Rating: 
Summary: This book was a godsend
Review: This book saved me. I was so lost in trying to get help on the SCJD, and it just seemed like nobody was able to explain in in english. I am so grateful for this. It explained swing, threading, locking, networking, everything I needed. I need more books like this.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new...
Review: This book says it is for intermediate to advanced programmers, but the type of information it provides is more for inexperienced programmers trying to figure out where to start. There are better ways to complete the assignment then the solution this book suggests.The bottom line is: this book contains the same type information you can find on the internet. Save your money and research the assignment online.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for SCJD and for learning Java
Review: This is a great book for SCJD and for leaning Java. It explains the concept clearly and vividly, especially on the multi-threading. Most parts of the book are useful for passing SCJD. The explanation on Project wrap-up is very clear and accurate and the screenshots are very useful. I disagree some people's review that say this book is awful. Books are for readers who don't know something and want to learn through reading the book. A reader might know half of the contents of a book but still can learn the other half. If a reader knows everything in the book, why bother to read it? If he wants a book 100% fit his need, fit his level, and doesn't want a few things that he already knew be written in the book, that is impossible. Nothing is perfect in the world.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource
Review: This is an excellent resource for learning everything you need to pass the SCJD. It covers everything you need, from the details of Threading all the way to the coding conventions you should use. Also, since java 1.4 is the new standard and allowed for the SCJD(check with sun), it gets you up and running with the best sdk sun's ever offered.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: This is the best certification book I've ever read. I bought it(and the test) in September, and just got my score 149/155. Strong on details without being stuffy.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad, bad, bad
Review: This is the second book from Apress that I bought and got burnt. I will avoid any book from that Publisher in the future. This book is full of bad editing, typos and inconsistencies. It is such a drag to read. The authors are either inexperienced or just did not bother to take more care to produce a quality book. The content itself has a few good explanations and illustrations. Otherwise, it is not really necessary to read. Please spend your money somewhere else.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: To review a book is a very personal thing. Each individual, based upon what test version they are currently working on, what skills and experience that individual brings to the test, what raw intelligence quotient, and what outside help one receives, will think differently about any book (and wealthy people won't even need to read a review). The fact of the matter is there is no one, personal review of this book that can adequately relate to every potential reader of this book. The developer test covers quite a broad range of topics, and not every topic can be covered within one, reasonably sized book. Furthermore, given that so many topics are covered in the exam, how can any person really remember whether any given book helped them; perhaps it did, but the person doesn't remember. I would say that the book is 3 stars standing all by itself, but when you add a private tutor, it becomes 5 stars. Or, if you add a private, group tutoring system as found at javaranch on the web, it becomes 5 stars. That is, text books are almost always supplimented by other processes to make a complete learning experience: as concepts are clarified in one forum, they become clarified in the other. The combination of javaranch and this book will help assure your success.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money. Get the info online.
Review: Where is the Zero star option when you need it?!? I bought this book because I read reviews and some recommendations from people here. I think that it's a terrible book. Let me explain: the examples given and metaphors are just plain horrible, and it gets more confusing trying to follow what the author had in mind than learning from Sun online docs. It's full of typos and mistakes. Spelling checker anyone? The explainations of NIO are not requested by the exam so another useless topic in the book that I suspect was added to populate the volume and justify a higher price. The topic on lock on records which is very important and appears in every exam given by Sun is not described in much details neither. The index at the end is just useless (so many words are missing.) Most chapters are not related to the exam (why is there a thread chapter in there since you are supposed to have learned that from the K&B book for the Prog exam already?) I found so much more info in the archives of the JavaRanch forum and for free, that I would advice everyone to do the same and browse this wonderful Web site instead of wasting trees and your money on that book as I unfortunatly did.
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