What This Book Is Not

You will not find a beginner's guide to learning Java in this book. All 800 pages of this book are dedicated solely to helping you pass the exams. If you are brand new to Java, we suggest you spend a little time learning the basics. You shouldn't start with this book until you know how to write, compile, and run simple Java programs. We do not, however, assume any level of prior knowledge of the individual topics covered. In other words, for any given topic (driven exclusively by the actual exam objectives), we start with the assumption that you are new to that topic. So we assume you're new to the individual topics, but we assume that you are not new to Java.

We also do not pretend to be both preparing you for the exam and simultaneously making you a complete Java being. This is a certification exam study guide, and it's very clear about its mission. That's not to say that preparing for the exam won't help you become a better Java programmer! On the contrary, even the most experienced Java developers often claim that having to prepare for the certification exam made them far more knowledgeable and well-rounded programmer than they would have been without the exam-driven studying.