Thinking about doing the SCJD, but...

[Marlene Miller]

>> Any recommendations on books that could help me?

Hi Shiu-Wah Chu,

I suggest you read many of the answers on this forum by Andrew Monkhouse. His posts begin about spring of 2003. As you are working on a part of the assignment, search for his posts by topic and member # 47425. And from day to day, you might just see what he has to say. You can do that by clicking on his name in the list of moderators at the top of this forum, then clicking on ViewRecentPosts in his profile.

A lot of people have posted good ideas. It�s helpful to read posts from the SCJD archives and see what other people think, not just Andrew, of course.

Marlene

[Andrew Monkhouse]

Hi Shiu-Wah Chu,

Welcome to JavaRanch and this forum.

1. With the release of Java 5.0, does this means I must complete the assignment using JDK 5.0 instead of JDK 1.4.2? And will the assignment be tested on JRE 1.4.2 or JRE 5.0 (or both versions) by the examiner?

Oops. Forgot to ask this.

I only have access to a PC. Will this be a problem because Java is a multi-platform language? Will the examiner test my assignment on other platforms such as Linux?

As Peter mentioned, you can used JDK 1.4 for at least 18 months after JDK 5 is officially released.

When you receive your assignment, you should find instructions in it which tell you that you must specify which version of the JDK and what platform you used to develop on. I beleive the only reason for this is so that you cannot be penalised for not testing on every version of the JDK / every platform that Java runs on.

2. I'm hoping to achieve this in around 12 months, although I can allow myself up to 2 years to complete it. I should be able to allocate between 8 to 10 hours per week. Does this sounds reasonable? (Sun's web site actually said that it takes only one working week!)

Take a look at the question "How Long will it take me to complete the assignment?" in the JavaRanch SCJD FAQ. In it's answer, it has been suggested that 6 - 8 weeks of work at 40 hours per week might be reasonable. This is just a very very rough guideline - everybody works at a different pace and has a different amount of knowledge. But extrapolating from there - if you spend about 10 hours a week then a year would be reasonable.

Sun agree that one working work may set unrealistic expectations and have said that they will either remove or update that sentence on their site, but we don't know when.

3. Should I buy Kathy Sierra's Java book? I have already bought Mehran Habibi and Philip Heller books. My weakest area on the SCJP was the Threads, and since my SCJP is version 1.4, I have little experience on the GUI and File IO, and no experience on Network Server or anything Database-related. Any recommendations on books that could help me?

Max's (Mehran's) book is the best one I know of for this assignment. You can also look at the JavaRanch SCJD Reading Materials for further hints (I think there are links to the downloads for Kathy Sierra's SCJD chapters there). Kathy's book was designed more for SCJP candidates, with a few extra chapters to give an idea of what examiners are looking for as far as SCJD submissions are concerned. It does help give you things to think about, but it won't really take you through things like how to put together a JTable.

You do not really need any database knowledge to complete this assignment. You have to be able to work with a file at a low I/O level, but you do not need to know SQL or ResultSets or any of those other database concepts.

4. If I fail this on my first time, do I need to create another new assignment completely, or is it sufficient if I corrected the mistakes and re-submit my original assignment (with modifications)?

You can fix the parts of your assignment that are problematic, and resubmit it for approximately half the first submission fee.

5. How likely is it to pass the exam on first attempt? If someone fails on the first attempt, is it likely for him or her to pass on second attempt, or does this implies the person will likely to fail again?

Most of the regular members of this forum get feedback on their designs and get to see alternate designs (and read the feedback on them), resulting in good scores. We occassionaly see someone fail, but it is not often. I can't recall anyone failing twice.

Regards, Andrew

[Shiu-Wah Chu]

Hello everyone:

I have just acquired my SCJP 1.4 about 8 months ago, and I'm planning to do the SCJD now. However, I have many queries that I want to clarify before attempting it.

1. With the release of Java 5.0, does this means I must complete the assignment using JDK 5.0 instead of JDK 1.4.2? And will the assignment be tested on JRE 1.4.2 or JRE 5.0 (or both versions) by the examiner?

2. I'm hoping to achieve this in around 12 months, although I can allow myself up to 2 years to complete it. I should be able to allocate between 8 to 10 hours per week. Does this sounds reasonable? (Sun's web site actually said that it takes only one working week!)

3. Should I buy Kathy Sierra's Java book? I have already bought Mehran Habibi and Philip Heller books. My weakest area on the SCJP was the Threads, and since my SCJP is version 1.4, I have little experience on the GUI and File IO, and no experience on Network Server or anything Database-related. Any recommendations on books that could help me?

4. If I fail this on my first time, do I need to create another new assignment completely, or is it sufficient if I corrected the mistakes and re-submit my original assignment (with modifications)?

5. How likely is it to pass the exam on first attempt? If someone fails on the first attempt, is it likely for him or her to pass on second attempt, or does this implies the person will likely to fail again?

Thanks in advance.

[Shiu-Wah Chu]

Oops. Forgot to ask this.

I only have access to a PC. Will this be a problem because Java is a multi-platform language? Will the examiner test my assignment on other platforms such as Linux?

[peter wooster]

Originally posted by Shiu-Wah Chu:
Hello everyone:

I have just acquired my SCJP 1.4 about 8 months ago, and I'm planning to do the SCJD now. However, I have many queries that I want to clarify before attempting it.

1. With the release of Java 5.0, does this means I must complete the assignment using JDK 5.0 instead of JDK 1.4.2? And will the assignment be tested on JRE 1.4.2 or JRE 5.0 (or both versions) by the examiner?

2. I'm hoping to achieve this in around 12 months, although I can allow myself up to 2 years to complete it. I should be able to allocate between 8 to 10 hours per week. Does this sounds reasonable? (Sun's web site actually said that it takes only one working week!)

3. Should I buy Kathy Sierra's Java book? I have already bought Mehran Habibi and Philip Heller books. My weakest area on the SCJP was the Threads, and since my SCJP is version 1.4, I have little experience on the GUI and File IO, and no experience on Network Server or anything Database-related. Any recommendations on books that could help me?

4. If I fail this on my first time, do I need to create another new assignment completely, or is it sufficient if I corrected the mistakes and re-submit my original assignment (with modifications)?

5. How likely is it to pass the exam on first attempt? If someone fails on the first attempt, is it likely for him or her to pass on second attempt, or does this implies the person will likely to fail again?

Thanks in advance.

1) the current projects are based on 1.4, they specify that you must use a Java version that has not been superceded by a new production version for more than 18 months. So 1.4.2_05 should be good until at least March 2006.

2) this project can take as much time as you give it, it can also be passed with a minimum amount of work by an experienced Java developer.

3) Mehran Habibi's (Max's) book is the one you need, especially if you aren't an experienced Java developer.

4) if you fail, you can update and resubmit the same assignment for a fee.

5) most people pass if they participate in this forum.

My recommendation is that you work through the project in Max's book and find documentaion on the parts that give you trouble. The O'Reilly "Java Swing" and "Java Networking" books are useful, as is the Sun "Concurrent Programming in Java" by Doug Lea.

[peter wooster]

Originally posted by Shiu-Wah Chu:
Oops. Forgot to ask this.

I only have access to a PC. Will this be a problem because Java is a multi-platform language? Will the examiner test my assignment on other platforms such as Linux?

They will almost certainly test it on Solaris. You should worry about this when you get close to submission time. You can get a copy of Solaris that runs on a PC, you should test using different platforms. The GUI especially will look very different.

[Shiu-Wah Chu]

Thank you everyone for answering my queries. I've decided to register for my SCJD assignment in late October, since I have a major deadline in early October.

Regards,
Shiu-Wah.

[Jeff Bosch]

Hi, Shiu-Wah -

Good luck on your exam. I just received my assignment and, after a project completes tomorrow, I'll start in on it.