Java – Role & Importance

What is Java?

Java is a general purpose, high-level, object oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. A team called Green was formed in the year 1991 to develop a language for handheld devices, set-top boxes and consumer electronic products. Initially it was called as OAK. The language was too advanced at its time as a result it was unsuccessful. In 1995 Sun changed the name to Java which was intended to take advantage of the rapidly growing World Wide Web(WWW).

Later in 2009, due to monetization problem Sun microsystems was sold to Oracle Corporation at a price of $ 7.4 billion.

Why there was the need of java when there were existing programming languages like C / C++?

At the time of development of Java, there were good programming languages like C++. These languages were not reliable. For the consumer electronics industry to be successful there was a need for a reliable programming language. Hence Java was developed. When Java 1.0 was released it promised WORA- Write Once, Run Anywhere.

But as of Today Java is a commonly used foundation for developing and delivering content on the Web.

Design Goals of the Java ™ Programming Language:

• Simple, Object Oriented, and Familiar
• Robust and Secure
• Architecture Neutral and Portable
• High Performance
• Interpreted, Threaded, and Dynamic

Importance of Java:

Open-source: Java is an open source platform, which allows the developer to download the tools and develop applications with no fee thereby reducing the overall cost of the development process.

• Platform Independent: Java apps can be developed and used in any operating system or platform. The apps developed for windows can run in other operating system where Java virtual machine exists
•  Highly secure: Java is known for its security and safe programming.
•  Reusable codes: The enterprises can reuse the codes in developing any other app on java platform. The codes used in the programming of any app can be reused by the enterprise in making any other app.
•  User and developer friendly: The enterprises are attracted towards the java development because the apps are not only easy to develop but very easy to use also.

Some applications that use Java:

• Gmail, Blogger and YouTube
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Amazon
• EBay
• Operation of android is based on Java

Certification in Java & Its importance for career growth

  certification in Java is one of the most highly recommended in the IT industry and it can do a lot for you and your career! There are three certifications in Java provided by Oracle Corporation which one can take up. The certifications will definitely boost up your career.

Certifications by Oracle Corporation:

• Java SE: “Standard Edition” certification focuses on desktop, server and “high-end embedded devices.” The Java SE track includes Associate, Professional and Master designations.
• Java EE: “Enterprise Edition” reflects Oracle’s commitment to growing Java adoption within large organizations for mission-critical applications. Eight distinct Java EE certifications test mastery of Web components, information architecture and service delivery.
• Java ME: Certification in Java’s “Micro Edition” track ensures familiarity with squeezing extra performance from TVs, handsets and other devices that rely on a lightweight programming platform.

Java certifications a necessity for your IT career

Higher earnings

Certified individuals usually earn more money as compared to            non-  certified individuals.

Hiring & Selection Advantage

During the hiring process, Certified personal are preferred over non-certified personal. If you are in the market for a new job, a Java certification can help you stand out from non-certified candidates.  Recruiters often prefer to hire certified professionals. So you can have a great start in your career with the help of these Java certifications.

Making you a better programmer

Java certification program not only helps you to prepare better for your exam, but can also make you a better programmer. The certifications help you to find out your weaker sections, and you can improve on your weaker sections.

Skilled Java Developers and Programmers are in high demand

Skilled java developers are in high demand, how the recruiters should come to know that you are a skilled personnel? Simple your Java certificate proves that you are a skilled professional.

With the certificate you will have access to Networking and Exclusive Community Benefits

As an Oracle Certified Professional, you will have special access to the exclusive LinkedIn communities so you can engage with other certified peers.

Help Your Company Increase Business

Some contracts allow for only hiring companies with certified If you’re self-employed as an IT consultant or analyst, having certification to back up your work experience can be crucial in getting new clients. Those companies will know that you have a certain level of knowledge, and will look at your resume more favorably.

Career opportunities:

Your career could start as any of the following:

• Java Video Game Programmer
• Java Web Developer
• Java Webmaster
• Java Developer
• Web Software Engineer

 

Scope of Java:

This is the well-known fact that java is the best next big thing to come up in IT industry after C++. Since its inception it has surprised the world with the new products and services.

Where Java is used?

1) Android Apps

If you want to see where Java is used, you are not too far away. Open your Android phone and any app, they are actually written in Java programming language, with Google’s Android API, which is similar to JDK. Couple of years back Android has provided much needed boost and today many Java programmers are Android App developer.

2) Server Apps at Financial Services Industry

Java is very big in Financial Services. Lots of global Investment banks like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Barclays, Standard Charted and other banks use Java for writing front and back office electronic trading system, writing settlement and confirmation systems, data processing projects and several others.

3) Java Web applications

Java is also big on E commerce and web application space. You have a lot of Restful services being created using Spring MVC, Struts 2.0 and similar frameworks. Even simple Servlet, JSP and Struts based web applications are quite popular on various government projects. Many of government, healthcare, insurance, education, defense and several other departments have their web application built in Java.

4) Software Tools

Many useful software and development tools are written and developed in Java e.g. Eclipse, InetelliJ Idea and Netbans IDE.

5) J2ME Apps

Though advent of iOS and Android almost killed J2ME market, but still there is large market of low end Nokia and Samsung handset which uses J2ME. There was time when almost all games, application, which is available in Android are written using MIDP and CLDC, part of J2ME platform. J2ME is still popular on products like Blu-ray, Cards, Set top boxes etc. One of the reason of WhatsApp being so popular is because it is also available in J2ME for all those Nokia handsets which is still quite big.

6) Embedded Space

Java is also big in the embedded space. It shows how capable the platform is, you only need 130 KB to be able to use Java technology (on a smart card or sensor). Originally Java was designed for embedded devices. In fact, this is the one area, which was part of Java’s initial campaign of “write once, run anywhere” and looks like it is paying up now.

7) Big Data technologies

Hadoop and other big data technologies are also using Java in one way or other.

8) High Frequency Trading Space

Java platform has improved its performance characteristics a lot and with modern JITs, its capable of delivering performance at C++ level. Due to this reason, Java is also popular on writing high performance systems, because Though performance is little less compared to native language, but you can compromise safety, portability and maintainability for more speed and it only takes one inexperienced C++ programmer to make an application slow and unreliable.

9) Scientific Applications

Nowadays Java is often a default choice for scientific applications, including natural language processing. Main reason of this is because Java is more safe, portable, maintainable and comes with better high-level concurrency tools than C++ or any other language.

Here is a brief outline for what to look for in the training program:

These are the very important topic that one needs to know in Java:

• Introduction to Java
• Features of Java
• Java Environment Setup
• OOPS Concepts:

• Class & Object
• Inheritance
• Encapsulation
• Polymorphism
• Abstraction
• Data Types

• Local Variables, Instance Variables
• Static Variables, Static Block, Static Methods, Static Class
• Access Specifiers& Access Modifiers
• Operators
• Control Statements
• Arrays
• String, String Buffer, String Builder
• Interfaces, Abstract and Concrete Classes
• Packages
• Exception Handling Mechanism
• Garbage Collection
• Auto Boxing and Un Boxing
• Collection Framework
• Inner Classes
• Annotations
• Generic Types

 

The Big question is where to learn Java from?

I will make it simple for you. I have done an extensive research and prepared a list from where you can learn Java.

1. Company that trains and recruits them after the completion of training.

Find a company that trains you, and will recruit you after the completion of the training. The advantage of joining such a company is you will be working on their ongoing projects. Rather than regular training you will have a chance to see how the ongoing projects are being executed. Finding such a company may be difficult, but it is worth the shot.

2. A training academy

Join a certified training academy, they will teach you the Java as per their course. You will be getting the certificate which may or may help for your career. I prefer you take the next method.

3. Self- Study:

There are really many pro and cons of self-studying. I will start by citing the cons, you will be unaware of what the trend is currently running in IT industry. Isn’t it always best to be trained by an expert trainer? Obviously it is best. But you can always self-study the topics by the help google or from text books and take up the Oracle Java certification program. I think Java certification has more weightage than the certificates provided by training institute. There are some training institutes whose certificates also have the same weight-age as of the Oracle’s Java certificate program.

Here is the list of books which can help you for your self-studies:

Beginner:

• Head First Java, 2nd Edition
• Thinking in Java (4th Edition)
• Think Java
• Introduction to Java by Sedgewick
• Java in a Nutshell
• Core Java Volume I–Fundamentals (9th Edition) (Core Series): Cay S. Horstmann
• Java How To Program (late objects) by Paul Deitel, Harvey Deitel

Intermediate:

• Effective Java (2nd Edition): Joshua Bloch
• Java Performance: Charlie Hunt, Binu John
• Head First Servlets and JSP
• SCJP by Kathy and Sierra
• Java – The Complete Reference by Herbert Schildt.
• Java Concurrency in Practice
• Java Performance
• The Java Programming Language, 4th Edition

Advanced:

• Java Puzzlers : Traps, Pitfalls, And Corner Cases

References:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_(programming_language)
• http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/intro-141325.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-level_programming_language
• https://www.quora.com/Why-was-Java-created
• https://www.quora.com/How-was-Java-developed
• http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Write-once-run-anywhere
• http://www.zyoin.com/indian-industry-future-java-java-jobs/
• http://www.sitenol.com/java-developer-job-technical-skills
• https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/solutions.html

 

CCNA – The way ahead

Introduction:

The CCNA certification has been devised by CISCO and CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. The certificate approves a professional or a student’s ability to understand, configure, operate, and troubleshoot medium-level switched and routed networks.

You will be voted by a leading worldwide networking organization the CISCO as a valuable worker. Isn’t it great?

Sample CCNA Certificate

The Certificate is ideal for:

• A Student who is interested in networking & planning for the better future.
• An entry level professional in IT field with an interest in networking field.

Earlier there was only one core CCNA certification program, but now it is divided into associate CCNA certification programs, they are:

1. CCNA Cloud
2. CCNA Collaboration
3. CCNA Data Center
4. CCNA Industrial
5. CCNA Routing and Switching
6. CCNA Security
7. CCNA Service Provider
8. CCNA Wireless

Eligibility:

Cisco for most of the exams does not place any prerequisites, but may be necessary to have to complete some of the other exams. The necessary exams vary depending upon the type of certification to be made.

What Kind of job roles you can expect?

• IT network administrator
• Network engineer
• Network engineer
• Technical Engineer
• Systems engineer
• IT manager
• IT director
• Software engineer
• Network programming/ analyst

Advantages of being CCNA Certified:

• The personal will have a better understanding of computer networking
• It will surely boost your career
• Some companies prefer to hire CCNA certified professional
• For the students it will be helpful for getting your first job
• Money matters most to us. You can demand for high incentives. Some companies are willing to pay more for CCNA certified professional.

According to the Payscale.com research, the average salary of CCNA professional with one year of job experience is shown in the chart.

CCNA certificate will surely have a great influence on your networking knowledge and qualification. Whether you are applying for a new job or demanding a salary hike CCNA certificate will definitely help you. You will be able to stand out among your workmates & peers.

What to look for when you enroll for a CCNA Course

One of the most important things to look for in any CCNA Training is whether the institute that is conducting the training has original Routers & Switches or is it training on simulator. Besides, you should look at the credentials of the institute, whether it has a placement cell or not, how qualified are the trainers and the pedigree of the institute and its history.

Aptech Hardware & Networking Academy at Chowringhee, Kolkata, is one such institute which qualifies against all the above criteria.

References:

• http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/training-events/training-certifications/certifications.html
• payscale.com
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CCNA
• http://newsroom.cisco.com/release/1156334