Tuesday, August 15, 2006

SCJP Exam for J2SE 5 prelim review

I'm studying for the Sun Java exam for Java 5.0, and using the book SCJP Exam for J2se 5 by Paul Sanghera. So far the writing is quite clear, but quite a few typos are showing up that are bothering me.

I think they could have put a little more effort into proofreading the book, considering it's not an inexpensive book.

So far:
* Some errors in the value ranges for primitive classes - the text is correct but the diagram is wrong.

* A few errors in the solutions for the chapter review questions

* Discrepancy between the text and the figure for the discusson on non-static nested classes (aka inner classes) and static nested classes. The discussion was a bit confusing so I looked up more detailed information (more here). I'll need to run the example figures and see if the code as specified in the book actually works.

I'm only halfway through chapter 3, so I'm wondering how good this book will be. On the plus side, it's a positive aspect that I'm able to actually catch these errors; it's a good way to get a more thorough understanding of Java 5.0.

3 comments:

katiedid said...

Oh good luck! If you're catching errors, that's very promising that you will do quite well, yes?

Wish I could get around to learning Java... too lazy I guess... I don't suppose you have a nice recommendation for a beginner's book do you? Not for a class or anything, just for learning for learning's sake.

kuri* said...

Yeah, it's promising. I'll have to take a practice exam and see how close the book's review questions are to the actual test. Hopefully there's not too much of a gap.

Actually, Sanghera's book seems pretty accessible for beginners. You could read a chapter or 2 in the bookstore and see what you think.

kuri* said...

I take my above rec. back. I've finished the book, and there a few parts I am still confused about - I think the treatment is a bit unclear. So I wouldn't recommend this as a good introduction to Java. I'm sure there are a lot of better books. I don't think this is a particularly good book for preparing for the SCJP either. I'm thinking about ordering the SCJP Sun Certified Programmer for Java 5 Study Guide, but I don't think it'll arrive soon enough to be useful. Guess I should have bought that book to begin with.