Paul Anilprem

Not sure if are aware of this but Java SE 11 Developer I and II are long gone. There is only one OCP Java SE 11 Developer exam (Exam code 1Z0-819) now.

Both OCP Java SE 11 and OCP Java SE 17 are OCP level exams. OCP is a level higher than OCA and is substantially tougher to pass than the OCA exam. Unfortunately, there is no OCA level exam for Java 11 onwards.

This article explains different levels of Java certifications with their pros and cons.

Section 15.18.1 of JLS 21 also says:

An implementation may choose to perform conversion and concatenation in one step to avoid creating and then discarding an intermediate String object. To increase the performance of repeated string concatenation, a Java compiler may use the StringBuffer class or a similar technique to reduce the number of intermediate String objects that are created by evaluation of an expression.

For primitive types, an implementation may also optimize away the creation of a wrapper object by converting directly from a primitive type to a string.

So, yes, I think OP's concern is indeed valid. Theoretically, it is an example of autoboxing but, under the hood, autoboxing may not necessarily happen.

Replied to the same question a few days ago here: https://enthuware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6493

Good to get this reply from Oracle:

Thank you for your input.

Our Subject Matter Expert (SME) is working on it.

Meanwhile, this question is temporarily removed from the exam.

If you have any further concerns, kindly raise a new SR referring to this SR number.

Ruslan Mussalimov wrote:
Indeed with such a file a module will be most likely an automatic instead of a named one since the proper module-info.java file is missing, [b]making an option of the module-info.java file being empty correct I guess..

Not quite true. module-info.java sits one level above the rest of the code (assuming the code is structured as a module). So, even if you were to package the compiled stuff in jar without module-info.class, it would not be a valid jar because there would be one extra directory path at the top level in that jar.  JVM will not be able to find classes in the right directory structure inside that jar. Therefore, it would not be a valid automatic-module either (or may be it would be, with no usable class inside that module).

The only way this can work is if you have a file named module-info.java sitting along with regular non-modular java source files, in which case, the name of the file is immaterial. It can be anything.

It is true that any empty .java file can be passed through the compiler without any compiler error but that is only if you are compiling non-modular Java code.

If the question is talking about module-info.java, then it is reasonable for the candidate to assume that the question is about compiling modules and that module-info.java is not just any random java source file but the file that is supposed to contain the module descriptor of the module being compiled. This file cannot be empty and will cause a compilation error if it is.

If this option were written as, "An empty java source file is a valid Java source file", one could argue that it is correct because it is talking about general Java code. But asking specifically about module-info.java, when command line compilation and execution of modules is on the exam, and expecting the candidate to think of the general non-modular case, is not fair at all, imho.

Anyway, after explaining the situation to Oracle, they have promised to have an SME look into it:

We are working with the Subject Matter Expert (SME) on your query and shall revert with an update at the earliest.

It will be good to know what Oracle's official stance is on this.

Ruslan, if you are sure that the question was about module-info.java and that it assumes that module-info.java file can be empty, please open a ticket with Oracle because it is definitely incorrect.
I reported this to oracle and received the following response:

We request you to kindly share the email address that you used to register for the exam along with a screenshot of the registration confirmation email which you would have received after scheduling the exam so that we may review this further.

P.S. You may open a support request here: https://help-education.oracle.com/

https://www.oracle.com/in/education/training/buy/
On this page, select "Oracle Technology Exam Subscription",  "One single-use exam for a technology or OCI certification." option. The same voucher works for all OCA and OCP Java certification exams.

Congratulations on passing and thank you for uour feedback  
Are you sure the question was about  module-info.java file and not about "module-info" ? Because an empty module-info.java file won't compile but a module-info that is empty is fine (as the screenshot you mentioned explains).

Congratulations, Radu. 88% is a great score on this exam. Happy to know that our material was helpful in your preparation.
Thank you for your feedback  

Congratulations and thank you for your feedback!
It is good to know that Oracle did not penalize you for technical issues in exam administration.

FYI, the OCP Java certification exam expects you to know the greatness(?)  of the - (dash or minus) sign as well One needs to know the order of the following ASCII characters:

- < digits (0 to 9) < upper case letters (A to Z) < lower case letters (a to z).  

So, for example, String "-2" would be considered "smaller" than "1" and "Aaaa" would be considered smaller than "a". For the same reason, String "-11" is smaller than "-21" even though mathematically, int -21 is smaller than int -11. Just mentioning it here because the exam tricks you on this point

Yes, that is the one. Voucher is valid for 6 months.
The final order page depends on your country. In some countries such as India, direct purchase through Credit Card is not supported. May be that is the reason why you are are seeing that page.

>How do I simply register for an exam at a place and time?
You can't. You have to purchase a voucher and then use that voucher to schedule the exam online. You have to take the exam online on your machine and at your location.

The rest of the steps are listed here.

Yes, it shows a blank page. Don't use that link. Go to https://education.oracle.com/java-se-21-developer-professional/pexam_1Z0-830 and click on Buy it button on there. It will take you to https://www.oracle.com/in/education/training/buy/ and there, click on Product Details under "Oracle Technology Exam Subscription". This will take you to the page where you can place an order. If you are not already logged in, you will have to signin first using the icon on top right corner.

Yes, all of them said it was way too lengthy. Lot of questions had really long code listings. Many questions had long code listings in options as well. One can easily get psyched upon looking at a question that keeps scrolling and scrolling with no end it sight! But the reason they are so long is because they have a lot of repeated code. For example, a question had 5 options and the following 4 lines were common to all of the options:
public String someMethod(Object obj){   return switch...{      ...a few lines of code that actually mattered (not showing them here)  } }
That's 20 useless lines of code to scroll. Test designers could have taken out the common code from options and put it in the problem statement. Such questions require a lot of scrolling and waste a lot of time, which is probably why the test feels lengthy.

Initial reports suggested that many questions had more than 6 options. We were vigilant about that and found out that that is actually a bit misleading. Based on our experience, most (33/50 , 66%) questions have only 4 or 5 options and only 10% of the questions had more than 6 options including a question with 10 options (which is just crazy, tbh). So may be they have toned this aspect down now.

Disclaimer: The above analysis is based on only a few tests attempts (<10) by our content creators and one may get a test that varies widely from this pattern. Several of trainees however reported that their experience was similar.