Head First SCWCD

[M Streit]

Will Head First SCWCD have any Struts and/or JSF coverage? According to Oreilly, the book will actually be titled "Head First Servlets and JSP".
This is what I rec'd from Oreilly:
Hi,
That book is scheduled to be released in June of this year. The title
has changed to "Head First Servlets & JSP", though.
We should have a table of contents for it about 6 weeks before it's
released. You could check out new and upcoming release page prior to
release to find it's page - http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/new.html
Thanks for your interest,
--
Chris Olson O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
O'Reilly Book Support 1005 Gravenstein Highway North,
Thanks

[Kathy Sierra]

Howdy -- yes, the book *does* cover Struts. In fact the book has a pretty substantial Struts app that's introduced in the second chapter and builds throughout the book.
I think there will be a more complete outline and table of contents up in the next week or two. We'll keep you posted...
cheers,
Kathy

[Lisa French]

Is the outline or table of contents available yet for "Head First Servlets and JSP". I would LOVE to get a look at it.
I couldn't find it on the o'reilly site.
Thanks!

[Arun Subramanian]

Hi Kathy-
Is the "Head First Servlets and JSP" book more than just a SCWCD 1.4 certification guide. The reason I'm asking is that Struts is not covered in the new SCWCD 1.4 certification objectives.
Also, does the book go by the certification objectives (like the SCJP book) or is it different?
Thanks,
Arun.

[Bert Bates]

A little clarification... (it's so hard to keep Kathy up to date ),
The HFServlets book is similar to HF EJB in that it is definitely a study guide, and it is ALSO a general purpose Servlets and JSP book. Like all HF books it is primarily targeted towards people who are new to a topic (in this case Servlets and JSP), and want to get a solid foundation, and have some fun. (Although a lot of experienced readers tell us they like our HF books too!)
Early in the book we build a simple MVC application, and use it to show examples throughout the book. The last several chapters will introduce a fairly substantial Struts application, so the goal is that you will have a solid foundation in Struts by the end of the book, even though Struts is not on the exam.
Our co-author, Bryan Basham, is EXTREMELY current on teaching Servlets and JSPs and he was the chief designer of the new SCWCD exam. One of his goals was to make the exam be a realistic test of real-world situations, so it is his feeling and ours, that if our book covers the exam well it will provide a solid foundation for Servlets and JSPs in general.
I'd better get back to writing!
Bert
[ March 24, 2004: Message edited by: Bert Bates ]

[Nicholas Cheung]

Hi Bert and Kathy,
So, will you write another book about Web Services?
Nick

[Lisa French]

Any word on an expected table of contents for the book?

[Bert Bates]

Ah.... web services...
We've been helping Sun create the web services exam, and I gotta tell you, it's a bear! Sun spent longer trying to nail down objectives for this exam, than any other exam! This area is so dynamic right now! From what we've seen, we really like Richard Monson-Haefel's new web services book.
I guess the short answer is that it's lower on the list. We'd like for the topic to stabilize a bit before we dive in to it.
Bert

[Sivasundaram Umapathy]

Ciao Bert and Kathy.
Do you plan to give us a chance for reviewing the mock exams of "HF Servlets & JSP" like it was done for HFEJB ?
Siva

[Kathy Sierra]

Yes, we'll be asking for help in reviewing the mock exams, just like with the SCBCD book
Stay tuned... should start in a week or two.
cheers,
Kathy

[Dave Knipp]

Bert & Kathy,
I just wanted to give you guys a big thank you for making certification books that are entertaining and worthwhile to read. I purchased HF EJB about two weeks ago and instantly loved the layout and all the hilarious illustrations. I even ended up trying to explain to my wife why one of them was so funny!
I'll look forward to many other HF titles to come, thanks again!
Dave

[Bert Bates]

Thanks Dave!

[Joe McIntyre]

Checking out Head First SCWCD on the O'Reilly web site, I came across the following book:

Better, Faster, Lighter Java
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/0596006764/desc.html
As an alternative means for building better applications, the authors present two "lightweight" open source architectures: Hibernate--a persistence framework that does its job with a minimal API and gets out of the way, and Spring--a container that's not invasive, heavy or complicated.
Just wondering if anyone has any opinion on how successful or well-accepted these technologies are expected to become relative to standard J2EE?
And one more question. Should I wait for the Head First book and take the new Web Component cert test, or study an older book and take the older cert test? (I don't want to do both, as I hate wasting time.) I'm thinking maybe I should just do the Head First EJB and take that test, and by the time I'm through with that, the new Head First SCWCD book will be out. Any opinions?
Thanks!

[Bert Bates]

Hi Wally -
Independent of the HF book, (and I'm totally neutral on this topic ), I'd think about a few other things when comparing the two exams:
- The older exam is much easier
- The older exam will be around for a long time
- The new exam covers the old topics in a much better way
- The new exam covers important new topics, not covered by the old exam
It may be that savvy employers will be more impressed with the new certification...
Bert

[Chengwei Lee]

Hmm, so that book will only be out in June 04? Then how is it that I can do a search on Amazon & found it to be selling?
Any chance the book will be out earlier? Hoping to take my SCWCD by end of May 04

[Sean Anderson]

The Head First SCWCD book is listed on Amazon, with the following caveat:
"Availability: This item has not yet been released."
The listing does indicate June 2004 availability.
-=DWG=-

[Chengwei Lee]

Ahh, June 2004.

[Gian Franco]

Hi Kathy & Bert,
How does the reviewing of mock exams
take place, do we have to sign in
somewhere?
Thanks, best regards,
Gian Franco Casula

[Bert Bates]

We will start a thread here when we are ready for some mock exam reviewers, so stay tuned, they're coming soon!

[Lisa French]

Now Amazon is saying that the book won't be out until September 2004. Is this right?

[Chengwei Lee]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
We will start a thread here when we are ready for some mock exam reviewers, so stay tuned, they're coming soon!

Is this meant for aspiring SCWCD or cerified SCWCD? Would be good to have both to review them huh?

[Bert Bates]

Lisa - Amazon is notoriously inaccurate - we're still shooting for June
In terms of mock exam reviewers, we hope for a win-win situation... we hope that the reviewers get some benefit from access to these mock questions, but we also hope that they will take the time to really study them and give us good feedback, not just take the questions and run :roll: So, anyone can help out, but if you're newer to servlets you might have to work harder to give us good feedback.

[Chengwei Lee]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
Lisa - Amazon is notoriously inaccurate - we're still shooting for June
In terms of mock exam reviewers, we hope for a win-win situation... we hope that the reviewers get some benefit from access to these mock questions, but we also hope that they will take the time to really study them and give us good feedback, not just take the questions and run :roll: So, anyone can help out, but if you're newer to servlets you might have to work harder to give us good feedback.

I'm aiming to take my exams by end May, but, I'm still looking forward to read the book once it is out
Won't be taking the mock exams & just run, I'm here to stay

[Lisa French]

I've placed my advance order for the book. Now all I have to do is impatiently wait for it. I'm eager to get it as I've been so pleased with my Head First EJB book and found that it exactly fit the bill.
Bert and Kathy: HURRY!!!

[Ram]

Kathy,
The SCJP 1.4 book of urs is really good.I cleared my SCJP right 2 weeks back.I am planning to write my next certification SCWCD.I ma eager to keep my hands on the SCWCD book of yours once it is out in the market.
Hats off to u all involved.....

[Chengwei Lee]

Bert & Kathy,
Are you'll aiming to complete the book by early/mid/late June?

[AJ Brown]

I pre-ordered this book last night. Amazon told me that the estimated shipping date is June 29.

[Billy Tsai]

structs is becoming more and more common and required for many projects,
most jobs require ppl to know struts framework now

[Lisa French]

Are there any updates on the expected release date of this book?

Bert? Kathy? Are you still expecting June?

[Kathy Sierra]

Yes, we're still shooting for a relase at JavaOne! That means you probably won't hear much from us for the next three weeks while we do the final push to the deadline...

You will be the first to know when the book is officially sent to the printer, and then it takes two to three weeks to start filtering out to stores, etc. Usually Amazon customers get it first, although JavaOne people will probably be the first to see the physical book. So, it will be tight, but the book should be ready and shipping in very early July.

Thanks for being so patient!!

We *will* be posting some beta versions of mock exam questions here in this forum in about 10 days, so stay tuned if you're currently preparing. They will be very close to the tone, difficulty, style, and topics of the real exam.

Cheers,
Kathy

[Pradeep bhatt]

Originally posted by Sivasundaram Umapathy:
Ciao Bert and Kathy.
Do you plan to give us a chance for reviewing the mock exams of "HF Servlets & JSP" like it was done for HFEJB ?

Siva

Is the review over?

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Pradeep Bhat:

Is the review over?

Not yet... I guess it will come within one or two weeks from now...

[Sivasundaram Umapathy]

Waiting eagerly :roll:

[Ramon Gill]

If the book contains STRUTS material I'm definitely going to buy it, even though I've already passed the exam. It will be a good reference. I've already got HF for Java. I like the style of these books.

Ray

SCJP, SCWCD, SCBCD, SCEA (part 1), IBM-484, IBM-486