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by Jil MacMenamin I was the winner of our Adobe User
Group Meeting book give-a-way last year and received a copy of Head First HTML.
I read several chapters in HF-HTML and enjoyed the way the Authors learned to
write with the concept of keeping people involved, awake, and alert. I liked
their approach to explaining really explaining how things worked on the
web. Although Im supposed to be writing a review for that Head First HTML, the
book Im even more excited about is Head First
Java!!
I teach Java Programming for the
Community College
of Vermont. In the past, I
have used the QuickStart Series I love those books because they keep a very
complex subject manageable for new programmers. I was surprised when I started
looking into the Head First Series that OReilly has been developing for the
past couple of years. I had reviewed the HTML, JavaScript and really liked them
both. So this semester I switched to Head First Java, 2nd
Edition. First I liked the price other
text books for Java are over a $100 which is to much especially when your
students also need to buy a good reference book. The Head First books are
written for people who really want to understand OOP. Object Oriented
Programming is a different way to think about writing programs. Its not the
easiest concept to wrap your arms around. Oh sure when you read how easy it is
to accommodate changes and how it really mimics how humans work, you think oh
this will be great! However, when you get down to the nitty-gritty learning
to write OOP is hard. Period. Rather than go on and on about all
the things I loved from an instructors point of view, Ill just quote what the
students have to say. They are the real ones to listen
to.
Until last fall, Ive
always worked with 600 page manuals that are written with a monotone voice.
Hearing that we would read every page in this single semester wasnt exactly
inspiring. (Although my dirty little secret is that I enjoy those manuals :] )
Needless to say, this text is more users friendly with different learning
styles. I am also in favor of this book.
When I saw the size
of this book and remembered Jil saying that we would read every page I thought
"great another boring god forsaken book". In reality it is a very entertaining
book that is keeping my interest a lot better then books I have for other
classes. I am glad that this was the book of
choice.
It is fantastic!
Easily the best teaching book that I've ever read, certainly more entertaining
than any of those "x for Dummies" books. I love it, I enjoy it, it has quickly
become my go to for fun reading. :)
This book is
perfect! I have ADHD so my eyes are constantly wondering everywhere on a page
expect where they are supposed to be;) With this text book it makes it easy to
understand and remember what you have just read because the 'authors' use such a
unique approach. I really like how the author uses pictures to help convey some
of the concepts.
It's refreshing to
know that there are people out there (like the authors) who actually care if
readers retain the information they are reading about. I took another JAVA
course a few years ago and I couldn't force myself to touch the text book
because it was like a set of encyclopedias [ no pictures! ]. I have a feeling I
am going to retain more information from this book then all of my other
programming books combined ... I hope;)
It's important to
have a good book to learn from when taking online classes. So far I'm really
liking this book. The jokes and pictures kept me awake, so that is a good thing!
There have certainly been some textbooks that I've had to read in the past that
put me right to sleep! The examples given reinforce the concepts explained and
the puzzles make it fun to try to apply what I've learned from reading the
chapter.
I tried to get the files from headfirstjava.com as the book
said, but that didn't appear to be a valid site. I ended up downloading them
from the following site though:
http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfjava/
I seem to find the
book quite interesting. I have not actually had a programming book, quite like
this so it is nice to have a little bit of a lighter side to programming. Not
serious all the time. Good choice on the book Jil!
So far I am
pleasantly surprised. I fully expected a difficult to follow technical manual
like you run into in much of this industry. What I have found is a well written
and very clear translation of something very complex. After diving into the
first two chapters I am very excited about what is ahead in this
semester. Great Choice of
text
So far, I like the
text, I find it to be different and quite effective. It is almost exactly as I
expected it to be after reading consumer reviews about the book online. I
enjoyed doing the exercises and puzzles at the end of the chapter; they seemed
to reinforce the material presented. I am also noticing some similarities to C++
within Java. The website seems to be interesting and a bit different from
websites I have visited lately.
I admit, I have
three other Java textbooks on my shelf (Two produced by OReilly) yet none of
them have explained objects as well as this one. I enjoy casual humor once in a
while when I read a textbook (Seeing as though, content is much easier to
comprehend when its linked with emotions). Anyways, the book starts off with OO
very soon and fails to gait through the important procedural syntax for those
new to the language.
However, I agree that the quicker OO is learned and
implemented, the more complicated and complex programs you can work with. This
book may rush though syntax, but the concepts are what I give them credit for.
From weeks worth of reading and years of experience in Java, this book reaches
out to an immense number of learning styles effectively to exhibit the Java
language. Kudos OReilly.
I think my students
have said everything I would have. Im looking forward to teaching
OOP. |
