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Book Review: Second Edition of “A Programmer’s Guide to Java Certification”

Updated 2/25/2007: Added amazon link.

I used “A Programmer’s Guide to Java Certification” as a study guide for achieving my Java Certified Programmer (JCP) status two years ago, so when I had the chance to review the second edition, I jumped at it (full disclosure: the publisher sent me the second edition to review). As I expected, I was again aghast and delighted at the level of detail, the exercises and the arrangement of this fine book.

Mughal and Rasmussen do a good job of covering all the nitty gritty details that the JCP requires one to know. Whether the length in bits of an int, the difference between overloading and overriding, or the order in which initializer expressions get executed, this book gives one enough detail to overwhelm the novice Java programmer, as well as cause those more experienced to scratch their heads and perhaps write a small program to verify what was read was valid. While this book lacks the discussion of I/O and the GUI of the previous edition (due to changes in the JCP test), it has a fine set of chapters on some of the fundamental libraries and classes. My two favorite explications are the chapter on Threads (Chapter 9), where that complicated subject is treated well enough to motivate more learning while not overwhelming the reader with detail, and the String and StringBuffer section of Chapter 10. So much of the Java programming I’ve done has been dealing with Strings, so this section, which covers the String class method by method and deals with issues of memory and performance as well as normal use, is very welcome.

The exercises were crucial to my passing the JCP, and they remain useful in this book. Grouped at the end of logical sections of chapters, they break up the text and re-iterate the lessons learned in the previous sections. The answers to these exercises are in the back of the book. Also, a full mock exam is included at the back, as well as an annotated version of the JCP exam requirements which serves as a study guide (both for the full JCP 1.4 and for the upgrade exam). Reading over the mock exam definitely let me know what areas I’d need to study if I was taking the JCP again. In short, the didactic nature of this book has not been lost.

The arrangement of this book is also useful. A fine index and the logical progression through the features of the Java language eases the onslaught of detailed information mentioned above. The extensive use of UML diagrams (especially class and sequence diagrams) was helpful as well. If one reads the book sequentially, one learns about how object references are declared (Chapter 4), then the various control structures available in Java (Chapter 5), then the basics of Object Orientation (Chapter 6), then the object life cycle (Chapter 8), in a very linear fashion. Additionally, there is extensive cross-referencing. This may not be useful to the novice programmer, but to anyone using this book as a reference, it’s invaluable, because it allows Mughal and Rasmussen to provide yet more logical linking of disparate topics.

However, this book is not for everyone. I wouldn’t buy it if I wanted to learn to program. While there are a few chapters that have general value (Chapter 1, Chapter 6), the emphasis on mastering idiomatic Java, not general programming concepts. Also, as they state in the preface, this is not a complete reference book for Java. It covers only what is needed for the JCP. Finally, if one wants to know how to use Java in the real world, don’t buy this book. While most of the java programming I’ve done has benefited from the understanding I gained from this book, it has not resembled the coding I did for the exercises at all. This makes sense–this book is teaching the fundamentals, and does not pretend to cover any of the higher level APIs and concepts that are used in everyday programming.
Link to this book on Amazon.

Books Java | moore |

Privacy

Update 2/25/2007: Added link to Amazon.

Database Nation, by Simson Garfinkel, is a fantastic book. I admit that I’m a fan of what I like to call ‘Chicken Little’ books (I like William Greider and I even remember thinking that Revelations was the best book in the Bible as a child). My friends tell me that one of my typical greetings is ‘Have you read XXX? You should!’ I like books that challenge me and confront me with realities that I haven’t considered before.

Database Nation definitely challenges. The author approaches the burgeoning issue of personal privacy, and the coming lack thereof, in several different ways. Whether it is biometric identification, the possibility of protecting privacy via property rights, or a chapter of possible solutions, he treats the topic in a manner befitting its fundamental nature. I found his historical emphasis, where he compares the current situation to the one created in the early 1950s by the newly forming credit reporting agencies, to be especially useful. There’s nothing new under the sun, as they say. And the problems we’ve faced with privacy before have dealt with. The sky has fallen before, but it’s possible to pin it back up.

Privacy has been on my mind for a while now. I work in technology, and one of the things that is allowing this current invasion of privacy is the ability to collect, store and mine vast amounts of information. As an example of just how far it has gone, I can access 12 million business records (and 120 million US households) via my library’s
website–they’ve bought access to a database called referenceUSA. Search on business size, focus, years advertising in the Yellow Pages, location, etc. Slice and dice as you wish. As part of the usage agreement, you can’t use the database for unsolicited commercial mail, but, having found the names in Reference USA, you could look up the business in the Yellow Pageseasily enough.

While such data aggregation has been possible for years and years (ask the insurance companies), computing power and disk space have become so cheap that it’s much less work than it used to be–and collecting such information is only getting easier. See Cringely’s column for a suggested solution. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but it’s one idea for keeping the sky from falling.

I watched Enemy of the State again recently. While I enjoyed watching Will Smith and Gene Hackman avoided the satellite images and bugs of the NSA, I have no idea how much the movie made up and how much it nailed on the head (the Economist had this to say about satellite imagery in 2000). Still, this movie displays in a fundamental way what loss of privacy can mean. When folks say ‘hey, I don’t have anything to hide’ I don’t think they realize just what it means to have no privacy. There are shades and shades of ‘hiding’; there are things that I would tell my parents that I wouldn’t tell an acquaintance. Likewise, there are items I’d tell a new friend that I would rather not be published in
the daily paper. Discretion is something that all humans need–you do have things to hide since no one is perfect at all times! Having something to hide doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing something illegal–perhaps it’s just embarrassing (or would be if exposed to certain people).

Another aspect is the federal ‘do not call’ list and all the hullabaloo surrounding it. Telemarketers feel they aren’t going to be able to survive–everyone else feels they don’t want to be called unless they opt in. Even Dave Barry has chimed
in. This is an issue that resonates with everyone and calls into dramatic perspective the tension between making your contact information publicly available and wanting to control what someone else does with that information. Imagine what it would be like if everything were public?

Expectation of reasonable privacy is something fundamental. I’d hate to lose it.

Link to “Database Nation” on Amazon.

Books Technology and Society | moore |