My gripe is with presenting lists of technical questions for people to cram (which the review indicates is what this book is about).
It depends on how you view it and how the readers use it:
-- It might be a cram for some but it will be a great refresher/quick reference guide for many (Java/J2EE technology is very vast and you do not work with all the things all the times). Also one can attend his/her interviews with confidence.
-- I have seen some good Java/J2EE professionals who are excellent when it comes to coding but find it a bit difficult to relate that practical knowledge well in interviews, to their peers, subordinates,seniors etc.
-- Questions and Answers approach with examples and diagrams provide a different perspective to learning and pro-active learners will find it useful in understanding the core concepts.
-- It also helps junior developers to understand the core concepts and key areas relating to Java/J2EE development and streamline their learning process without having to get confused or worried about all the technical jargons and myriad of related technologies and where they all fit in. Also depending on the level of knowledge, one can easiliy find additional information on the web once you know the key terms to search for from the book. Some might want to know more about JNDI and others might want to know more about Transaction Management, or Threading issues etc. So the book has been categorized by key areas like threading, transaction management, memory issues etc and technologies like Java. J2EE, JDBC, JNDI XML, etc.
In my view, If you are hiring junior developers or entry level positions, I would rather hire a junior developer who is intelligent and pro-active enough to have some basic idea on Java/J2EE basics.
If some one is cramming for a senior level position then as was suggested by Bert Bates, you need to filter that through a proper interviewing process. I am currently working for an Investment Bank, which has a very thorough recruitment process. This book does not provide one line answers to the questions as many of the Job Interview sites do. This book provides concise and clear explanations with examples, diagrams etc. It also covers wide range of Java/J2EE related topics and depending on one's level of seniority, one can pick and choose his/her topic of interest and if required can find additional information on the web by typing the key terms.
[ July 16, 2006: Message edited by: ak pillai ]
[ July 17, 2006: Message edited by: ak pillai ]
