Is Max Habibi's book enough?

[Vedhas Pitkar]

Hi,
is max habibi's book enough for the developer exam or is the book by the woman author(dont know thw name)necessary.Am looking for a book that will cover the entire exam objectives.Any sugesstions?Thanks.

[Peter den Haan]

With "the woman author" you mean Kathy Sierra of Sun Educational Services, the lady who started JavaRanch in 1998 and has recently updated a book on the SCJP and SCJD certifications? There's a review where you would expect it -- The Bunkhouse. Ten horseshoes which is as good as it gets. There's no review for Max' book, unfortunately, but it is reported to be good. Either book should see you through the exam, but there is always extra insight to be gained from reading both.
- Peter
[ January 13, 2003: Message edited by: Peter den Haan ]

[Max Habibi]

Originally posted by Vedhas Pitkar:
Hi,
is max habibi's book enough for the developer exam or is the book by the woman author(dont know thw name)necessary.Am looking for a book that will cover the entire exam objectives.Any sugesstions?Thanks.

Hi Vedhas,
I'm glad to hear that you're preparing for the SCJD: it's a tough test, and you'll be a better developer for earning your certification.
To answer your first question, is my book enough? Yes, I think it's plenty. I've had hundreds of people write to me and tell me how well it's worked out for them, and there are quite a few comments on amazon as well(follow the link in my sig to read them).
For your second question, that is, is Kathy's book also necessary? I would say that it is also an excellent source of information. Kathy's insight into how your test will be graded is invaluable, and will help raise your score. I suggest that you drop by your local book store, look over both(or download sample chapters from each book), and see which one speaks to you.
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4

[Mark Spritzler]

Like Max says the book by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates has some excellent sources for how the assessor thinks, etc. I got an e-mail from them and they say they think that the book is a great complement to Max's book.
They like Max's book alot.
Mark

[Vedhas Pitkar]

poste by max or download sample chapters from each book)

Where can i download the sample chapters?Checked out the publisher's site but didnt notice any link for downloading sample chapters.
Also,the Kathy Siera book(apologies for not remembering her name ) covers the programmers part while Max's book caters ONLY to the developer part.So should I expect more from Max' book?
Thanks again,Vedhas.

[Kathy Sierra]

Originally posted by Vedhas Pitkar:
The Kathy Siera book... covers the programmers part while Max's book caters ONLY to the developer part.So should I expect more from Max' book?
Thanks again,Vedhas.

YES! With respect to the SCJD exam, you should definitely expect more from Max's book. I'm going to put this as strongly as I can... if you have passed SCJP and are looking for a Developer exam book, Max's book is the only one that will really teach/show/explain how to design and create your Developer exam project. It is the one *I* would buy under those circumstances. Our book doesn't do that, although it does offer -- as others have said -- some unique and perhaps useful insight into the assessment (I work with the certification team at Sun, so this is an area I know.)
Max is being quite generous when he says that you should choose which book suits your style, etc. That would be true if both books covered the same ground, but they do NOT. It isn't a question of style (and I happen to think both of our books share the goal of being friendly and easy-to-understand
If you want help learning how to put your project together, you really do need Max's book and it will help you far more than ours will.
Bert and I just don't believe that someone who has already passed SCJP should have to pay for our whole book just to get the SCJD portion (since nearly 3/4 of the book is devoted to SCJP). And that's why we are going to work with Mark to find ways to get as many pieces of our SCJD available online as we can. Give us a week or two (we're still in last stages of finishing up a new O'Reilly book, so we're still crazed) and we'll get something going for you.
Bert and I bought Max's book sometime ago and really liked it a lot. I'm rather hard to impress in the "is-it-friendly?" department, and I have a huge aversion to dry, academic text books. But as you can tell from Max's posts, he has a nice, clear, understandable style.
So PLEASE -- as much as we so appreciate the nice feedback and praise for some of our SCJD parts, and as much as we do agree that our assessment information can be quite valuable, I really urge you to:
* If you can buy only one SCJD book, I'd go with Max
* If you're still studying for SCJP, get ours!
* If you have unlimited funds, buy both. In fact, if you have unlimited funds, buy a whole BUNCH of our books and donate them to javaranch
And then, be patient and we'll see how much of our assessment info we can make available to you online.
If you REALLY want to help us out, buy Max's book and then go write a nice Amazon review of *our* book for the SCJP people.
Cheers,
Kathy

[Max Habibi]

Just to join in the mutual admiration society here:
I teach a SCJP 1.4 course at a local university, and I'm using Kathy's book. With all due respect to all the excellent other SCJP books out there, Kathy's book is in a different place, both in terms of tone, and in terms of content. Ten thumbs up indeed.
All best,
M, author
The Sun Certified Java Developer Exam with J2SE 1.4
[ January 15, 2003: Message edited by: Max Habibi ]

[Jeff Bosch]

I used the Sierra/Bates book for SCJP prep, and I scored 95%. So, when Kathy Sierra recommends someone's book, I listen! I ordered the Habibi book, which shipped from Amazon today. I can't wait to get it and start on the road to SCJD.
Meanwhile, I'm reading Multithreaded Programming with Java Technology by Lewis and Berg to sharpen my threading knowledge. It's a good book so far if you like "under the hood" types of books (which I love).

[Bharat Ruparel]

Hello Vedhas,
If you haven't yet passed SCJP, get Kathy & Bert Book. They have a very entertaining and thought provoking style. If you already have passed it and are focused on SCJD then Max's book is a must. I have read it and re-read it (parts that apply to whatever I am doing related to the assignment). Best of all, keep visiting this forum. Max personally answers questions related to his book and the assignments. There are a few others, who in my book are as good as anybody that I have known in my career like Andrew, Jim, Phil, Vlad, etc. It is a truly wonderful place to learn from people from practically all corners of the world. This is the first time that my learning process has been so effective.
If I have missed anybody's name, blame it to my head not my heart.
Regards.
Bharat

[Mark Spritzler]

Um, Bharat, check the date on his posting of this thread. It is fron January of this year, so it was a long time ago.
Mark

[Jeff Bosch]

Hi, Mark -
I'll just pretend Bharat was talking to me.