SCBCD Exam Study Kit : Java Business Component Developer Certification for EJB

Head First Servlets and JSP: Passing the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (SCWCD)

Head First EJB (Brain-Friendly Study Guides; Enterprise JavaBeans)

Head First Design Patterns

Certification

SCWCD Exam Study Kit Second Edition : Java Web Component Developer Certification

Format: Paperback
Author: Hanumant Deshmukh
ReleaseDate: 20 May, 2005
Publisher: Manning Publications
Rating:

I'm glad I didn't write this book...
And this has nothing to do with taste or style or whatever. This book is HORRIBLE.. . This is more of a fact than an opinion, as the errata list illustrates.

Apart from the numerous typos and errors (Search on `scwcd errata' on http://www. manning-sandbox. com/ - Literally every page has a typo or error), there are other reasons why I wouldn't recommend anyone buying this book. I'm even in great doubt if I'll ever buy a book from Manning (fortunately I didn't buy this one; it's my company's).

The web site (http://www. manning. com/deshmukh2/) claims that the book was completely updated and newly revised to be Servlet 2. 4 / JSP 2. 0 compliant. If a revised book contains 100+ (often serious and obvious) errors, please define `revised', Manning. . . Also the process of `upgrading' to Servlet 2. 4 / JSP 2. 0 has completely failed (old deployment descriptor DTDs and TLD DTDs are used, but there are many more examples).

The examples in the book are confusing because they do not merely illustrate what was explained in the text. Often they make assumptions that are based on facts that were nowhere mentioned in the text, or they illustrate a set of rules that can only be found in the Servlet / JSP specifications, but not in the book (especially in the chapter on EL (Expression Language)).

The only positive thing about this book (ehmmm. . . no, not about this book, but about trying to read this book) is that every so many minutes you're either completely confused, or you completely loose your confidence in the book, so that you're forced to read the official Servlet/JSP specification - which is of course the most reliable document you can use to prepare for the exam.

I passed the exam, but I only did because I spent more time reading the JSP specs than this book.

Great book - Help me pass with flying colours
. Concise and emphasize what is require for the exam.

Good basic reference book

It lacks deep in EL, The Servlet Container Model, Secure Web Applications objetives, it do not describe the initialization process for filters, listeners and servlets. Its a good basic reference book but not sufficient for the certification exam. The exam contains detailed question for this concepts.

His authors forget include the Thread Safe servlets objetive. The web. xml example is not updated for all elements for the latest specification.

Don't buy if you want only one study guide.