SCJP Study continues

When I began reading the SCJP Study Guide (Sierra/Bates) for Java 5 I remember reading that many considered the SCJP one of the hardest (if not the hardest) exams in IT certification. Well I'm half way through the book now and I have to agree. The subtle aspects of Java can really throw someone for a loop. I've been using Java on and off for probably close to 10 years now. Like many others though, I'm learning a lot by studying for this exam.

Some of the information in the study guide is really general in nature. Most of it though covers a lot of "gotchya's" that you might not usually consider. Some of it is good but some of it is kind of ridiculous at the same time. Who's going to use an assert statement to parse command line parameters. I mean let's be real. Ok, what professional is going to do that. Sure there are hacks out there but seriously is this something we need to test people on?

Overall the experience has been positive. I'm still shooting for the exam next month. I've got to improve a bit yet on some of the testing. My code reading abilities (or I should say "bug spotting abilities") in random code is getting better. It's another area I think is a bit ridiculous to test on. Isn't that what the compiler is for? Having me spot it out is a poor way to test competency in an area.

Well, I must get back to the books. Just a couple of weeks until next month when I'll schedule a test.

Rob's Timers

This is rBoop. Rob's Timers

This app was a project of mine simply to work on classes
and interfaces along with concurrent threads in java.

The only purpose to this was to allow me to do my laundry
as well by setting timers. This reminds me to do my laundry
and swap the washer/dryer.

Certinaly not the most complex application, but the code
within it was for practice.

This application is free to distribute and use.
You can change the alert.wav to anything you want.

There is no specical installation here. Simply have java installed
and run the rBoop.exe

non-windows systems can run the .jar by simply running java -jar rBoop.jar


rBoop.zip

Studying for the SCJP

I am officially studying for the SCJP. I have been for a few weeks. While I have been using Java on/off for years the SCJP is forcing me to learn details I might not otherwise know about Java. Which is great. There is a considerable amount of information that is really not necessary for "run of the mill" programs but is on the SCJP test.

My goal is to test sometime in may. When I began this about a month ago I was failing every practice exam out there. Now I'm getting more of a passing grade. Still have a long way to go but I think I'll be ready next month if I keep the pace.

Wish me luck, words of encouragement are always good.