FAQs
What formats can I get your tests in?
For our .NET 2.0 and beginning Java books, our tests are in ExamView and RTF format. For our mainframe, servlets/JSP, and .NET 1.x books, our tests are in Word format.
If you would like to get our tests in another format, like Blackboard, we can usually accommodate you. Just contact us and let us know what format you prefer.
If you aren't familiar with ExamView, it is an inexpensive
but powerful product that makes it easy to create, edit,
and administer printed or web tests. You can use it
to set up self-scoring practice tests that run on an
intranet or the Internet, and you can use it to export
ExamView tests to formats like WebCT or Blackboard.
So if you want to get the most from our ExamView tests,
we recommend that you use ExamView with them.
If you've used any Course Technology texts, you probably have ExamView already. Otherwise, you can buy and download ExamView from the ExamView web site.
Do you provide errata lists for your books?
Yes, but we call them "book corrections." To find the list for a specific
title, just go to our Books
section, click on the title to go to the book's
home page, then click on the "Book corrections" link
at the bottom of the lefthand set of links.
Do your books train students for industry certification exams?
As we see it, there's teaching for exams and teaching the skills that are actually needed on the job. Since the goal of all our books is to teach the skills that are needed on the job, we don't try to analyze (and present) what's needed for the exams.
Nevertheless, professionals tell us that they come
very close to passing the exams just by reading our
books. Then, all they have to do to pass the exams is
work a little with one of the exam-preparation books.
What the professionals really like about our books,
though, is that they can succeed on the job just by
using our books, whether or not they pass the exams.
Why don't you slow the pace of your introductory programming books?
I usually get this question along with something like: "I think your book is great, but I think it's going to be too fast for my students." My answer follows.
For more than 30 years at dozens of colleges and in dozens of corporations, our books have trained students for entry-level programming jobs. So we know they work for students with programming aptitude. And if our books present more information in 400 pages than competing books do in 800 pages, we see that as a feature of our books. It just means that your students can learn more by reading less and doing less busywork.
Beyond that, we believe that every introductory programming course should:
- Present a complete subset of the language, including how to create and
use business objects for languages like Java, C#,
and Visual Basic and how to create bulletproof applications
that do data validation and handle exceptions.
- Give a realistic view of the complexity of business
applications so the students will have a better appreciation
of what's going on as they use applications during
their business careers.
- Give the students a chance to test their programming aptitude so they can decide whether they want to become programmers or major in a computing curriculum.
If you agree with these goals, you really should try our books because most competing books don't even meet the first goal, let alone the third. Besides that, there's more to learn than ever before, and the market is already flooded with "dumbed-down" books. We think it's time to raise the level of instruction, and instructors throughout the country are doing that with our books.
Why don't you use program flowcharts to help teach constructs like If/Else statements and Do loops in your books?
Back in the 1980s, several studies concluded that program flowcharts
are as hard to follow as the If/Else statements and
Do loops themselves. And the deeper the nests within
the structures, the more that is true. Beyond that,
program flowcharts haven't been used in the real world
since the 1970s.
So for more than 20 years, we haven't used program
flowcharts in our books. To paraphrase Bill Gates, "If
you can't multiply, you have no future in programming."
Using that same logic, if you can't understand the operation
of If/Else statements, Do loops, or structured exception
handling just by studying the code, that's a strong
indicator that you have no future in programming.
Is there still a market for COBOL programmers?
Today, COBOL/CICS programs on IBM mainframes still handle 85% of all
the transactions that are processed every day; there
is no way that these applications can be ported to other
languages or platforms any time soon; and these applications
will have to be maintained for many years to come. In
addition, many mainframe programmers are retiring or
getting close to retirement. So, yes, there still is
a market for COBOL programmers, and during the last
two years, we've seen a small increase in corporate
COBOL training.
However, it's also true that the American job market
for COBOL programmers is no longer growing (although
outsourcing these jobs is growing rapidly). Also, there's
an increasing need for mainframe programmers who also
know Java, C#, and Visual Basic because Java and .NET
front-ends are being used with COBOL/CICS back-ends.
If you do teach a COBOL course, please keep in mind that Murach's Mainframe COBOL is still the only COBOL book that teaches COBOL the way it's done on IBM mainframes. That's why this book is still used for corporate COBOL training, along with our JCL, CICS, and DB2 books.
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