Although this book is essentially for preparing for OCP certification but I feel it is a great reference for anyone interested in learning Java 7 features. Oracle has been adding tons of features with each Java release and it is no mean task to keep up with them. Author has done a great job in providing adequate treatment to all topics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
High Points:
- Each chapter has well defined mapping with exam objectives, exam tips, sidebars and Twist in Tale
- Interesting illustrations which keep the reader focused like Thread Life cycle.
- Funny way to introduce concepts like overloading, exceptions. I loved the airplane example for exceptions.
- Inner details explained with decompiled code (For e.g. Enum)
- Good introduction to design patterns like Singleton, Factory, DAO, etc.
- Lucid explanation for Collections with interesting examples.
- Novel way to explain difference between Assertions and Exceptions.
- Review notes and sample exam questions at the end of each chapter.
Improvement Areas:
- Compiler errors can be in a different color.
- I think Page 249 has a typo error. The phrase “Won’t compile; no way to pass argument to T” should be “Won’t compile; no way to pass argument T”
- More emphasis should be given to StringBuffer and StringBuilder as developers typically get confused in them.
- Exception Handling – More emphasis on why we should not catch Errors. Moreover, I don’t think extending RuntimeException should be encouraged.
- Few examples for Java I/O.
- Concurrency is not an easy area so more detailed treatment with sufficient examples should be given.
- A consolidated mock paper in the end would help.
I feel this book would be good reference for preparing for OCP certification.
This review originally appeared at Amazon listing of the book.
Nice post. Thank you!