Rating: 
Summary: Main reason I passed the test
Review: I have about 12 years experience in SW dev (most recently management). I bought this book to help me brush up on OO dev, learn Java and prep for the certification test. Although this is not a good book for hands-on teaching or for those with no prior OO dev, it is pretty good for learning the material needed for the exam. It seemed to cover material in more depth than needed for the exam (especially UI dev). It was my prime source and I passed the first time with an 81 (61 needed to pass).I would definitely recommend this book to those prepping for the exam. If you are new at OO dev, start with "Thinking in Java" by Eckel. If you want a good course-type teaching book with good hands-on exercises try Deitel's book "Java How to Program".
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Summary: Rakesh Chauhan
Review: I pass SCJP this morning with 83%. This is the best book for SCJP preparation. I refer this book to clear my some of funda.
However, I was reluctant to read this book systematically because of 754 pages. This book is best if you have enough time to go through all related pages. I did refer other books like Mike Mayers passport and exam cram. Now, in my view if you stick to this book (Khalid Mughal) and don't spend time looking at other books. You will do great help to pass your SCJP exam and build good knowhow. In addition to this book you may take couple of online practice exam also. By this way you won't be duplicating you affort to read through different words to get same point. Good luck.
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Summary: The best book for your money's worth!
Review: This book will give you almost every detail you need to understand the Java language first. That is, I believe, the key to success for this book. It does use programmer's point of view and makes it easy to understand the concepts. I have also used Simon Robert's book, that one is also good. But Mughal's book give you for your money's worth (if you also think about the exam fee). You won't need any other books to go thru to see if you missed anything. Mughal makes it easy for you and covers all the topics that you may come across during the test. Read it once or maybe twice. Make sure you go thru all the exercises. Then just relax and take the test.
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Summary: Deep java programer
Review: thank's to you (Khalid Azim Mughal & Rolf Rasmussen)
i juste pass my exam today...
this book is not only for certification but it's the basic knowledge for Java progamamer
thank's.
Rating:
Summary: Very good but not perfect
Review: I used this book almost exclusively to study for Java 2 programmer certification and found it to provide very good preparation for the exam. It is organized well; it provides both a theoretical framework and practical help; it clearly ties exam objectives to specific chapters and sections; it goes beyond the Sun objectives in many areas. However, I feel it has several shortcomings which the authors should improve in future editions. The chapters of the book are organized along the same lines as the Sun objectives, but in general the order of the chapters makes more sense than the order of the objectives. For example, the objectives' section 4 (Language Fundamentals) and section 5 (Operators and Assignments) are covered in early chapters of the book, as they should be. It makes no sense to discuss Flow Control and Exception Handling (objectives section 2) until the fundamentals of the language are covered. Each chapter is laid out in reasonable sections. Most sections begin with a general theoretical discussion and include a number of examples to illustrate the principles. Most sections end with review questions that can be used as an initial check of how well you understand the material. For the vast majority of the sections I studied, there is just the right amount of material included in each section, and just the right number of review questions to cover it. Both the book as a whole and most individual chapters go beyond the Sun objectives. The authors list "Supplementary Objectives" at the beginning of each chapter to clearly identify what additional material is covered. This practice makes sense to me. First, the objectives don't completely cover what you need to know to use Java. The Supplementary Objectives provide that additional information. Second, if the Sun objectives change, you are less likely to need an additional text. The book covers the Java language, not just what you need in order to pass the certification exam. I found the chapters on Collections, AWT Components, and AWT Events to be especially good. The diagrams of the inheritance structure make the class and interface relationships clear. The accompanying text explanations are clear and concise, and give a detailed overview of the most important classes, interfaces, and methods in each area. I knew very little about any of these areas when I started, but had no problems with any questions about them after I had mastered the material in this book. I also found especially helpful the diagrams in section 4.9, Member Accessibility Modifiers. When used with the text, they perfectly illustrate the different accessibilities provided by the public, protected, default (package), and private modifiers. The book includes a practice exam, with clearly explained answers. The questions are on a par with the questions on the actual exam, at least in my experience. I took many practice exams while preparing for my test and found most of them to be lacking in some way. Most ask easier questions than the Sun exam. Most have at least a few poorly worded questions. This is not the case with this book's practice exam. Now my complaints about the book. I thought Chapter 7 on Inner Classes should be clearer and more systematic. Each kind of inner class is discussed fully, but the characteristics are not always covered in the same order. I found I needed to make my own chart of the characteristics of each kind of inner class in order to clarify my understanding. Once I understood the material, I felt I must be missing something because it seemed much simpler than I had thought based on reading the chapter. I checked out the topic in the language spec and found that very little space is spent on this topic. There are a few simple concepts to learn and a few additional rules to follow, but other than that, inner classes are no big deal. I have a similar concern about the chapter on Java I/O classes. The diagrams and discussion of the inheritance structure of the various InputStream, OutputStream, Reader, and Writer classes are great. Unfortunately, the inheritance structure tells us next to nothing about how the classes are used. There are other charts that attempt to overcome this shortcoming by listing the various classes in different groups, but I feel it could have been done better. Here's the idea I used to clarify it to myself: what Stream objects can be created from "primitives" (ByteArray, String, File, etc.)? What Stream objects must be created from other Stream objects? Answering these questions tells us much more about how to use the various classes. I found several minor problems with ambiguous wording, unanswered obvious questions, and missing rules. The author does warn the reader not to depend on the text alone, but to write sample Java code to test out all the concepts. However, I feel that more careful attention to these details would mean many fewer test programs. An example is the discussion of the keyword "transient". The book notes "... the transient modifier should not be specified for static variables ...". Does "should not" here refer to a compile error, a question of good style, or something else? The text also ignores the obvious question "What values do transient variables get when an object is created by deserialization?" If there's a rule about this in the Java language spec, then the book should cite it. If there's none, then the book should note that fact and discuss it. Finally, I found something lacking in the coverage of exceptions, specifically this question: How do "return" statements in try, catch, and finally blocks interact with exceptions? What value is returned if there are return statements in both try and finally blocks? If there is a return statement in the try block and in the statements following the finally block? This can be a confusing topic, but is considerably clarified using the concept of "abrupt completion" discussed in the Java Language Spec. The book would benefit from using this concept in its description of exceptions. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone studying for the Java Programmer's Certification exam. But you should not rely on this book alone. Write test programs; go to other sources to investigate questions not answered by the book; take various practice exams; create your own tables to make your understanding of the topic more systematic.
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Summary: A perfect one
Review: It is the best certification book i read about Java. Its tests are very detailed, after you finish, you feel that you can pass the exam. Perhaps it is one of the best exam preparation guide on all areas. It is not for learning Java. It would be better if you read an elementary Java book.
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Summary: A Great Book For The Certification And Beyond
Review: Simply put, this is an awesome technical book on the Java programming language that is useful for the certification exam and for any Java programmer. I own at least a dozen java books and this is the best of the bunch.
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Summary: Get certified, this is second to none
Review: Based on over 100 reviews in Amazon.com, A Programmer's Guide to Java Certification is undeniably one of the best Java books on the market. The authors not only help readers get certificated but teach the nitty-gritty of the language in a succinct manner. Personally, I studied approximately 5 months and got 91% out of 59 questions. Most my errors were in java.awt API. I suggest other test takers to write some trial programs using different Layout Managers (such as, when resizing a window, using which layout will cause the component to expand to occupy all the extra space vertically). I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know the inside mechanism of Java and further to master the language. SJCP is a piece of cake in term of this book.
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Summary: Passed first try
Review: I have never written a book review on Amazon. But, I just got home after passing the exam first try and I had to comment on how good this book is.
I booked the exam about a year ago after taking a Java unit as part of my computer science course. Since then I have had very little Java exposure. I brought this book a little while ago, read it while on vacation, and passed the exam with flying colours.
You probably need a little bit to get you on your way. But I believe it certainly isn't a prerequisite for making it with this book.
One of the nice things is that it gave me some exposure to UML. This made learning the class packages and hierarchies a piece of cake.
Here's my tip: GRAB THIS BOOK...read it thoroughly and spend time memorizing class hierarchies, rather than just learning language fundamentals. You need to know how to use stuff in the various packages to pass.
This book is so well written. When I was reading it, on numberous occasions I felt like the author(s) was answering my questions as I they occurred to me.
It's a bloody excellent book.
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Summary: The last certification guide you need to buy.
Review: This is the most comprehensive primer for the 310-025 (Java 2 Programmer) examination that I have come across. Two of my colleagues and I all passed the examination on the first try using this guide, and the three Marcus Green practice tests (available at javaranch.com) as preparation. I can confidently say that you will probably not see anything on the exam that isn't covered in this book. A word of caution, this book is not light reading, nor is it suitable for someone new to programming. It covers the Java 2 platform thoroughly and is structured very much like a college text (with chapter summaries and reviews). It is probably not something you are going to skim through over a weekend.
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