Java Certification Examination

Objectives for the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 2 Platform

To assist candidates in their preparation, the following objectives are

given to point candidates toward topics to study:

Section Title: Declarations and Access Control

 Write code that declares, constructs, and initialises arrays of any

base type using any of the permitted forms both for declaration
and for initialisation.
 Declare classes, inner classes, methods, instance variables, static variables, and automatic
(method local) variables making appropriate use of all permitted modifiers (such as public,
final, static, abstract, and so forth). State the significance of each of these modifiers both
singly and in combination, and state the effect of package relationships on declared items
qualified by these modifiers.
 For a given class determine if a default constructor will be created and if so state the prototype
of that constructor.
 State the legal return types for any method given the declarations of all related methods in this
or parent classes.

Section Title: Flow Control and Exception Handling

 Write code using if and switch statements and identify legal argument types for these
statements.
 Write code using all forms of loops including labeled and unlabeled use of break and continue
and state the values taken by loop control variables during and after loop execution.
 Write code that makes proper use of exceptions and exception handling clauses (try, catch,
finally) and declares methods and overriding methods that throw exceptions.

Section Title: Garbage Collection

 State the behavior that is guaranteed by the garbage collection system and write code that
explicitly makes objects eligible for collection.

Section Title: Language Fundamentals

 Identify correctly constructed source files, package declarations, import statements, class
declarations (of all forms including inner classes), interface declarations and implementations
(for java.lang.Runnable or other interface described in the test), method declarations
(including the main method that is used to start execution of a class), variable declarations and
identifiers.
 State the correspondence between index values in the argument array passed to a main method
and command line arguments.
 Identify all Java programming language keywords and correctly constructed identifiers.
 State the effect of using a variable or array element of any kind when no explicit assignment
has been made to it.
 State the range of all primitive data types and declare literal values for String and all primitive
types using all permitted formats, bases, and representations.
 Write code to implement listener classes and methods, and in listener methods, extract
information from the event to determine the affected component, mouse position, nature, and
time of the event. State the event classname for any specified event listener interface in the
java.awt.event package.

Section Title: Operators and Assignments

  Determine the result of applying any operator, including assignment operators and instanceof,
to operands of any type, class, scope, or accessibility, or any combination of these.
 Determine the result of applying the boolean equals(Object) method to objects of any
combination of the classes java.lang.String, java.lang.Boolean, and java.lang.Object.
 In an expression involving the operators &, |, &&, ||, and variables of known values state
which operands are evaluated and the value of the expression.
 Determine the effect upon objects and primitive values of passing variables into methods and
performing assignments or other modifying operations in that method.

Section Title: Overloading Overriding Runtime Type and Object Orientation

 State the benefits of encapsulation in object oriented design and write code that implements
tightly encapsulated classes and the relationships "is a" and "has a".
 Write code to invoke overridden or overloaded methods and parental or overloaded
constructors; and describe the effect of invoking these methods.
 Write code to construct instances of any concrete class including normal top level classes,
inner classes, static inner classes, and anonymous inner classes.

Section Title: Threads

 Write code to define, instantiate, and start new threads using both java.lang.Thread and
java.lang.Runnable
 Recognise conditions that might prevent a thread from executing.
 Write code using synchronised, wait, notify, and notifyAll to protect against concurrent access
problems and to communicate between threads. Define the interaction between threads and
between threads and object locks when executing synchronised wait notify or notifyAll.

Section Title: The java.awt package - Layout

 Write code using component, container, and layout manager classes of the java.awt package to
present a GUI with specified appearance and resize behavior, and distinguish the
responsibilities of layout managers from those of containers.

Section Title: The java.lang package

 Write code using the following methods of the java.lang.Math class: abs, ceil, floor, max, min,
random, round, sin, cos, tan, sqrt.
 Describe the significance of the immutability of String objects.

Section Title: The java.util package

 Make appropriate selection of collection classes/interfaces to suit specified behaviour
requirements.

Sample Questions for the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java Platform

Sun Educational Services provides sample questions as a means for

candidates to understand the types of questions that you can expect when
taking the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java[tm] Platform examination:
Sylvan examination 310-025.

1. What would be the result of attempting to compile and run the

following piece of code?
 public class Test {
static int x;
public static void main (String args[]) {
System.out.println("Value is " + x);
}

A. The output "Value is 0" is printed.

B. An object of type NullPointerException is thrown.
C. An "illegal array declaration syntax" compiler error occurs.
D. A "possible reference before assignment" compiler error occurs.
E. An object of type ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException is thrown.

2. What should you use to position a Button within an application Frame so that the size of the
Button is NOT affected by the Frame size?
A. a FlowLayout

B. a GridLayout
C. the center area of a BorderLayout
D. the East or West area of a BorderLayout
E. the North or South area of a BorderLayout
3. Which is the advantage of encapsulation?
A. Only public methods are needed.

B. No exceptions need to be thrown from any method.

C. Making the class final causes no consequential changes to other code.
D. It changes the implementation without changing the interface and causes no
consequential changes to other code.
E. It changes the interface without changing the implementation and causes no
consequential changes to other code.
4. What can contain objects that have a unique key field of String type, if it is required to retrieve
the objects using that key field as an index?
A. Map

B. Set
C. List
D. Collection
E. Enumeration
5. Which statement is true about a non-static inner class?
A. It must implement an interface.

B. It is accessible from any other class.

C. It can only be instantiated in the enclosing class.
D. It must be final if it is declared in a method scope.
E. It can access private instance variables in the enclosing object.
6. Which are keywords in Java?
A. NULL

B. sizeof
C. friend
D. extends
E. synchronised
7. Which declares an abstract method in an abstract Java class?
A. public abstract method();
 B. public abstract void method();
C. public void abstract Method();
D. public void method() {abstract;/}

E. public abstract void method() {/}

Frequently Asked Questions on Sun Certification

Who do I contact with a Certification question?

[email protected]

What are the benefits of becoming certified?

 Certification provides a standard, tangible way of measuring technical skills.

 Certification can provide job advancement opportunities.
 Certification provides third party validation of your skills.
 Sun Certification for the Java Platform is rapidly becoming an industry standard.

How do I purchase my exams?

You can purchase your certification exams by phoning Sun Educational Services on 1800 550 786.

Do I have to take Sun Educational Services training to take the exams?

No, however the Sun Educational Services classes are recommended to prepare candidates for the
exam material. Of course, your own application and practice of the class material, as well as any
additional applicable knowledge you have, is critical to your successful completion of the exam.

What materials do you recommend to prepare for the certification exam?

First, we recommend either the instructor led courses or self-paced CD-ROM courses. If you do not
choose to take these, we suggest you use the Certification objectives and sample tests which are posted
on this website.

Does my certification ever expire?

No. Once you are certified at a certain level for a certain version you are always certified for that level
and version.

Are update exams offered for people who are currently certified under an older version, and
want to have a more recent certification?
No. You have to take the same exams as someone who has not taken previous exams.

Can my certification be taken from me?

No.

Are study guides available for this exam?

Sun Educational Services does not have a study guide for any certification exams at this time.