Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Contents

Introduction

The OCA Exam

Scheduling the Exam

The Day of the Exam

Finding Out Your Score

Exam Questions

Getting Started

Getting Help

Who Should Buy This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Free Online Learning Environment

Conventions Used in This Book

OCA Exam Objectives

Assessment Test

Answers to Assessment Test

Chapter 1 Java Building Blocks

Understanding the Java Class Structure

Fields and Methods

Comments

Classes vs. Files

Writing a main() Method

Understanding Package Declarations and Imports

Wildcards

Redundant Imports

Naming Conflicts

Creating a New Package

Code Formatting on the Exam

Creating Objects

Constructors

Reading and Writing Object Fields

Instance Initializer Blocks

Order of Initialization

Distinguishing Between Object References and Primitives

Primitive Types

Reference Types

Key Differences

Declaring and Initializing Variables

Declaring Multiple Variables

Identifiers

Understanding Default Initialization of Variables

Local Variables

Instance and Class Variables

Understanding Variable Scope

Ordering Elements in a Class

Destroying Objects

Garbage Collection

finalize()

Benefits of Java

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Chapter 2 Operators and Statements

Understanding Java Operators

Working with Binary Arithmetic Operators

Arithmetic Operators

Numeric Promotion

Working with Unary Operators

Logical Complement and Negation Operators

Increment and Decrement Operators

Using Additional Binary Operators

Assignment Operators

Compound Assignment Operators

Relational Operators

Logical Operators

Equality Operators

Understanding Java Statements

The if-then Statement

The if-then-else Statement

The switch Statement

The while Statement

The do-while Statement

The for Statement

Understanding Advanced Flow Control

Nested Loops

Adding Optional Labels

The break Statement

The continue Statement

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Chapter 3 Core Java APIs

Creating and Manipulating Strings

Concatenation

Immutability

The String Pool

Important String Methods

Method Chaining

Using the StringBuilder Class

Mutability and Chaining

Creating a StringBuilder

Important StringBuilder Methods

StringBuilder vs. StringBuffer

Understanding Equality

Understanding Java Arrays

Creating an Array of Primitives

Creating an Array with Reference Variables

Using an Array

Sorting

Searching

Varargs

Multidimensional Arrays

Understanding an ArrayList

Creating an ArrayList

Using an ArrayList

Wrapper Classes

Autoboxing

Converting Between array and List

Sorting

Working with Dates and Times

Creating Dates and Times

Manipulating Dates and Times

Working with Periods

Formatting Dates and Times

Parsing Dates and Times

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Chapter 4 Methods and Encapsulation

Designing Methods

Optional Specifiers

Return Type

Method Name

Parameter List

Optional Exception List

Method Body

Working with Varargs

Applying Access Modifiers

Private Access

Default (Package Private) Access

Protected Access

Public Access

Designing Static Methods and Fields

Calling a Static Variable or Method

Static vs. Instance

Static Variables

Static Initialization

Static Imports

Passing Data Among Methods

Overloading Methods

Creating Constructors

Default Constructor

Overloading Constructors

Final Fields

Order of Initialization

Encapsulating Data

Creating Immutable Classes

Writing Simple Lambdas

Lambda Example

Lambda Syntax

Predicates

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Chapter 5 Class Design

Introducing Class Inheritance

Extending a Class

Applying Class Access Modifiers

Creating Java Objects

Defining Constructors

Calling Inherited Class Members

Inheriting Methods

Inheriting Variables

Creating Abstract Classes

Defining an Abstract Class

Creating a Concrete Class

Extending an Abstract Class

Implementing Interfaces

Defining an Interface

Inheriting an Interface

Interface Variables

Default Interface Methods

Static Interface Methods

Understanding Polymorphism

Object vs. Reference

Casting Objects

Virtual Methods

Polymorphic Parameters

Polymorphism and Method Overriding

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Chapter 6 Exceptions

Understanding Exceptions

The Role of Exceptions

Understanding Exception Types

Throwing an Exception

Using a try Statement

Adding a finally Block

Catching Various Types of Exceptions

Throwing a Second Exception

Recognizing Common Exception Types

Runtime Exceptions

Checked Exceptions

Errors

Calling Methods That Throw Exceptions

Subclasses

Printing an Exception

Summary

Exam Essentials

Review Questions

Appendix A Answers to Review Questions

Chapter 1: Java Building Blocks

Chapter 2: Operators and Statements

Chapter 3: Core Java APIs

Chapter 4: Methods and Encapsulation

Chapter 5: Class Design

Chapter 6: Exceptions

Appendix B Study Tips

Studying for the Test

Creating a Study Plan

Creating and Running Sample Applications

Taking the Test

Understanding the Question

Applying Process of Elimination

Optimizing Your Time

Getting a Good Night’s Rest

Index

Free Online Learning Environment

EULA