Introduction

This book is for those looking to obtain an Oracle Certified Professional Java SE 11 Developer or Java Foundations Certified Junior Associate title. This book is also for those looking to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of Java. Not only do we want you to pass your exams, but we want to help you to improve yourself and become a better professional software developer.

The book provides detailed preparation for the following Oracle certifications exams:

• 1Z0-815 Exam: Java SE 11 Programmer I The Programmer I Exam covers a wide variety of core topics in Java 11 including classes, interfaces, lambda expressions, operators, decision constructs, basic collections, and modules. These topics form the foundation of most Java applications.
• 1Z0-816 Exam: Java SE 11 Programmer II The Programmer II Exam delves into greater detail on select topics in Java 11 including streams, modular applications, generics, advanced collections, I/O and NIO.2, concurrency, annotations, and security.
• IZ0-817 Exam: Upgrade OCP Java 6, 7 & 8 to Java SE 11 Developer The Upgrade Exam is meant for those who hold an existing OCP certification to be able to obtain the Java 11 OCP certification title with a single exam. It contains a selection of Java 11 topics from both the Programmer I and Programmer II exams.
• 1Z0-811 Exam: Java Foundations The Foundations Exam a junior level certification exam that contains a variety of introductory and basic Java 8 topics. It is not meant for existing Java professionals, but rather those who use Java infrequently in their job or don't want to dive as deep into Java.

In the introduction, we start by covering important information about the various exams. Depending on your certification history, you may have a choice of which exam you can take. We then move on to information about how this book is structured. Finally, we conclude with two assessment tests so you can see how much studying lies ahead of you.

Understanding the Exam

At the end of the day, the exam is a list of questions. The more you know about the structure of the exam, the better you are likely to do. For example, knowing how many questions the exam contains allows you to manage your progress and time remaining better. In this section, we discuss the details of the exam, along with some history of previous certification exams.

Broader Objectives

In previous certification exams, the list of exam objectives tended to include specific topics, classes, and APIs that you needed to know for the exam. For example, take a look at an objective for the 1Z0-809 (OCP 8) exam:

• Use BufferedReader, BufferedWriter, File, FileReader, FileWriter, FileInputStream, FileOutputStream, ObjectOutputStream, ObjectInputStream, and PrintWriter in the java.io package.

Now compare it with the equivalent objective for the 1Z0-816 (OCP 11) exam:

• Use I/O Streams to read and write files

Notice the difference? The older version is more detailed and describes specific classes you will need to understand. The newer version is a lot vaguer. It also gives the exam writers a lot more freedom to insert a new feature without having to update the list of objectives.

So how do you know what to study? By reading this study guide of course! We've spent years studying the certification exams, in all of their forms, and have carefully cultivated topics, material, and practice questions that we are confident can lead to successfully passing the exam.

Choosing Which Exam to Take

Java is now 25 years old, celebrating being "born" in 1995. As with anything 25 years old, there is a good amount of history and variation between different versions of Java. Over the years, the certification exams have changed to cover different topics. The names of the exams have even changed. This book covers the Java 11 exam.

Those with more recent certifications might remember that Oracle released two exams each for Java 7 and Java 8. The first exam tended to be easier, and completing it granted you the title of Oracle Certified Associate (OCA). The second exam was a lot more difficult, with much longer questions, and completing it granted you the title of Oracle Certified Professional (OCP).

Oracle did not release an exam for Java 9 or Java 10, probably because neither of these is a Long Term Support (LTS) release. With Java 11, Oracle decided to discontinue both the OCA certification and its associated exam. You still have to take two exams to earn an OCP title. Both are more difficult than the old OCA exams. The difference is that now you do not obtain a certification title from completing the first exam.

Figure I.1 shows these past and current Java certifications. This image is helpful if you run into material online that references older exams. It is also helpful if you have an older certification and are trying to determine where it fits in.

FIGURE I.1 Past and current Java certifications

Figure I.2 shows the exams you need to take in order to earn the latest Java certification if you are new to certification.

FIGURE I.2 Latest Java certification exams

For those who already hold a Java certification, Figure I.3 shows common scenarios for which exam(s) you should target.

FIGURE I.3 Exam prerequisites

In a nutshell, you can take the 1Z0-816 exam if you passed the 1Z0-815 exam or hold the OCA 7 or 8 title. Oracle's goal here is to help people get to Java 11 OCP certification if they are halfway through the journey to OCP certification. Similarly, those with an OCP certification can take the 1Z0-817 upgrade exam to get to Java 11 OCP with one exam. Those with an older certification will have to start over and take the 1Z0-815 exam.

There are also two edge cases. Those who passed the OCA 6 exam must still take the 1Z0-815 exam. The OCA 6 exam covered far less material than the OCA 7 or 8.

Additionally, those who passed the OCP 7 or 8 exam but never received the OCP title because they didn't pass the OCA exam, need to take the 1Z0-815 exam. After that, you have a choice of the 1Z0-816 exam or 1Z0-817 exam. We recommend reading the exam objectives for both and picking the one that tests the topics that you know better.

If you're not sure which exam you should take, you can post questions on CodeRanch.com and the community will be happy to help. You might even get a response from Jeanne or Scott!

Taking the Upgrade Exam

The chapters of this book are structured for those taking the 1Z0-815 Programmer I and 1Z0-816 Programmer II exams. Those taking the 1Z0-817 Upgrade Exam can also rely on this book to prepare for the exam, and you don't need to read all 22 chapters!

While we think every chapter is worth reading, the following is a list of chapters that you should focus on if you are preparing for the 1Z0-817 exam and the order you should read them:

• Chapter 2, "Java Building Blocks"
• Chapter 11, "Modules"
• Chapter 12, "Java Fundamentals"
• Chapter 14, "Generics and Collections" (Lambda expressions and method references)
• Chapter 15, "Functional Programming"
• Chapter 16, "Exceptions, Assertions, and Localization"
• Chapter 17, "Modular Applications"
• Chapter 18, "Concurrency"
• Chapter 20, "NIO.2"

The 1Z0-817 exam is cumulative, which means material from the 1Z0-815 exam is fair game. For instance, the 1Z0-817 exam does not have any objectives on while and for loops, but they are certainly likely to appear in questions. In other words, if it's been awhile since you took the previous OCP exam, we recommend reading all of the chapters in Part I of this book.

We've included a mapping of all of the upgrade exam objectives and their associated chapters in the "Objective Maps" section of this introduction.

Changes to the Exam

Table I.1 shows the information about the exams at the time of publishing.

TABLE I.1 Exam information

Oracle has a tendency to fiddle with the length of the exam and the passing score once it comes out. Oracle also likes to "tweak" the exam topics over time. It wouldn't be a surprise for Oracle to make minor changes to the exam objectives, the number of questions, or the passing score after this book goes to print.

If there are any changes to the exam after this book is published, we...