Book - feedback so far

The book has just gone back to the printers for a second run. Apparently the first print run (a few thousand I think?) was chewed up by Amazon and direct pre-orders. It's fantastic for that many people to have the book and I really hope it helps you in preparing for the exam.

So, the feedback so far: the reviews on Amazon (both .com and .co.uk) are for the old book, not the new one. Amazon just copied the reviews across (the last one was written two years before the new book published).

So all I've got to go on are comments that I've received directly. Broadly speaking, reviewers fall into two camps:

1. Those who like the ~200 page guide / map to a much larger body of research material (happy);

2. Those who want / expect to find all of the revision material in one book (not so happy).

Our goal was always to write a book that did not replicate the reams of material that exist for the JEE platform. We simply saw no point in doing that. Instead, we wanted to write a book that the candidate could use to:

1. Construct a revision schedule for Part One;

2. Understand how to approach Part Two - constructing your own solution for a given business problem using the JEE platform;

3. Prepare the candidate for Part Three - defending your Part Two submission and explaining how you solution satisfies various NFRs (non-functional requirements).

Broadly speaking, I think we've hit the goals we set. There is an errata list that will be sent to the publisher for the second print and will be published here as well for the purchasers of the first run.

SCEA book publication and shipment dates

The book has gone to the printers! It comes off the press on Monday February 1st and gets to Pearson's warehouse on February 4th. From there it usually takes a week to get to Amazon (in the US). Here's the Amazon US and Amazon UK links. It's also available for the Kindle.

People who placed pre-orders for hard copy editions will receive their shipment first - shipped direct from Pearson's warehouse next week.

As far as the online edition goes, the Rough Cut disappears after the final update (which matches the printed book) and it then becomes part of the regular Safari Library and is accessible to all subscribers.

If these dates change, I'll put out another update. It will be fantastic to see the book finally out there!

Another book update (aka where is it..)

The book is still moving through pre-production at Pearson. I'm sure a good number of you will be wondering what kind of impetus can be administered to push it along and I feel the same way myself!

It looks like the book content got caught up in a major upgrade to Safari Rough Cuts that is just about sorted now. A new version has just published, but I know that it does not have the latest chapter nine content that I wrote last month. Chapter nine is a key chapter in the book, focusing as it does on the JustBuildIt scenario that I outlined at JavaOne 2009 and solves it completely. This chapter maps onto Parts II and III of the exam, where candidates download a business scenario of equal complexity and have to propose and defend a solution to it.

I'm waiting to see when this chapter will show up on Rough Cuts. If it's only a few days away, I'll write another post advising that it's there. But if the delay is going to be as long as the previous delay (essentially four - six weeks to get some content updated), then I'll publish chapter nine as a PDF file on www.box.net, like the other sample chapter and the JavaOne 2008 and 2009 slides. Again, apologies for the delay - I'm pushing as hard as I can.

Addressing Rough Cuts feedback received

Since the book draft has been released on Safari Rough Cuts, I've received feedback on it, both as blog comments and also directly through the Rough Cuts feedback mechanism.

Focusing on the areas of improvement that people have commented on:

1. The final version of the book is significantly longer than the rough cuts version, but it is no weighty tome either. The whole point of the book is to focus on the material that we believe is directly relevant to the JEE Architect exam, as opposed to the JEE platform itself;

2. The next version of the book contains chapter six (JEE security) which is missing from the current Rough Cuts version - that was a trade-off that we took - to get the book on Rough Cuts in order to get reader feedback, without chapter six; and

3. The next version of the book contains a completed chapter nine - a fully-worked Part Two and Three solution to an assignment (the JustBuildIt business problem) of similar complexity to the exam assignments.

Thanks for all the feedback so far - it helps us to make the book better. Unfortunately, time does not permit me to respond to feedback left anonymously, but rest assured that your comments have been read. Finally, we're still shooting for the October date to production.