by: Whizlabs Software
Introduction
The mobile market is envisioned as the next technological wave by leading industry experts. With approximately 150 million mobile phones roughly 3 times the user base as that of desktop computers it might well be the case. Due to the fragmented nature of the mobile market, with various manufacturers competing to get their share of the pie, Java is once again poised to be the best programming language for the mobile market with its Write Once, Run Anywhere technology.
The specifications around the Java for Wireless Technology initiative have been proposed and backed by most of the leading mobile phone manufacturers (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Siemens, T-Mobile, to name a few) and hence, one can expect device support and continued innovation.
The Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) offers a highly optimized virtual machine which can be used to run Java applications on devices ranging from resource constrained devices like smart cards, pagers, and mobile phones to high end devices like handheld computers and set-top boxes.
Keeping the limitations of the mobile devices both in size and in memory in mind, the Java Community Process has developed a series of standards constructed in a modular fashion to ensure that various features are standardized while keeping the architecture at an abstract level.
While the J2ME itself includes a lot of other features and is also not limited to mobile phones, the certification concentrates on the developer's ability to create and install programs for mobile devices, such as cell phones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs).
You might want to consider taking this exam
This article will provide a basic understanding of the scope of the certification and will also give details about the certification along with the useful resources to get started.
What you need to know?
The Sun Certified Mobile Application Developer (SCMAD) tests the developer's knowledge in the following five specifications.
Exam Information
Prerequisites
You should have passed the Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP) any version to appear for this exam.
Objectives
Details of the certification objectives can be found at the Sun website. The major objectives are
Passing Score & Time
The exam consists of 68 questions, and the pass percentage is 55%. The time allotted for the exam is 150 minutes. The fee for the exam is $150 for U.S. candidates and might vary for other countries. Please visit the Sun certification website for more details.
What you need to do?
This exam might be slightly tougher than the other exams since the technology is fairly new and the community support is limited.
Since the API set is relatively small, you can cover the topics quickly. On an average, it should take you around a week to cover each topic if you are familiar with Java and have written or attempted to write a few programs using J2ME. If you are new to wireless programming, you might want to allocate around 2-3 months (2 hours a day at least) for preparation.
To prepare for the exam, it we recommend that you do the following:
The best way to get an idea about wireless programming is to actually write some programs and deploy them to a cell phone. This will go a long way in your preparation, since the creation and delivery of wireless applications is quite different from that of the standard or enterprise applications. You should develop at least one program for each specification to get a feel of the API. Some of the programs you might want to develop are
To understand the concepts of J2ME programming, you can read the official J2ME tutorial, which is very comprehensive. Some useful books are also listed in the resources section.
Most of the questions will be code-based and hence, it is very important that you understand how the code is structured for various specifications.
You might want to consider purchasing the SCMAD exam simulator by Whizlabs, which contains numerous questions of varying difficulty levels spread across five mock exams and a quiz and also lots of useful tips for the exam.
Assuming that you have Whizlabs SCMAD Exam Simulator, {available at http://www.whizlabs.com/articles/scmad-article.html} you can use the table below as a starting point for developing your preparation timeline.
Week Objective Notes
0 Diagnostic Exam Gives you a feel of what to expect
1 CLDC 1.0/1.1 Basics of the VM and its requirements
2 Application Lifecycle/Provisioning Basics of MIPD and its requirements
3-4 MIDP UI API Develop and deploy Program 1 after this
5 Networking Develop and deploy Program 3 after this
6 MIDP Persistent Storage Develop and deploy Program 7 after this
7-8 MIDP Game API Develop and deploy Program 2 after this
9 MMAPI Develop and deploy Program 5 after this
10 WMA Develop and deploy Program 6 after this
11 Push Registry Small, but complicated, and is related to WMA
11 Security Helps in packaging applications securely
12 JTWI Gives an understanding of how the technologies are tied together
12 Mock Exams Test your preparation. Revise weaker sections.
Finally, you can take some mock exams to prepare yourself from a certification standpoint.
Tips and pitfalls
Conclusion
With a huge customer base and vast popularity, wireless devices are here to stay. As the wireless technology improves and as the next generation devices come into the market with increased bandwidth, the demand for interactive and feature-rich wireless applications will greatly increase. Having a know-how of wireless programming will give you a competitive edge and will prepare you for the future.
Resources
Forums
Books
Exam Simulators
There are many ways to prepare for certification exams, one of them being through the use of exam simulators. With these you cannot just identify your weak areas, but also get a feel of the test environment.
Whizlabs has launched worlds' first-ever SCMAD (J2ME Certification) exam simulator {available at http://www.whizlabs.com/articles/scmad-article.html}that ensures your success in the exam with its high-quality mock tests and quick revision tips for the exam.