Java.Inquisition
From Java.Inquisition
- "Nobody expects the Java.Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and drag-and-drop questions. Our two weapons are surprise, drag-and-drop questions...and a question editor...Our three weapons are surprise, drag-and-drop questions, a question editor...and an XML file format. Our four weapons...no...Amongst our weaponry are such elements as surprise, drag-and-drop questions...I'll come in again."[1][2]
Ahem. Inquisition is a desktop application for creating and taking computer-based tests and quizzes. Cheating is fully supported, so it's only going to be useful for things like mock exams and self-assessment rather than administering formal exams. Inquisition is free, open-source software (see License). It is written in (you guessed it) Java, and should therefore work on any platform where Java is supported (including Linux, Mac OS X and Windows).
News
- 26/August/08 — new SCJP exam by Mark Dechamps, see link at bottom of this page
- 12/June/08 — New release: v0.14. Restored question editor and added some SCWCD questions.
- 20/April/08 — New release: v0.13. Ability to save in-progress quizzes, export questions to HTML so you can print them off, and added some more SCWCD questions.
- 28/January/08 — SCWCD practice questions contributed by Jussi Lyytinen
- 24/May/07 — New release: v0.12; minor enhancements & a few extra questions
- 1/March/2007 — added a 32-question SCJP 5 exam written by Muppeteer to the online repository.
- 11/October/2006 — Inquisition v0.11 released, including: an 81-question SCJP 5 mock exam by John Meyers, automatic syntax highlighting for Java source code, animations for drag-and-drop fragments returning to the fragment bin, and a few other small improvements and bugfixes.
- 6/October/2006 — Inquisition v0.1: initial release.
FAQ
Where can I download it?
Try the download page (supports Java Web Start)
Can I see some screenshots?
Sure:
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Why did you write this?
I wrote it while I was meant to be studying for the "Sun Certified Java Programmer" (SCJP) exam. Like many programmers, I'm prone to the delusion that the best way to do any work is to write some software to do it for you. So, rather than studying, I wrote this little application to "help" me study (even though I didn't do a great deal of studying as a result). Anyway, the upshot is that Inquisition has been designed with enough features to functionally simulate the SCJP 5 exam, and would probably work fine as a simulator engine for a number of other certifications.
Why does the world need Yet Another Exam Simulator Engine?
Good question. The quick answer is that I couldn't find a free software exam simulator that supported the features I wanted — in particular, drag-and-drop questions — so I thought I'd write my own. Other exam simulators in this sort of area include JPilotExam (GNU GPL), Magnet Mocker and Ultramock. Commercial simulators include Whizlabs, JQPlus and EPractize Labs). Even more engines are listed here.
As I've demonstrated by writing Inquisition, any old idiot can put together a workable exam engine. The difficult bit is writing a decent, bug-free question set which includes helpful explanations for the answers. I was hoping people would be interested in helping out (see "How can I get involved?" below). To make the most of what other people have worked on, Inquisition can import questions from JPilotExam, Magnet Mocker and Ultramock.
What mock exams are available?
Inquisition is bundled with some 130 practice questions for SCJP 5 and SCJP 6 questions, and 50 questions for SCWCD 1.4 and SCWCD 5, from a variety of contributors.
Mark Dechamps has an additional SCJP quiz hosted at his site: see the link at the bottom of this page.
Compatible JPilotExam questions can be found at their mock exam store for SCBCD and SCWCD mock exams. Compatible Ultramock questions for SCJP 1.4 can be found here. And for Magnet Mocker, check here (only partially supported, and you'll have to unzip them).
Does Inquisition suck?
Well, it's currently alpha software, which means it's unpolished and buggy. Inquisition is also My First Swing Application™, and so I was learning a lot while developing it; this means there's probably lots of embarrassing "features"... Having said that, the exam engine is quite usable, and stands up well to other products in its class (e.g. the shockingly-bad exam engine used in the real Sun exams...) The biggest weakness is the lack of any sizable question database (see "How can I get involved?" below).
How can I get involved?
I was hoping you'd ask that! There are a number of ways you can help out if you're interested:
- Give feedback: probably the easiest way to contribute is to just use it, and report any bugs (whether in the software or the questions) or give feedback on how things can be improved. See Bugs.
- Write a question: You might also consider writing a new question or two. Inquisition is bundled with a question editor so that this is not too difficult. You don't have to be a Java expert either (I'm sure not): if you're studying for an exam, devising a decent question on a topic is a good way to help learn it. There is currently a SCJP mock exam project, but feel free to create your own page targeting another certification.
- Write documentation: a lot of documentation can be edited right here on this website, which is running a wiki.
- Hack on the code: Inquisition is open source software, which means you can modify and improve the software yourself to fix bugs or add your own features.
How can I write my own questions?
Questions can be written using a rudimentary question editor (choose Tools -> Question Editor), or you can manually create questions using the Inquisition XML file format: see Question File Format.
What are possible future features?
-
Save and restore in-progress tests - Web front-end
- Add support for images in questions and answers
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Printable versions of questions -
Cleaner syntax for questions, particularly drag and drop
Contact & feedback
You can contact me (Matt Russell) either here on the wiki, or by emailing mattrusselluk (the AT punctuation mark) gmail (the DOT punctuation mark) com.
