Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? This course improves your architecture and design skills for building large scale, secure, maintainable, and high performing Java EE systems. This course helps developers identify and solve common design and architecture problems by applying best practices to Java EE application development. There are a wide variety of Java enterprise technologies for constructing Java EE systems. With Java EE design patterns, system architects have a tool for addressing complex challenges in constructing an effective and flexible Java EE system. This course helps you select and apply the best design patterns and technologies for fulfillment of your particular requirements. Who will benefit from this course? This course is valuable for those involved in designing, coding and maintaining Java EE systems, including programmers, designers, analysts, systems architects and managers. Anyone currently developing or working with Java EE applications will find this course valuable. The course benefits are maximised when managers and developers share the same design methodology with co-developers on a given project. What background do I need? Knowledge of Java development at the level of Course 471, Java Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction is required. You should: Have a good understanding of object-oriented analysis and design including encapsulation and polymorphism Know how to extend classes and implement interfaces Be familiar with the standard Java APIs It is assumed that you have at least 6 months of experience of Java programming. You should also have some appreciation of enterprise applications in the Web environment. What are design patterns? Design patterns are proven techniques and best practices that are found, through experience, to solve design problems that appear in a variety of contexts. Thus, a design pattern is a recognised solution to a recurring problem. Documenting these solutions as design patterns helps software developers apply an array of technology and design options without enduring the same process of trial and error as those before them. Design patterns preclude the need to reinvent the wheel, and help developers get it "right" the first time. What is the difference between Java EE design patterns and the Gang of Four patterns? The Gang of Four (GoF) design patterns apply generically to any object-oriented programming language. Java EE design patterns address common problems encountered in designing Java EE architecture. This course presents the key Java EE design patterns required when implementing a Java EE system. Does this course cover GoF design patterns? No. This course only covers Java EE design patterns. If you want to learn about GoF design patterns, limited coverage is provided in Course 516, Best Practices in Java Programming: Hands-On. Should I take this course before or after other Java courses in the Java curriculum? Participants should first attend Course 471, Java Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction. After taking Course 471, you can move on to take any of the advanced Java courses, including this course, in any order. Course 570, Developing Java Web Applications: Hands-On, provides extensive experience building specific Java EE applications. Course 318 covers best practices of Java EE in a more holistic manner. Does this course focus on programming or design? This course focuses on design at the architecture level. It does not teach Java EE programming explicitly, however, application code is used where relevant to demonstrate use of the design patterns. The focus of this course is on providing an understanding of architectural issues in order to construct more robust and scalable Java EE systems. How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours Java EE and design patterns 4.0 Business Tier Patterns 4.0 Building the Integration Tier 4.5 Structuring the Web Presentation Tier 4.5 Lightweight Architectures 3.0 Performance and Scalability 3.0 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. Does this course teach UML? This course uses the industry standard Unified Modeling Language (UML), but does not teach UML in detail, or all UML notations. See Course 216, UML 2: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, for detailed coverage of UML. What software and which tools are used? This course does not focus on a particular design tool, but rather design methodologies. Everything you learn in the course can be applied using other design tools. To this end, all tools and software used on this course are open source and comply with industry standards. Why should I take this course instead of one offered by Sun Microsystems? Learning Tree is dedicated to helping accelerate the careers of our clients by providing them with world-class technology and management training. Our independence from Sun Microsystems (and any other vendor) allows us to give an unbiased view of what works and what does not. This course is objective in its approach, having been developed independently from Sun by industry experts who bring real-world experience to the classroom. Will I learn how to resolve key Java EE application design issues? Yes. You use Java EE design patterns, which are industry recognised best practices, to resolve key Java EE application design issues. All of the hands-on exercises in this course build upon the use of these specific design patterns. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? The prerequisite for Course 318 is Course 471, Java Programming: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction, which provides extensive experience with Java and its object-oriented features. Other Courses in the Java Curriculum include: 517, Developing Enterprise Java Applications with Spring and Hibernate®: Hands-On offers the skills to develop scalable enterprise Java applications using the industry-standard Spring and Hibernate frameworks. 516, Best Practices in Java Programming: Hands-On provides the skills to solve real-world software development problems and deliver fast, reliable applications. 570, Developing Java Web Applications: Hands-On  provides the skills to integrate key components of the Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE), including servlets and JSP technologies. 521, Struts 1 for Enterprise Java Web Development: Hands-On provides the skills to design and build Web applications using the Struts framework. 577, Building XML Web Services with Java: Hands-On  provides the skills to design and build Web services using Java Ideal follow-on courses for those interested in object-oriented analysis and design include: 323, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design Using UML: Hands-On covers both analysis and design in detail and is independent of any particular programming language. 424, Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  provides a foundation in the concepts, modeling, design and implementation of SOA.

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