OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide - level of detail

[Marcelo Ortega]

Hey Guys,

How much detail would you say is in the study guide? What I mean is, is there just enough detail to be able to pass the exam, or does it dive further to explore the hows and whys? E.g. when talking about the garbage collector and how objects are made eligbile for collection, does it talk about the types of garbage collection algorithms (such as mark and sweep), generations, etc? I assume these topics are out of scope for the exams but just curious :-)

-M

[Roel De Nijs]

It's a study guide for the OCA/OCP certification exams, so it focuses on what you need to know for the exam. And that's already a huge task: almost 1000 pages in the book, and an additional 500 on the CD. So covering more than what's required to pass the exam contradicts with the purpose of the book. That could even result in a negative user experience, because the authors let the reader study & remember useless facts.

[Bert Bates]

I agree with what Roel said and I want to add a little more...

As often as we can, we try to teach underlying principles. Our belief is that when understanding principles is sufficient to let you "do stuff", then principles are better than memorizing collections of facts. So sometimes the underlying principles might teach you 120% of what's on the exam.

And, due to the nature of the beast, we can't always stick to principles - sometimes ya just gotta memorize some facts.