Jeff Walker

Hi Mark,
I am interested in learning about how Android will communicate with other devices.
Being Java based, does it use its own protocol lying on top of http/s, or perhaps can it use web services (SOAP), or perhaps something else?

Also, does your book show any examples of Android to Android (A2A) comms?
(Did I just coin a new acronym ??)
dream_ryder

Originally posted by Rodrigo Cunha:
[QB]Cleared SCEA5 (1) this morning 68%

boy.. that was a hell of a beating.. for sure the most dificult exam I've ever had. It was harder than I thought it could be. Score wasn't what I expected to have.. 68%.

/QB]

Congrats Rodrigo on passing Sun's most difficult exam. ( I really mean that, Sun's MOST difficult multiple-choice exam).
Regards,
-jeff

Originally posted by mayur dhawan:
hi,
I want to know when a person is fully mature to give the SCEA examination.
Will is be after giving most of the other certification exams.

But , is it not mandatory to clear other exams to clear SCEA exam.

Please guide.

thanks
mayur

To my knowledge, they are all dependent on you having the SCJP first. That is the only prerequisite. Go here and check for yourself:
http://www.sun.com/training/certification/java/index.xml?intecmp=1395

and see that they all require SCJP first. (Except the SCJA, which is completely optional).

As for your maturity question, the SCEA is an architectural exam. If you have not done any JEE architectural work before, it will seem very tough. Some suggest doing the SCWCD and SCBCD first, but they are also tough and will require at least 2-3 months of heavy study too.

Finally, the SCEA recently got upgraded to SCEA5, meaning it refers to Java Enterprise Edition 5. Many free mock exams and books out there still refer to the older SCEA, which referred to J2EE, and so those resources will unintentionally mislead you. There is no 'official' study guide for SCEA5. There was a book reading list for the SCEA5 beta exam, but the beta exam is over and cannot be attempted (you must attempt the real SCEA5, or not at all). There is a post somewhere on this forum to the beta reading list. It is a dozen or so books to read.
Regards,
-jeff

Originally posted by kha nguyen:
Can buffer overflow in a Java/J2EE-Application occur? Should we actively take it to consideration designing a J2EE-based apllication?

Thank you in advance,
Kha Nguyen

Hi Kha,
the short answer is yes, it 'can' occur. When it does, it is considered a system level error and there is nothing you can directly do. (Because it extends RuntimeException).

Go here "http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/" to see a list of all Java clases available in Java6 SE edition. Somewhere down the list, is a class called BufferOverflowException, in the java.nio package. (Also possible, is a BufferUnderflowException as well).

These are both class extensions of the more generic RuntimeException class, which Java programs (and consequently J2EE programs) do not need to explicitly catch in their try-catch blocks. So, technically, you do not explicitly need to design for their occurrence. You do need some sort of behavior for RuntimeExceptions in general, though. (Even if that is simply that the runtime exception bubbles up to the main() method call and the program exits).

But this question doesn't belong in the SCEA forum. It is a Java language specific question, I believe.
Thanks,
-jeff

Originally posted by Ganesan Ponnusamy:
Jeff,

We have two different editions for certification preparation products.

Personal Edition: Install and use the software for single person usage
Enterprise Edition: Client-Server model designed for corporate certification training program.

We have launched SCEA 5.0 Training Labs personal edition and we are yet to release enterprise edition for SCEA 5.0.

We have EPractize Test Lab(Freeware product) to run different kind of tests created by EPractize Labs.
http://www.epractizelabs.com/testlab.html

To run a test file (EPLPRACTIZE01.test), you need EPractize Test lab on your system.

You can download our FREE tests at http://www.epractizelabs.com/tests/TestFiles.zip


EPractize Test Lab license activation
� Download the product and License key (http://testlab.epractizelabs.com )
� Install and click Create Account
� Enter your details including your License Key
To install new test on your EPractize Test lab
�You can load new tests provided by EPractize Labs as follows.
�Download the free '.test' from www.epractizelabs.com/test-download.html
�Store it in your local drive.
�Click Choose Test file and select the test you want to load.
�Click Load Test. Now the new test is ready to use.
�Click Close to go to home page

Thank you. I'll try it out.
Regards,
-jeff

Q1.
The website states this paragraph:
"Corporate employment training simulator for preparing SCEA - Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Part 1 multiple choice exam."

-What is the definition of a corporate employment training simulator? Isn't the simulator designed for single person usage?

Q2.
On this page "http://www.epractizelabs.com/buy.html", there is a test ID called 'EPLPRACTIZE01". There is a link and the cost next to it is stated to be 'Free'. I clicked the link
"http://www.epractizelabs.com/tests/EPLPRACTIZE01.test"
and it gives an encrypted file. So it is not free, or do I have to sign up first?

Thanks,
-jeff

Originally posted by Praveen Allam:
What version of EJB SCEA5 covers? is it EJB3.0 ?

-APK.

Go here:
http://www.sun.com/training/catalog/courses/CX-310-052.xml
and read Section 4. Here it is again for easier reading. Notice the second point mentions JPA (only available since EJB3 was released), but if that doesn't completely convince you, see that the last point explicitly mentions EJB3.
Good luck!
-jeff

...
Section 4: Business Tier Technologies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Explain and contrast uses for entity beans, entity classes, stateful and stateless session beans, and message-driven beans, and understand the advantages and disadvantages of each type.
Explain and contrast the following persistence strategies: container-managed persistence (CMP) BMP, JDO, JPA, ORM and using DAOs (Data Access Objects) and direct JDBC technology-based persistence under the following headings: ease of development, performance, scalability, extensibility, and security.
Explain how Java EE supports the deployment of server-side components implemented as web services and the advantages and disadvantages of adopting such an approach.
Explain the benefits of the EJB 3 development model over previous EJB generations for ease of development including how the EJB container simplifies EJB development.

Originally posted by Niamh Gill:
Hi,

I've been thinking about studying for SCEA certification and have been looking around for J2EE tutorials on the web.

I've come across this one: http://www.javapassion.com/j2ee/#Introduction by Sang Shin, a Sun employee. Has anybody used this tutorial? How would you rate it? It seems very comprehensive...is it appropriate for preparing for SCEA?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

[ June 04, 2008: Message edited by: Niamh Gill ]

For SCEA5, this tutorial will be of minimal-to-medium help, in my opinion. It is strongly geared towards actual Java development, as in, coding. It is sprinkled with non-J2EE sections and chapters such as Spring, Hibernate, Wicket and Tapestry. (These technologies will not be on the exam and probably should not be utilized or mentioned in the assignment, either). The tutorial is roughly about 50/50% J2EE and non-J2EE.

Still, it is a very good overall attempt at the entire Java market today, with the very best technologies (that is, most widely used and therefore most reliable and mature) mentioned.

(The cynic in me thinks it looks like an author's preliminary attempt to start a very large, 1,000+ page book on Java circa, 2008, by offering a tutorial first, get students to work out kinks in assignments and supplied code, and then bring out a book in the later part of '08 or '09. I wonder if I am right?)
-jeff

Originally posted by Monu Sharma:
I am sort of new to Webservices. Which book you would refer for the preparation of SCEA5 webservices/SOA etc.. I m currently going thru "SOA using java web services" by Mark D. Hansen.

That is the best book for JAX-WS on the market today. But, it is oriented towards developing web services, as in writing Java code. I actually started with the famous (but now noticeably out of date) RMH book. That will give you possibly more general background around JAXR and XML Schema used in web services. Remember, there is no Java coding in Part 1, II or II, so don't get bogged down in Hansen's book too much.
-jeff

Originally posted by Rodrigo Cunha:


Jeff,

I'm gonna go over this topic and review my opinion after I take the test (which I haven't so far.. still preparing).
One of the things that I deeply missed on the epractice was a more accurate explanation of the aswers provided.. you'll see things like..

choice A is correct
choice B,C,D are not correct because they don't address the requirements


ok, I believe they could at least have gone over the technologies mentioned on the wrong alternatives and explain why they don't address the requirements (some of them were really doubtful).

just my 2 cents on this
regards

Agreed.
I'm doing the ePractice exam right now and it's not very hard. But the biggest complaint I have is what you have touched on, just a brief statement that 'a' and 'b' are correct, while 'c', 'd' and 'e' are not. Then a lame reference to a book or website where it is discussed. No detailed explanation given.

Another poster brought up an interesting point, that the questions in the ePractice exams are mostly single answers, while he found that the actual exam was heavily loaded with multiple answers.
I now truly doubt it is worth $55.
Good luck,
-jeff

Here is some useful information from Senthil Kumar on the number of hours you can expect to put into SCEA5/I. Senthil did pass all three parts.
-jeff




posted Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:23 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Jeff Walker:


Yes, congrats and kudos to you for passing. Well done mate!

Would you mind helping out the others here and please describe:
1. Your experiences, both good and bad with the three parts. (No direct exam questions please, but just general experiences and opinions would be fine), and
2. Please list the resources you used for study purposes.

This kind of information is of great assistance to the other candidates.
Regards,
-jeff
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Sure, that would be my pleasure!

Part-1 : This is the toughest among all the parts and would require solid understanding of the concepts mentioned in syllabus. Mostly all of us would have used most of those concepts in our work and hence it would not be that much difficult understanding them. Concentrate mostly on UML, design patterns, Architecture, EJB and Messaging: they are good scoring areas. Java Security for me atleast was very tough and hence spend some valuble time for that as well. There are lot of mockup sites available and they are pretty much helpful to know about that question patterns and gives us some trial for Part-1 exam. I would recommend to spend atleast 2-3 hours morning and 2-3 hours evening on every weekday and atleast 9-10 hours on weekends for 40-45 days and then you are the winner!

Part:2 It's fun..!(if you have solid design experience). Read through the business requirements, usecases and domain model for atleast 20-30 times and then list out all the assumptions. Then start of with class diagrams, iterate it over and over, finalize them, Then go for sequence diagrams,component diagrams. If possible keep one deployment diagram also. Pls be sure that the design reflects both Web and Swing clients across all the digrams. Pls dont hesitate to refer back your study materials in Part-1 for design atterns/Architecture/UML etc.. Daily 4 hours for 25-30 days should be enough.


Part:3 There will be some high level architectual questions to justify the design methods that we have chosen in Part-2 assignment and one should be able to answer them easily since they would have put lot of time in Part-2 assignment. Next day after Part-2, you sud be able to take up Part-3.

All the best..!

Originally posted by Rodrigo Cunha:


Well, I went ahead and acquired the epractice, my personal opinion on it would definetly be.. weak! Even if you haven't gone over the subject for a specific question, you are easily able to tell the right answer by eliminating the wrong ones (which were real out of scope.. by not saying nonsenses).
Just hope the whizlabs mock exam won't let us down.

anyone who took the real exam would have a different opinion on this?

Rodrigo,
this is most worrisome! If the 'official' practice exam from Sun is weak as you say, then it is of dubious value. I would like to reiterate my (untested) opinion, that the SCEA5 exam part I is noticeably harder than the older SCEA Part I exam.

Test-takers beware..it is a tough exam, as it should be, to have any value.
Congrats to all who have passed.
-jeff

Originally posted by Ayub ali khan:
If we purchase the Sun exam. Can we practice it multiple times ? or is the access only once ?

Regards
Ayub

You get access to it for 12 months, for $55.
It's essentially two practice exams online, I think 60 questions in each.
(Interestingly, in the fine print, Sun reserves the right to use your responses in formulating future questions. Your responses cannot be seen by anyone else, except by Sun).
-jeff

Originally posted by Rama:
Hello Guys,
Is the Java EE 5 tutorial from Sun any use for the Certification preparation? I'm a newbie and trying to figure what material to read. Thanks

[ May 28, 2008: Message edited by: Rama ]

Rama,
I'm also studying for the SCEA5, and I also am doing the JEE5 Tutorial. It is of minimal help, in my opinion. It's geared towards full blown JEE development (that is, actual coding and building web apps and EJB apps), but no part of the SCEA5 has any coding in it at all. So, the tutorial wil give you good background information, but you have run into the "SCEA5 wall" as I will call it; the shear lack of SCEA5 resources.

So, previous 'pathfinders' that came before us and dared to take the SCEA5 (with virtually no resources) have reported a book list worth reading, and there is a general consensus that the ePractice exam available at Sun's website for $55 is 'most likely' worth doing, if not expensive. There are no high-quality SCEA5 mock exams available, to my knowledge, as of right now. Here are two useful posts from SCEA5 test takers:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selina Tan:
I purchased the ePractice exam
Reason:
- only exam ard that is for SCEA 5
- the price is actually cheap as compare to whizlab (SCEA 2)

For the materials used.....i will list it by section ok?
Hope this list help those who are preparing the certification too
Section 1-
Practical Software Estimation: (M. A. Parthasarathy). (Note: I didn't read this book... for this section actually quite straight forward... if you have purchase the ePractice exam, from the answer & reference you will be able to tell what is reqd in the exam)
Section 2-
http://java.boot.by/scea5-guide/ch02.html
Note: can't find any reference for the objective "Explain appropriate and inappropriate uses for web services in the Java EE platform"
Section 3-
http://java.boot.by/scea5-guide/ch0.html
Nicholas Kassem, Enterprise Team. Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, Second Edition

Enterprise Blueprints
Section 4-
- Java EE tutorial
- Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, Second Edition

Note: only score 37% for this section... hee... so.... it means the material i used is not enough....
Section 5-
- Java EE tutorial
- Designing Enterprise Applications with the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, Second Edition
Section 6-
ePractice exam - kind of deduced the pattern on the question that will be asked....
Section 7-
http://java.boot.by/scea5-guide/ch07.html
GoF Patterns & core j2ee patterns
Section 8-
http://java.boot.by/scea5-guide/ch08.html
http://java.sun.com/sfaq/
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/WebServices/JWS_2/JWS_White_Paper.pdf


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wilmar Rodriguez C:
Last year in October already I passed SCEA 5 Part 1 BETA.
I don't know the reasons but for submitting the new SCEA II Assigment was necessary retake SCEA 5 310-052.
Today I passed the exam with 96% 62 of 64 correct questions.

SECTION SCORE WERE:

Aplication Design Concepts and Principles...........77
Common Architecture ...............................100
Integration and Messaging..........................100
Business Tier Technologies.........................100
Applicability of Java EE Technology................100
Patterns...........................................100
Security...........................................100

Actually I'm Sun Instructor Courses in Colombia. The exam was easy for me because I teach SL425 Sun Microsystems Course to some people and engineers.

Material of study:
1. SCEA 5 Study Guide java boot http://java.boot.by/scea5-guide/
2. New MacGraw Hill SCEA Sun Certified Enterprise Architect for Java EE Study Guide
3. Sun J2EE Patterns catalog. Some questions about Service to Worker, Facade, Service Activator.
4. Manning EJB 3.0 Book for questions about new Web Services in Stateless EJB Session
5. SL425, 00226 Manuals from Sun Microsystems Courses. OO226 is excelent to make the assigment, SL425 also for the assignment and the exam too.

Recommendations: Read carefully each questions before marking, some questions so confused in the scenary, another really easy.

Thanks,

Wilmar Rodriguez C
Candidate Master of System Engineering and Computer Science.
Software Engineering Specialist
Sun Java Instructor(SL425,OO226, FJ310)
SCEA, SCJA, SCJP 1.4,1.5, SCWCD(1.4 and 5),SCBCD(1.3 and 5), SCDJWS, SCMAD
SUN CERTIFIED SOLARIS 10 SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR
SUN CERTIFIED SOLARIS 10 NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR. Preparing
IBM CLS, IBM SECURITY AND WORKFLOW, IBM RUP 2003, IBM RUP 7, IBM SOA ASSOCIATE, IBM SOA SOLUTION DESIGNER[2007], IBM WEB SERVICES DEVELOPER FOR WEBSPHERE ND 6.1
ORACLE DBA 10GR2 OCA
ORACLE APP SERVER 10G OCA
ORACLE APP SERVER 10G OCP. Preparing
[ May 15, 2008: Message edited by: Wilmar Rodriguez ]

-jeff

Originally posted by Andrew Thomas Betencourt:
Hey !

Today morning I saw my profile in CertManager and I had a amazing surprise.
I passed in SCEA for J2EE, but I didn't receive the SUN email with my result/score.

The javaranch was a great resource for my study.

Thanks !

Congratulations Andrew. Well Done!
-jeff