To Charles Lyons

[Ashley Bideau]

Charles,

I have read most of your replies in different threads on Java ranch and have no doubt that you are really good or I would say expert in Servlet / Jsp's and explain any problem in the best possible manner. However in one of your replies you had mentioned about Head First

I can't comment on Head First because I've never read it.

I'm giving SCWCD on 25th May and currently preparing from Head First. The best thing about this book is the way it is structure and how it makes an immediate impact on memory (long

If you take my cent and want your book to become a big hit then would recommend you to go at least one time through Head First and combine the best of your's idea with head first.

-Ashley
SCJP 5.0

[singh santosh]

hi Ashley,
No one can predict future ..Who knows tommorrow Charles book may be a great hit.
One should not loose ones originality... .Charlse has already mentioned that his book is traditional one ..The kind of book i (infact all of us)have been reading througout my(our) life.[i have cleared SCJP with 96% after reading one such traditional book K&B..]

By the way ,i am also a fan of HFSJ and preparing for SCWCD through it.
But i will definatley buy charles book (after seeing his knowledge abt thinsg )

regards
-santosh

[Marc Peabody]

Originally posted by Ashley Bideau:
If you take my cent and want your book to become a big hit then would recommend you to go at least one time through Head First and combine the best of your's idea with head first.

Ashley, these are not philosophy books, so there really aren't much of any "ideas" to combine. These books primarily cover the objectives of the SCWCD exam. That's it.

I think Charles has shown that he knows his stuff and I don't think swiping stuff from HF would contribute to his book becoming a "hit". Kathy Sierra said so herself that there's not much use in copying the competition.
[ May 11, 2006: Message edited by: Marc Peabody ]

[Charles Lyons]

Thanks Santosh and Marc... just to clarify a few other things:

When I said I had never read Head First, I meant I've never read cover-to-cover... I have seen some chapters and flicked through a copy of Head First Java, so I am familiar with its style. Kathy et al. were innovative and created a new style of book which took the majority of its audience by storm. As far as I see it, anyone who comes up with such an idea deserves to hold onto it for as long as possible; any author or publisher who just churns out the same thing is (in a design sense) plagarising the text.

Head First works remarkably well for many people - its highly visual and entertaining style makes it easy to remember things. However, this isn't for everyone, and many folk simply like to pick up a text, read what's going on, digest the text and understand (through thorough discussion rather than pictures) how things work. Quite often your own imagination then gets kicked into gear and you end up forming your own pictures in your mind - and provided that image is clear, this sticks longer than something someone else has told you (this comes from personal experience of taking exam, after exam, after exam in one thing or another!). I have seen some posts (although not many) over the years on this forum, and others, where candidates have said they in fact do not like Head First and would prefer something more traditional... so here we go.

But don't think my book is all about text, that would be a mistake. I do have lots of diagrams throughout the book which illustrate all the key points figuratively - they might not be witty and contain a pun-a-minute, but they show the facts in a clear and unambiguous way.

I've also broken down the topics in such a way that makes them easy to examine in detail in a relatively short period of time - ideal if you have a full time job and not loads of spare time to spend studying for the exam each day! The objectives are broken down into 19 chapters in my book - each covering a topic in as much detail as you'll probably ever need (not just for the exam), and then ending off with on average 16 exam-style questions per chapter. 30 pages is a reasonable average for the number of pages in each chapter; that's about the amount that can be read (and more importantly, digested) sensibly in a few hours.

There are 300+ questions (and explained answers) which occupy over 100 pages of the total of 640, making excellent exam practise; even if that's all you want the book for it works out at pennies per question and is better value than most exam simulators (although admittedly it's on paper unlike the real exam!).

Finally, I've been told that Head First doesn't necessarily make good reference material - indeed that's not its goal. I hope that the clear diagrams presented in my book, and the bulleted API details, make it easy and worthwhile to use after gaining certification as well... believe me, there is much more still to learn and apply after passing the SCWCD!

So which book(s) (the choice is not mutually exclusive!) you choose to use is up to you - perhaps one style suits you better than another. All I would say is "don't knock it until you've tried it", and I'll of course be pleased to hear whatever feedback I get when it comes in.

The mailing list is still open!
[ May 11, 2006: Message edited by: Charles Lyons ]

[Vivek Kinra]

I totally agree with Santosh, Marc and Charles... It's your own decision which way you want to eat, drink or dream SCWCD exam... so cheers

[Christophe Verré]

Good luck Charles, we're looking forward to it.
You're answers at the ranch have always been precise and well explained, making the book very promising.
[ May 11, 2006: Message edited by: Satou kurinosuke ]

[Vishnu Prakash]

As someone who had understanding a lot about the subject from your replies I take this oppertunity to thank you for your precise and clear explanation.

All the best for your book charles.