InterSystems IRIS Core Solutions Developer Specialist Exam
The InterSystems IRIS Core Solutions Developer Specialist exam is designed to validate core skills for developers who build applications using ObjectScript and other InterSystems IRIS technologies.
Target Exam Role
Core Solutions Developer Specialist
A development professional who:
- is familiar with object-oriented programming concepts
- uses SQL for application data access
- uses ObjectScript specific and InterSystems IRIS specific technologies
Recommended Preparation
Complete all available InterSystems IRIS development learning content (Classroom: Developing with InterSystems Objects and SQL and Online: Building a Server-Side Application with InterSystems IRIS) and at least six months of on-the-job experience, or the equivalent skills.
Exam Parameters
- Number of questions: 62
- Exam time limit: 2 hours
- Passing score: 66%
- Language offered: English
Exam Resources
This exam includes the InterSystems IRIS ObjectScript Reference as a look-up resource available during the entire exam.
Important note: MacOS users will not be able to view this resource unless they first remove the incompatible AdobePDFViewer plugins that are installed with Adobe Acrobat Reader and Acrobat DC. Windows users are unaffected.
To do this, remove the following files before the exam. They can be replaced afterwards.
/Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewer.plugin
/Library/Internet Plug-ins/AdobePDFViewerNPAPI.plugin
Exam Practice Questions
This exam includes a set of practice questions to help candidates familiarize themselves with question formats and approaches. The document is available here.
Exam Topics and Contents
The exam contains question items that cover the areas for the stated role as shown in the KSA (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities) chart immediately below. The question items are presented in multiple formats including multiple choice, multiple response, etc. Many questions will present code samples to be evaluated.
| T4 | Defines and uses classes and methods | T4.1 | Creates classes and subclasses | Creates classes; Creates classes that inherit from super classes; Compiles classes; Identifies compilation process and generated routines; Creates datatype classes; Identifies class types and their purposes; Identifies class definition structure; Documents classes; Imports and exports classes. |
| T4.2 | Creates and uses class members | Creates class members; Identifies class and member naming rules; Uses class member parameters and attributes; Creates and uses foreign keys. | ||
| T4.3 | Creates and uses methods | Defines methods; Specifies method arguments and return type; Uses inherited methods, including callbacks; Calls methods; Passes arguments to methods; Overrides inherited methods; Uses relative dot syntax. | ||
| T5 | Creates and uses objects | T5.1 | Creates and uses objects | Uses methods to Create/Read/Update/Delete objects; Creates objects to test classes. |
| T5.2 | Creates and uses complex objects | Uses list and array collection objects; Creates collection properties; Uses stream objects; Creates stream properties. | ||
| T5.3 | Uses JSON and XML | Manipulates JSON or XML; Uses JSON Adaptor*** or XML Adaptor to serialize and deserialize objects. | ||
| T6 | Uses variables and functions | T6.1 | Uses variables and operators | Assigns, displays and destroys variables; Uses multidimensional variables (arrays); Identifies variable naming rules; Uses mathematical and logical operators. |
| T6.2 | Uses ObjectScript functions | Performs string operations; Performs list operations; Performs date/time operations. | ||
| T7 | Controls application flow | T7.1 | Uses decision constructs | Uses If constructs; Uses For, While, Do/While. |
| T7.2 | Implements error control | Uses Try/Catch; Throws and handles exceptions; Uses %Status for error processing; Logs errors. | ||
| T8 | Accesses and manipulates data | T8.1 | Ensures data integrity | Implements appropriate object concurrency controls – locks, version checking; Describes transaction commit process and concurrency issues. |
| T8.2 | Accesses and uses globals | Stores values in globals; Deletes global nodes; Retrieves values from globals; Defines globals and subscripts; Iterates over data in globals. | ||
| T8.3 | Chooses OOP or SQL for data access | Distinguishes OOP vs SQL for specific design needs; Describes 1:N relationships in OOP and SQL. | ||
| T8.4 | Uses SQL for data access | Writes class queries; Uses embedded SQL; Uses dynamic SQL. | ||
| T8.5 | Identifies connection options | Identifies connection options such as ODBC/JDBC, REST, and XEP. |
***Note – starred feature is only available in InterSystems IRIS 2019.1 and higher.