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To leapfrog from java1.4 to OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer certification

 
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Hi,

Can one leapfrog from java1.4 background to writing OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer certification,What would be your advise?

Thanks
Meenakshi Sundar
 
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Why do you think you need advice? I do not see why this should not be possible. As a programmer, you should be in a position to understand new language features,= and work with new API's. As with every software, evolution is they key to survival and as a programmer, adapting to the evolution is very much needed!
 
meenakshi sundar
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Appreciate your advise , But my idea behind asking the question was, is it not prudent to progress logically from 1.4 to 7 as there was a big-bang shift from 1.4 to 1.5 with many drastic changes.
 
Joe San
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Could you name what those drastic changes were from 1.4 to Java 5? The only major language feature that I see quantifiable in Java 5 are the Generics and maybe some additional niceties like the foreach style for loop, metadata using annotations. This still remains good for Java 7. So you do not have to use Java 5 to understand generics and then move to Java 7! Head straight to Java 7 would be my say or even better Java 8, best if you could move to Scala!
 
Joe San
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This might be useful to you: http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/193630/summary-of-differences-between-java-versions
 
meenakshi sundar
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Thanks Joe,

General opinion about Java 1.5 is ,Its is arguably the most significant release of Java there's ever been and is certainly the biggest one since Java 1.2.
Generics and Annotations alone were a big enough change to warrant ,Now Java 8 with its functional programming capabilities is the next big thing in its evolution.

And thanks for your suggestions on Scala , That is something i am seriously looking into.
 
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There is a big difference from Java 1.4 to Java 5. Or Java 5 has lots of new features yet the key addition to Java 5 is generics.

So going from Java 1.4 to 7 will first need a good understanding of generics. Plus able to refactor non-generic code to generic code.

There are a few API in the Collections framework that weren't in Java 1.4 (I may be wrong here). For example, Queue and Deque should be new for Java 1.4 people

Apart from generics and Collections API, the rest should be straightforward.

Since you are already JP certified, use the Java 7 upgrade exam as a guide for the topics to study.
 
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Besides generics and annotations, enums were also a (valuable) add-on to Java 5 in comparison with Java 1.4. Have to say I'm a little bit surprised no one has mentioned this cool feature
 
meenakshi sundar
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Yes you were right Role & Tsang ,Enums and Collections were some more important language additions.

I am thinking of Reading Headfirst java second edition to get a good ground and move on to Java 7 ,Hope that will work out....What is your thougt?
 
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Java 8 being on the horizon ,Wouldn't it be prudent to wait for Java 8 certification that comes out with all this functional programming additions?
 
Roel De Nijs
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meenakshi sundar wrote:I am thinking of Reading Headfirst java second edition to get a good ground and move on to Java 7 ,Hope that will work out....What is your thougt?


Head First Java 2nd edition focuses on Java 5, so you can read it to get a good ground for the new Java 5 language features. But it will not teach you the new Java 7 language features. For those you can use the Oracle online tutorials and/or if you want to write the OCPJP7 exam, you can use a book like OCA/OCP Java SE 7 Programmer I & II Study Guide (K&B7).
 
Roel De Nijs
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meenakshi sundar wrote:Java 8 being on the horizon ,Wouldn't it be prudent to wait for Java 8 certification that comes out with all this functional programming additions?


It all depends on your expectations. If you want to be certified quickly, you have to go for OCPJP6 or OCPJP7. The OCAJP8 is still in beta, the OCPJP8 isn't available. When you take a beta exam, you'll have to wait approximately 11 weeks after the close of the Beta Exam to know if you passed or not.
 
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For Java 7 new features, you may want to look up "Java 7 New Features Cookbook" by Richard Reese & Jennifer Reese.

The upgrade objectives clearly list of what the Java 7 "new" features you must know.

Java 8 OCA beta is going to end soon (last time I checked). Java 8 will simply add more new features (eg lambda and new time API) to the mix.

Having Java 7 OCP, moving to Java 8 would be just again learning these new stuff.

In fact earlier in the year I decided to upgrade to Java 7 from Java 5 because:
Java 7 has comparatively many new topics (when compared to Java 6)
Given the exam topics, I have used some of them (eg JDBC, design patterns, i18N) so reviewing shouldn't be that hard right?
Get myself in mood for Java EE developer certs
 
meenakshi sundar
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Thanks for the tips Role&Tsang
you made lot of sense ,I am thinking i would jump in to OCP 7 first then later i would think about the upgrade examination to 8

For me personally writing certification examinations give me lot energy ,It will keep you grounded ..This is my final thought of this thread.

Thank you all for your valid inputs.
 
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