Dinesh on Java

There are a lot of people in this world who love playing with codes. They are the ones who keep trying to learn new things in their field of interest. Many engineers opt for this field, as programming is a major part of engineering these days. If excelled in this field, it can also help the young programmers make handsome money out of it. To enhance their skills, these people get enrolled in various courses related to it and pass the exams to attain certification.

Oracle Certification is one of most widely known and recognized certifications in the industry. It offers many different certifications including JAVA as well. The two JAVA Certifications offered by Oracle include; Oracle Certified Associate Java Programmer (OCAJP) and Oracle Certified Professional Java Programmer (OCPJP). These two are well-known by all the programmers. There are many benefits of registering for the OCAJP8 certification. Some of these benefits are listed below.

Benefits of registering for the OCAJP8 certification:

• It is a medium through which a person’s Java skills can be improved.
• This course will help the professionals gain an upper hand in this language. Having an upper hand in this programming language really helps elevate a programmer’s worth.
• After being OCAJP or OCPJP certified a programmer’s worth increases. These benefits can help a programmer get a highly paid job.
• Most importantly a programmer gets accredited as a JAVA professional, that too officially.

Here are some key points that will help you reach a decision about getting registered in this course.
If you are concerned about any prerequisites for this course, your concern is baseless as you can directly register for this course as there are no prerequisites. If you are just a beginner and think that this course will be too advanced for you? Well, this is not the case. Programmers of any level can join this course.

The difference between OCAJP and OCPJP is due to the level of the programmers. OCAJP is the certification for the programmers at the basic level. Here, the applicant is tested with the fundamentals. This exam can be passed by the fresh programmers. OCPJP is the second step and is tougher than OCAJP. Here the applicant is tested with much more detailed JAVA programming. It can be said that OCAJP is for programmers who have just stepped foot into the JAVA world while OCPJP is for those who want to expertise in this following field. It is the professional level of JAVA programming and after this these skills can be used commercially as Oracle certifications hold immense importance in companies and industries.

Syllabus for OCAJP:
The examination code for OCAJP is 1Z0-808. The topics that are covered in this certification are as follows;
(i) Java Basics:
This module will cover the basics and the fundamentals of Java programming. The following subtopics will be covered; definition of the scope of variables, the definition of the structure of a JAVA class, using the main method, creating the executive JAVA applications, making JAVA codes applicable in your code and detailed understanding of the different features and components of this programming language.
(ii) Java Data Types:
In this module, the applicant will be taught the working and handling of different data types of JAVA. Firstly, the art of declaring and initializing of variables will be explained along with the differences between different types of variables. Understand how to read/write object fields and also the description of the object’s lifecycle and how to use the call method on users will be explained.
(iii) Operators and Decision Constructs:
The third section of the course will include the following subtopics; using and understanding Java operators, testing equality between strings and other objects, the creation of constructs including if and if/else and understand the working of the switch statement.
(iv) Arrays:
This part will cover the vast area of arrays in which the creation of arrays will be the focus of discussion. Other subtopics will cover declaration, instantiation, initialization of one- dimensional as well as multi-dimensional arrays.
(v) Loop Constructs:
This module will encompass the loops such as the while loops and do/while loops. A thorough comparison will then follow. The break and continue statements will also be discussed.
(vi) Methods and Encapsulation:
Creation of methods, application of static keyword on methods and fields, creating and then overloading of constructors, application of access modifiers and encapsulation principles to a class and understanding the effects on object references and primitive values. These topics will be studied in this very module.
(vii) Inheritance:
This section will cover the working and handling of inheritance. The implementation of inheritance will be discussed in detail, using polymorphism in a code, detailed differentiating between the type of references and objects, when and how to use casting, ways to access objects and constructors and finally the use of abstract classes and interfaces will be discussed.
(viii) Exceptions:
This module will cover the handling of the exceptions. The subtopics that will be studied under this module will include; differences between checked and runtime exceptions, the study of the effects of exception on normal program flow, advantages of exception handling, a method of throwing an exception and studying the common exception classes.
(ix) JAVA API:
This section will put light upon working with selected classes from JAVA API. Stringbuilder, creation, and manipulation of strings, manipulation of calendar data using classes, array list, and the Lambda Predicate expression will be discussed.

Syllabus for OCPJP:
The syllabus for the professional level includes topics that need to be studied after the fundamentals have been understood clearly.
(i) Java Class Design:
The main focus of this module will be class designing in JAVA programming. It will be covering the basic designing on which the other types of designing depends.
(ii) Advanced JAVA Class Design:
After the basic class, designing has been understood and enough practice has been done, an advanced type of designing will be discussed.
(iii) Generics and Collection:
This module will put light upon the collections as well as generics in JAVA programming. Covering the introduction and all other details.
(iv) Lambda Built-in Interfaces:
In OCAJP lambda expressions were just discussed briefly. This module is completely dedicated to the Lambda expression. The focus will be mainly on the functioning interfaces of Lambda that are built-in.
(v) JAVA Stream API:
Further discussion on APIs will be carried out in this section.
(vi) Exceptions and Assertions:
This section covers the exceptions and assertions. Exceptions have been already discussed in the OCAJP course, a detailed study will be carried out here along with another subtopic of assertions.
(vii) JAVA SE Date/Time API:
More on APIs of JAVA programming will be discussed in this module.
(viii) JAVA I/O Basics:
The study of input and output will be discussed. The Input and output basics will be introduced followed by some details about the JAVA I/O basics.
(ix) JAVA File I/O, Java Concurrency:
Java concurrency will be discussed here. It is a new topic and something unique from the previous course. Other than that, JAVA file I/O will be discussed.
(x) Database:
This section will be all about the databases. Here the application databases will be discussed using JDBC.
(xi) Localization:
Localization in JAVA programming will be discussed in this module of OCPJP.

The syllabus of OCPJP is just a continuation the topics that are discussed in the OCAJP course. There is no prerequisite exam or certification required to appear in the exam of OCAJP as it contains only the basics. But for OCPJP certification, the basics have to be clearly understood and a person who is appearing in the OCPJP exam must be a pro in the basics of JAVA programming because it is making use of the all prerequisite knowledge about the JAVA programming.

These exams are not compulsory for every programmer, but a programmer who wishes to specialize in this programming language must appear in these exams. Oracle certification really do matter in the industry. Many people appear in the exams but only a few the exam or pass it with high score. One should keep in mind that it is not about passing the exams., it is about understanding the concepts of JAVA to use this to make money or just for the sake of passion. The key to passing these exams with a good score is to practice a lot as practice makes a man perfect.

Good luck to all those passionate programmers who are about to appear in these exams!