OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide: Prepare for the 1ZO-803 exam

[Book Review Team]

Author/s    : Mala Gupta
Publisher   : Manning Publications
Category   : Java Certification
Review by : Jeanne Boyarsky
Rating        : 8 horseshoes

"OCA Java SE 7 Programmer I Certification Guide" is Manning's book for developers looking to get the new entry level Java certification.

I wouldn't use this book to learn Java; I'd use it as a second Java book to get ready for this exam. (Nothing wrong with this - the book doesn't claim to teach you Java. I only mention this so you have proper expectations. I actually like when a book separates objectives between teaching from scratch or exam prep.)

The book comes with mock questions after each chapter and one full mock exam. There are also "twist in the tale" exercises sprinkled throughout the book which get you to realize how small changes to the code can change the behavior of the code.

The explanations are clear. Analogies prevent you from getting bored. There are great diagrams throughout the book.

Overall, I think the best test of a cert book is whether it prepares you for the test - this book does.

Disclosure: I will be receiving a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for being the technical proofreader for the book and for writing the forward.


More info at Amazon.com

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

I was chatting with Mala about her book and wrote something similar to the following about which cert book I'd recommend. (edited to make it clearer to someone who was in the conversation)

If someone who knew a little Java and wanted to take the OCA soon, I would recommend Mala's book - by Manning. (I haven't read McGraw Hills's OCA book so that's not included in the comparison).

Kathy/Bert's McGrawHill OCP book isn't out yet so I can't possibly compare it to Mala's book yet.

If someone didn't know any Java and wanted to take the exam eventually. I'd recommend Michael's Sybex book.

[Singh Harmeet]

please explain the name of the book , written by Michael's Sybex.

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Singh Harmeet wrote:please explain the name of the book , written by Michael's Sybex.

Michael's book isJava SE 7 Programming Essentials

[Book Review Team]

Review by : K. Tsang
Rating        : 9 horseshoes

Already a Certified Java Programmer (OCPJP), I used this book as a refresher before I studied for my Java 7 upgrade. The book reminded me the basic concepts like the "protected" access modifier or method overloading and overriding, things a programmer uses without realizing it.

Gupta described the topics very logically making it easy to understand and follow. There are 2 things I really liked about the book. The first is the cartoon graphics showing the humor side of the code in discussion (for example try-catch-finally). Another is the Twist in the Tale exercises enabling the reader like myself to stop and think how one minor change can affect the consequence or output of the code.

Since I used this book as a refresher, but to any OCAJP7 aspirants I recommend using this book as their study guide. It has lots of sample code and detailed explanations to questions. Exam objectives are carefully discussed in the correct chapter.

At the end, I didn't feel reading a "study guide" but actually it is.


More info at Amazon.com