This weeks giveaway XML@Whiz

[Carl Trusiak]

This week we are giving away 4 copies of the software XML@Whiz - The IBM XML Test Simulator
The best part... Purvesh Sharma, will be online to answer your questions!

Thank to the people at Whizlabs for the software.
Whizlabs is pleased to announce 20% discount on XML@Whiz to all Javaranchers!!!

[This message has been edited by Carl Trusiak (edited October 30, 2001).]

[ravindra ch]

welcome to our forum .Its a great place to learn about u r strengths and odds in XML.xml@whiz is very good for the test takers.
cheers
RAVINDRA

[Vikrama Sanjeeva]

Yes it is really interesting to have Purvesh Sharma with us.I remember he is the one who have his graduate from IIT.Am i right?
So welcome Purvesh Sharma.Hope you will also enjoy with us.And offcourse thanks to javaranch who provide the ranchers a chance to have discussion with him.
bye
Viki.
------------------
Count the flowers of ur garden,NOT the leafs which falls away!

[Ajith Kallambella]

When Purvesh asked me to review the product, I really felt privileged. I downloaded the trial version and took it for a swirl. Unfortunately I couldnot test the full version of the product as all of my free time was used up for my upcoming book. Hearing the accolades from fellow Ranchers who tried the software( and the SCWCD Wiz ), I have no doubts in my mind about the quality of XML@Wiz.
Welcome Purvesh, it is really nice to have you here with us.
------------------
Ajith Kallambella M.
Sun Certified Programmer for the Java�2 Platform.
IBM Certified Developer - XML and Related Technologies, V1.
Co-author of Java 2 Certification Passport

[Purvesh Sharma]

Thanks Carl,
Thanks for the opportunity! I am sure it will be a great learning exercise for us.
Dear RAVINDRA,
Thanks for your interest in XML@Whiz! Moreover thanks for appreciating it!! It really makes me feel good! Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Dear Viki,
Yes you are right, I have done B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT-Delhi. I am extremely proud of my alma mater! and not only me but 2 more partners of mine in Whizlabs are my batch mates from IIT-Delhi, they have also done B.Tech with me from IIT-Delhi.
Yes I really enjoy this forum, though I haven't written much mails due to the lack of time, but I have gained a lot from this forum while preparing XML@Whiz. I owe a lot of credit to people at this forum for their direct and indirect contributions to XML@Whiz.
Dear Ajith,
Thanks a ton for all your support in XML@Whiz. After you reviewed the product I got a lot of confidence and I also replaced a few questions in the main version taking into account your feedback about the implementation and testing questions.
Thanks for the opportunity and it's my privilege to participate at this great place and have discussions with you guys!
Heads Off to all Javaranchers!!!
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[ruilin yang]

I heard XML can be used to loosely couple different databases. However, I am not clear how it works. What are detailed concepts involved? Would you please give me some light.
Thanks in advance
ruilin

[Poonam Akash]

Hi Friends,
Well, I have enjoyed the competition for SCWCD@Whiz last week and was very excited when i got the software! .Carl can i try again as i will be giving XML exam soon after my SCWCD...
Bye,
Poonam,
SCJP2.

[superwings]

Sound good for this weeks giveaway!
I am interested, but I don't know how to start?
is any resource available?
Thanks

[Fei Ng]

Hi, Purvesh Sharma.
You guys know the difficulty of XML Certification the best.
What i want to know is how hard it is compare to other Ceritification exams . I would like to take the exams but i really want to know how much i needed to prepare, etc etc..
For example, how hard it is compare to the java programming exam
and maybe SCWCD since everyone is saying it is easier.

thanks.

[Tracy Qi]

I have tried Whizlab for several times. I found it's a pretty good product. But some of answers are quite confusing.
Here is a one:
Which of the following statements are true?
Answer: Comments are allowed anywhere in an XML document outside other mark up, also they may appear within the document type declaration at places allowed by the grammar.
As far as I know,
1. Comments can not come before the XML declaration
2. Comments may not be placed inside a tag
3. The two hyphen (--) maynot appear inside a comment
I think this answer is very confuse me. Purvesh, could you verify this for me?
Thanks

[Tracy Qi]

Also another thing I noticed was:
It's very important that XML@Whiz gave detailed explaination for Design questions. Since it's easy to find out the reasons to the grammar questions, but for Design issues, I means those very long question, people are counting on the answers.

[Madhav Lakkapragada]

Whizlabs is pleased to announce 20% discount on XML@Whiz to all Javaranchers
So how much discount do the un-certified Moderators get...
well, incase I don't win that is....

- satya

[ruilin yang]

Can we use XML to do electric-Ink. I mean to use XML to develop applications to be able to draw/write manually on computer screen and save the the document into a file/database.
I saw a product from Microsoft at Comdex2000 last year. Bill Gate demonstrated his the electric-Ink technology with his Tablet-PC. The hand writting was saved into a file in the computer. You can delete/copy/paste on the hand writting in the screen. He said the application was developed with XML. But I do not know how to do it with XML.
Thanks in advance
Ruilin

[Tracy Qi]

Can somebody give me a hint?
IBM sample test:
11.ID attributes may be used for all of the following purposes EXCEPT:
A.to be referenced by IDREF-type attributes that are specified in the same document
B.to be queried by XSLT or other query processes to locate the element that the ID identifies
C.to identify elements for tracking elements that are inserted and deleted within documents while in an XML editor
D.to identify more than one element as the target of a link
Answer is D. I can understand why D is correct. But Why NOT C?
Thanks

[Louis Fegun]

Hi Purvesh-
I understand I can get a 40% discount as a customer of @Whiz. I bought and used SCWCD@WHIZ for my SCWCD exam. How do I avail myself of the 40% discount. I need the XML@Whiz software. Please provide instructions.
Thanks.
Louis.

Originally posted by Purvesh Sharma:
[B]Dear Allan,
So if you are already one of our customers you can avail a discount of 40% on all other products. But if you are not one of our customers you can still get 20% discount on XML@Whiz!!!

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear ruilin,
Yes you are right, XML can be used to loosely couple different databases.
One of the great advantages of XML is that with XML data and documents aren't opposites rather simply two states of the information. The difference between the two is that when data is in a database the metadata about it is stored according to the proprietary architecture of the database. When the data becomes a document, the metadata is stored as markup. Thus XML makes it possible for information to take different states (database or document) without loosing the structure or meaning and with almost no effort at all! Thus it can easily be used to integrate different databases.
Hope it helps. For more information please refer to the XML handbook. It's a really good book on such concepts.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
All the best!
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[Doug Wang]

Hi, Purvesh Sharma
You recommend the XML Handbook, so do many javaRanchers. But I wonder which edition I should follow? In fact, the 2ed Handbook is full of real-world examples from different industries with little technical information; the 1ed book might be outdated.
And thank for your XML@Whiz, the great XML Simulator.
Doug.
[This message has been edited by Doug Wang (edited November 02, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Doug Wang (edited November 02, 2001).]

[ruilin yang]

Purvesh,
Thanks for the clear explanation.
I think the name space for each XML document have to be effect to make sure no name conflict.
Ruilin

[savita jadhav]

Hi
I want to buy XMl@whiz software.I came to know there is 20 % discount for the ranchers.How do u define rancher.I do visist this forum regularly and it helps me alot.Can I call myself as rancher?please let me know this as I want to buy the software as early as possible.
also tell me which edition of xml handbok is good as 2nd edition has very less information about xml technology.
thanks
savita

[Fei Ng]

When is "This weeks giveaway XML@Whiz" end?
Friday morning?? or thursday night?

[Axel Janssen]

Hi Purvesh,
I just checked the IBM page for this exam . I am quite shocked by the ressources in the recommended readings. There are 5 W3C Specification-Documents and 4 books.
No problem with trying to acostumbrate myself with XML-specifications (heard they are very-hard-to-read-stuff ( ).
But DO I HAVE TO buy these four books? For me some of them might be outdated (published 1998) and some do not get a favourable reader voting at Amazon.com.
Structuring XML. 4 stars
XML Handbook. 2.5 stars
The Annotated Specifications. 3.5 stars.
Applied XML. 3.5 stars

Do I have to buy these books? Or am I better off with a combination of the Link-lists of Ajith and Mapraputa and the test simulator?
How close are the IBM-questions in the test to the books they recommend? Are there any books you recommend?
Please help
SCJP Axel
[This message has been edited by Axel Janssen (edited November 02, 2001).]

[ZEESHAN AZIZ]

I wondered whether you accept bank drafts as payment for XML Whiz

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Tracy,
Thanks for using and appreciating our product! I am sorry for my answer being confusing. Below I explain it again:
An XML document can be divided into two parts, one is the XML (i.e. XML tags, processing instructions, XML declaration, CDATA Sections etc) and everything else is data.
Now by saying that "comments are allowed anywhere except other mark-up" I mean that they cannot appear with-in a tag or a processing instruction or a CDATA Section or XML Declaration etc.
The second statement "also they may appear within the document type declaration at places allowed by the grammar. " says that they can not only appear in the XML documents but can also appear in Document Type Declaration but only at the places allowed by the grammar.
Also comments cannot appear before the XML declaration as the XML declaration has to be the FIRST thing for the document to be called an XML document.
I admit that my answer was confusing. I promise to improve in the next update in very near future.

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear rullin,
Yes XML can be used to do electric-Ink. See fundamentally XML is just a storage technique for information. It has nothing to do with what information you store. You CAN use XML to store anything from text to image to audio to video to ANYTHING!. But the point is not that, the point is what you SHOULD use XML to store. For example if you are going to store text or simple data XML is the best choice in my mind, but if you want to store an image or an audio or a video XML would not be a very good choice as stroing them as XML would blow up the size of your files like anything. Thus they should be stored in the formats customized for their specific needs and constraints.
Using XML for electric-Ink is a very good choice as there is very less data to stored for a handwritting compared to an image and XML files are much easier to deal with than image files. One simple way of doing it that I can think of is to store pixel by pixel movement of the handwritting in an element form and later retrieving them in the same order (remember children are ordered set of elements in XML!)
Hope it helps.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Tracy,
________________________________________________________________
Can somebody give me a hint?
IBM sample test:
11.ID attributes may be used for all of the following purposes EXCEPT:
A.to be referenced by IDREF-type attributes that are specified in the same document
B.to be queried by XSLT or other query processes to locate the element that the ID identifies
C.to identify elements for tracking elements that are inserted and deleted within documents while in an XML editor
D.to identify more than one element as the target of a link
Answer is D. I can understand why D is correct. But Why NOT C?
Thanks
_______________________________________________________________
Well the questions asks what ID's cannot be used for. Certainly D is a correct answer as ID's are unique and thus cannot identify more than one element. But the ID's can certainly be used for tracking the elements being inserted or deleted, it's just like you track records in a database system with the primary key (unique).
Hope it helps. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Regards!
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Doug and FEI,
Thanks for asking the questions that you asked. Though the two questions are different but the answer lies in the one.
See, we need to understand the pattern of IBM XML Certification. I assume you guys are SCJP as I will use SCJP to distinguish the pattern of SCJP. Below is the difference between the two:
1. SCJP is a mature certification and deals with the intricacies of JAVA language and demands you to be thorough with the concepts and use of Java language.
2. XML Certification is relatively new and deals with the basic concepts of XML and related technologies. For example, you will not be given a 30 line code and asked how it would behave (which is done in SCJP), rather you will be given a scenario and asked about how can XML and related technologies be used here and what role is played by which part. So you need to understand XML and related technologies at the design level or structure level. One example would make it a little more clear:
let's take the concept of Inheritance:
In SCJP you would be given a code of 30 lines using 3 classes with hierarchichal relationships with each other and asked how would their constructors behave.
On the other hand in XML Certification you would be asked how can inheritance be used to reuse code and which class should inherit the other in order to do that.
I hope now you can appreciate the difference. I won't say which one is easy and which one is difficult as that depends on what you are more comfortable with. But certainly the XML handbook deals well with what is asked in the exam.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Savita,
Yes you do qualify for being a javarancher! Please follow the link below to avail the 20% discount on XML@Whiz
http://www.regsoft.net/purchase.php3?productid=40385&pc=859MS
Take the latest edition of XML Handbook, it is good from the exam point of view.
All the best!!!
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Axel,
To be honest, I haven't tried them all. I have read XML Handbook and it's quite good from exam point of view. Ajith's link-list is fabulous so never miss on that. As far as questions are concerned there are no questions in the XML Handbook (I don't know about others). I would recommend XML Handbook and XML Bible. Certainly you DON'T HAVE to BUY ALL of THEM!!! 2-3 should be more than enough.

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear ZEESHAN,
Yes we do accept bank drafts and checks and wire transfers other than credit card payment. You can send the draft/check in favor of Whizlabs Software Private Limited to
Whizlabs Software Private Limited
AP-48, Shalimar Bagh
Delhi - 110088
India
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Regards
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz

[savita jadhav]

Hi
Thanks for the link u provided for 20% discount .I just want to know that the link u provided has $39.95 for the simulator .But for Indians it is 695Rs so which amount should I consider for 20% discount.
please tell ASAP.
Thanks
savita

[Purvesh Sharma]

Dear Savita,
Thanks for your interest in XML@Whiz. Yes the discount is applicable in India as well and for that the amount is Rs. 545/- You can deposit Rs. 545/- in our account and take XML@Whiz.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
Purvesh Sharma
XML@Whiz - IBM XML Certification Test Simulator
http://www.whizlabs.com/jwhiz