Book Review – OCP Java SE 7 Programmer II Certification Guide: Prepare for the 1ZO-804 exam

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.

Share

One thought on “Book Review – OCP Java SE 7 Programmer II Certification Guide: Prepare for the 1ZO-804 exam

Leave a Reply to Brenton Antonacci Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Page generated in 0.315 seconds. Stats plugin by www.blog.ca