Clarity and maintainability

We assume that because you're planning on becoming certified, you already know the basics of Java. If you're completely new to the language, this chapter—and the rest of the book—will be confusing; so be sure you know at least the basics of the language before diving into this book. That said, we're starting with a brief, high-level refresher to put you back in the Java mood, in case you've been away for awhile.

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You’ve built your project, and now the Big Day is finally here. Submission time. Your exam instructions include very specific details for submission, and you must follow them exactly. Pay attention: any deviation from the submission instructions can mean automatic failure.

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We know that you all know the benefits of thorough, accurate, and understandable documentation. There may be some of you out there who wish that documentation wasn’t an integral part of a programmer’s job. There may be others of you who are thrilled to write documentation, to exercise a different part of your brain, to help your fellow programmers, to capture (hey you, in the back, stop laughing!) your company’s technical assets.

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Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. –Voltaire A prudent question is one-half of wisdom. –Francis Bacon You’re on your own for the other half. –The Authors As with the previous chapter, this chapter asks—you got it—questions. Some will seem obvious, some won’t. But this is the area where your solution to the problem is going to have the greatest impact on your score. You’re going to be asked to build a database.

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It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. –James Thurber Good questions outrank easy answers. –Paul A Samuelson If you don’t ask the right questions, you don’t get the right answers. A question asked in the right way often points to its own answer. Asking questions is the ABC of diagnosis. Only the inquiring mind solves problems. –Edward Hodnett Clever as you are, I bet you’ve figured out where this is heading…the Developer exam is about you figuring out solutions to the problem/specification you’re given as your assignment. ...

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There are several key aspects of GUI design that you need to consider when designing and implementing the GUI for your project. At a high level, they can be broken down into two main areas of focus: 1. Designing the GUI to be usable and friendly from the end user’s perspective. 2. Designing and implementing the GUI to be reliable, and maintainable from the programmer’s perspective. This chapter will focus almost entirely on the first point—ease of use for the end user. We start with a very brief overview of the technical issues you probably want to address in implementing your...

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13 Clarity and Maintainability CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE • Writing Clear and Maintainable Code 2 Chapter 13: Clarity and Maintainability CERTIFICATION OBJECTIVE Write Clear and Maintainable Code Now that you’ve made your code readable, does your easy-to-read code actually make sense? Can it be easily maintained? These are huge issues for the exam, worth a very significant chunk of your assessment score. We’ll look at everything from class design to error handling. Remember that you’re a Team Player.

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The Developer exam is challenging. There are a lot of complex design issues to consider, and a host of advanced Java technologies to understand and implement correctly. The exam assessors work under very strict guidelines. You can create the most brilliant application ever to grace a JVM, but if you don’t cross your t’s and dot your i’s the assessors have no choice but to deduct crucial (and sometimes substantial) points from your project.

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OK, so now you know everything about the language. But can you actually build something in it? You’ll hear that argument from some who’ve never taken (or passed) the programmer’s exam. Obviously, they don’t understand how darn difficult the programmer’s exam actually is, but nonetheless there is something to the claim that, “just because you know how the compiler and VM work does not mean you can develop software.” The Developer exam, which is unique in the IT exam world, lets you answer that question (most often posed by a prospective employer)....

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