Head First Java

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Achievment
Review: Who do Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates think they are? Don't they know that learning a programming language is supposed to be hard? Don't they know that it is supposed to involve suffering? Apparently not, as they have written a complete introduction to Java that is fun to read and easy to understand. If we don't stamp this out now, students will start expecting their teachers to be entertaining!

The book is an excellent introduction to Java. It covers all the typical topics of a basic introductory text and some extra including serialization, networking, and distributed computing. Each topic is covered in a fun way with important information highlighted. The authors use stories, fake interviews, pictures, and assorted other clever techniques to catch your imagination and make the topics memorable. There are plenty of exercises (with answers) to help you check to be sure you understood each chapter. And there are plenty of fun programs to code including a cool music machine instead of the typical "reverse a String" exercises.

If you are looking for a traditional text then this book is definitely not for you. Instructors should think carefully whether this book fits in with their style of teaching. This book is not for everyone but if you want to learn Java and object oriented programming in fun and unique way then this is the book you want. Now I just have to figure out how to keep it away from my students.

Rating:
Summary: This is a revolution !!!
Review: It's easy to write a difficult book, but it's difficult to write an easy book.
I just bought the book yesterday, and I just can't keep the book down. It is just stunning, how the authors can explain abstract concepts to you, in really simple words. Let me add, I am not new to Java, but I wanted to understand the concepts really well, and this book does a really good job.

Pros:

1. Visuals Visuals !!! Every important concept is captured in some sort of a diagram or picture.

2. Clear and simple direct conversation. You just feel that you are in a class with the authors.

3. They jump into technical stuff pretty early in the book ( This is not a DUMMIES book )

Cons:

1. The book is not for you if you are already a guru in OO and Java. This is not something you want to get.

I think Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates have done an excellent job.
I think Oreilly just started a revolution in the world of technical publishing.

I 'll update this review, once I complete the book.

Rating:
Summary: Finally, written for my learning style.
Review: I used to program back in the 80's. The books written then are different then the way they write today. Looking at this book I had to break down and get it. I read it cover to cover without doing any code. Just being able to read it at lesiure was a huge difference. Finally, after years of trying to get this language to sink into my BASIC altered brain. (Looking at the stack of other Java Books) This book is a 6 star out of 5 possible. I hope they write more like this!!!

To begin with, it flows..the authors make it interesting..they give examples that you wouldn't normally think of..they give you puzzles to work on to make sure you got the concept (i.e. What output lines up with what code snippet) I finally understand polymorphism and abstract classes/methods.

Thank YOU!

Rating:
Summary: My all-time favorite tutorial on Java (or anything else)
Review: In all my years of reading technical books trying to learn new skills, the closest I have ever come to a book like this was when I first read a Dummies book. I liked it because it presented information in a humorous fashion that made things easy to comprehend. This style takes that type of learning to a whole new level. Using a combination of writing style, graphics, illustrations, and sample code, they draw you into each subject in such a way that you can't help but learn and understand.

This book starts with the basics of Java and progresses clear through to RMI and JINI. Granted, those last subjects are just touched on, but at least you're exposed to them. Even after all the Java tutorial manuals I've read, I still got a lot out of this book. For instance, I always was sort of fuzzy on the event listener logic. The Head First explanation was one of the most understandable (and entertaining) treatments of it that I've ever read. Likewise, inner classes were always confusing to me. The coverage of that subject here makes it sound so simple.

And why do you need this if you're a Notes/Domino developer? If you've never worked with Java, you're probably intimidated by the subject and afraid to get started. Don't be... This is the most fun you'll ever have learning a new skill. While it doesn't talk specifically about how to code a Java agent in a Notes application, you'll learn the concepts and the syntax you'll need to be able to do that. Once you have those skills in place, you can move on to a book specific to using Java in a Notes environment (such as Domino Development With Java by Tony Patton). The book doesn't assume you're a programming guru to get started. You will learn a lot from this material, and it's something you need to do in order to continue to stay relevant in the IBM/Lotus world.

Conclusion
If you're a C/C++ guru approaching Java, this book may not be for you. You'll already know much of the material from your exposure to those languages. But if you're a mere mortal like the rest of us, you need to buy this book if you're looking to learn Java. I am SO hoping that the Head First approach to tech writing becomes a series. If it does, I'm ruined for life in what I will expect from a book. This is really great stuff!

Rating:
Summary: A great new teaching style
Review: Earlier this year I decided to learn Java. Grabbing a copy of 'Learning Java' from O'Reilly I started learning.

Of course, you can't learn Java without a good understanding of object-oriented languages. I made fairly heavy going with 'Learning Java' until I decided to dive in head first, 'Head First Java' that is - I bought this book that has a totally different attitude to teaching than I've seen before in computer books. The style is humorous, full of graphics, cartoons, puzzles, quizzes and crosswords. It reminds me of the textbooks that used to try and teach me geometry and algebra in high school or my daughters elementary books on Roman and Greek history I purchased for her at the British Museum. The style didn't work to teach me much algebra and geometry, but I wasn't anywhere near as motivated. This time, it worked. In a couple of weeks I worked through the book and finally have Java skills where I can branch off and start coding the projects I had in mind (though something more advanced will be required soon.)

In the introduction the authors examine learning and explain why they designed the book as they did. To quote from one section: "Some of the Head First learning principles. Make it visual. Put the words within or near the graphics. Use a conversational and personalized style. Get the learner to think more deeply. Get-and keep-the reader's attention. Touch their emotions." They argue that our brain is tuned to novelty, and that their style provides the novelty to keep your brain turned on. They also provide ten tips for good learning. That's one thing that seems to set this book apart from most other computer books, they say they think of their reader as a learner and indeed that's the way you are treated by the book.

The book also has a good emphasis on test-driven development, a good style to get new programmers started. I also appreciated the excellent chapter on how to package all your code up for release, something that you might expect to be trivial but not quite as easy as expected.

When compared to 'Learning Java' the coverage is not as good, 'Head First' really only covers the basics, up to and including creating a GUI with SWING and then touches a number of others; 'Learning Java' goes on to explore, with a fair depth, network programming, web programming, servlets, applets, Java Beans, XML and other topics that are only touched on briefly in 'Head First.' If the style of learning does not suit you then this will be an incredibly irritating and useless book, I'd give it a try first, though.

This edition also has a fair number of errors, including some in the examples. To this all I can say is "shame, shame, shame." I keep on harping on this in computer book reviews but if you can't figure out a way of including code that compiles and/or runs in your book then give up. The example code is available online - how hard is it to check that it all runs and then include that source directly into the text.

When you get down to it, though, the only way to really decide on the worth of a tutorial is to decide how well it teaches. 'Head First Java' excels at teaching. OK, I thought it was silly, I had a hard time making myself do the exercises, fill out the crosswords and solve the puzzles. Then I realized that I was thoroughly learning the topics as I went through the book. 'Learning Java' was doing the same job, but the dry traditional method wasn't doing as well. Both books are well written, designed and constructed-the style of 'Headfirst Java' just made learning, well, easier.

It would seem to me that the 'Head First' approach is going to work wonderfully for the more 'beginner' topics, books for introducing you to a new style of programming, a new language or a radically different operating system or application. So if you're looking for a book to introduce you to Java then I can recommend 'Head First Java'. Now if I could only find a book as good to introduce me to Common Lisp.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: I have never written a review before because frankly no computer book I have read has been worth it. This book is different.

This book is actually fun to read and isn't boring like most computer books. It takes hard-to-understand/abstract concepts and breaks them down into a format that is easy and intuitive.

If you are looking for a fun and easy-to-understand book to quickly get up-to-speed on JAVA. This is the book for you!

Rating:
Summary: Horrible Book
Review: I guess if you've never touched a computer before or ever written any code you might enjoy this book. Honestly, I haven't read the whole thing - I couldn't finish it.

If you are looking for a book to transition from one language to another this certainly is not it. It even says that in the introduction to the book. I bought this book to learn some java, although I was already very familiar with C and C++, and was disappointed in what I received.

My advice - if you are familiar with either OO or procedural programming, don't buy this book!

Rating:
Summary: A good & fast way to learn Object Orientation & Java
Review: What a great book. I didn't get this book to learn Java, I actually wanted to learn the principles of Object Oriented Programming (OOP).This book has done just that! The examples are real-world and the language is down to earth. The book was however written to those that have some programming background. I have just a little under my belt and I've been following the concepts just fine.

If you are one for manual/documentation style reading (man pages) this is not for you. This is not your ordinary programming book. There are plenty of pictures, charts, and diagrams in this book explaining key concepts the author is trying to explain. The chapters go by fast becuase of this. If you've had a hard time in the past learning Java from dull and dry authors then this book will help you learn the fundamentals of Object Orientation as well as the Java language.

Rating:
Summary: E-X-T-R-A-O-R-D-I-N-A-R-Y material
Review: All I can say is WOW! The material really sinks in fast. The Humor is designed to turn on your light bulb but brightly. I have never encountered any computer book that hit a home run as far as this one. I just LOVE how effective the illustrations dug into me, and the slick-wit humor, then tossing in ultra competence. Wow, what a revolutionary method, thanks for making my object orientation a gas :-) I'm still saying WOW.

Rating:
Summary: Head first? Not so fast....
Review: I buy a lot of techinical books and found this one to be missing the mark both on content and format. There was too much effort on dumbing down the information with pictures while trying to maintain the technical vocabulary of object oriented programming. This strange mixture of geek-bonics and unrelated graphics created a major disconnect between the graphics, text, and example codes.

There are other books out there with more information and better formated for learning and for less money.

I will be selling this book shortly.

Joe