your SCJP - well, you need to know java, because in the interview you will be asked questions and your general knowledge of java will only do.

if you know java GREAT - buy it, read it and after a few weeks of 'reading' - take the exam. CONGRATS

BUT -- Please save yr/self the time which is the most important, to click the 'back' button on IE7 and search for a more complete title.

just my input

Very good book
In the beginning of the year, Java equals "null" to me ( I know C/C++). I decided to learn the language and take the SCJP as a measure of my learning. I tried the Deitel book but didn't like it. Then I started to read the Kathy Sierra book, but they assume you know the basics (not my case). Due to the comments of one of the reviewers, I bought this book and liked it very much. I read it twice, tried all examples, fragments and tests and then went back to the Sierra book, which is more comprehensive (it is a much bigger book), has better explanations of generics and threads and has more tricky questions. I was able to pass the SCJP exam this month thanks to these two very good books.
I do not give 5 stars due to the presence of several typos and some other minor errors in the text. These errata are not yet in the book site, but as you are studying for the exam, you will spot then when you compile or cross-check with the SUN Java documentation. But these are a small nuisance considering the overall value of the book.

Helpful Starting Point
This was the only book I bought and I passed the cert. I found the book to be generally good. I felt a couple of the examples were poor. For instance on page 141 the finding the area of different shapes, a classic example of where one should use polymorphism, the book provides an example of overloading operators. Yes, in the sense the code is "correct" but I find the misuse to be confusing. There are a number of items including some questions in the review exam that are just wrong. That is if you type the code in and run it you don't get what the book claims that you should. These do not seem numerous and I have not found any certification material that is without this sort of problem. The reality of preparing for the test is that if someones answer doesn't make sense you have to test it for yourself. It would be nice if publishers would hire someone to go cut and paste all of the code into a compiler and find this stuff.

More importantly there is not enough material on generics and there is only ONE practice exam.

Having complained I should and that the text is readable and helpful in preparing for the cert. I found it to be a good starting point for my preparations.