Head First Java

honestpuck writes "Earlier this year I decided to learn Java. I'd spent some time using JavaScript without really getting my hands too dirty but I'd pushed it way to far and realized I needed a bigger hammer. Grabbing a copy of Learning Java, 2nd Edition from O'Reilly I started learning. First problem, I have to admit I've stayed away from object-oriented programming; after all, I've been writing software for nigh on twenty years without it - why make life hard? Sure, I understood the concepts and I'd done a little but never in a language so strongly committed to OO as Java." Read on for honestpuck's review of Head First Java, which he compares in style and content to Learning Java. Head First Java author Bert Bates, Kathy sierra pages 650 publisher O'Reilly rating 8 reviewer Tony Williams ISBN 0596004656 summary Good, offbeat Java tutorial with new approach to learning computer topics

The Good

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 -- a new book from O'Reilly that has a totally different attitude to teaching than I've seen before in computer books. It also looks like this might be the start of a series from O'Reilly, the website an introduction seem to assume that there will be more 'Head First' titles and I hope so. 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 daughter's 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. You can start to get a feel for their ideas by visiting headfirst.oreilly.com, a site devoted to the series. You can also grab a couple of example chapters from the books web page, which also has the usual marketing info, table of contents and errata.

The Bad

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. If it isn't for you then the style of Learning Java might be better.

Conclusion

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.

You can purchase Head First Java from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Best Series For Learning Java

[jyuter]

Has got to be the Core Java Series. Between the fundamentals and the advanced books, I haven't found anything as complete and as clear as this.

Writing Learning Java...

[patniemeyer]

Hi, I'm Pat Niemeyer, the author of Learning Java. As I sat down this morning to begin work on the fifth edition of the book for Java 1.5 I was
pleasantly surprised to see this item on Slashdot (my first stop of the day). So I thought I'd chime in with a little bit about what it's been like working on this book over the years and ask for you help in making it better.

The short story is that trying to authoritatively cover a topic as broad as the Java language and libraries and to do so without simply producing a giant shelf-filling reference tome or dry as toast text book is a very difficult challenge. I think there are parts of the book that have met this challenge and parts that can be better in the future.

Now, I consider myself to be a relatively funny and creative person (also sexy, and other adjectives as well) and I think if someone had asked me back in 1995 what my first book would have been like I might have imagined something a bit lighter and breezier than an 800 page book about a programming language. But I think that the Slashdot audience in particular will appreciate that despite its size and some obligatory coverage, this is a book written by someone who has a passion for software and architecture and that I have tried to pour my creativity and time into crafting elegant, insightful, and *minimalist* examples. I wrote this book for people who think and learn the way that I do and that may not appeal to everyone.

I think the strongest parts of the book are in the most exciting and difficult areas of Java - topics such as advanced networking, multi-threaded
programming, and XML. IMHO Learning Java's coverage of these topics is deeper than some single topic books in their entirety.

The Java language is a moving target and one that gets more moving parts every day. The greatest challenge in writing about it now is not what to cover, but what to leave out. I have spent many many hours on the phone with my editor (Mike Loukides) over the years debating about what we need to include and what we need to cut. In recent editions which have included a CD in the jacket (yah, I know... book CDs are normally useless) I have started moving the old, less relevant material (such as some of the original AWT API stuff) to the CD.

I have also experimented with the introductory tutorial chapter - trying to give a broad overview of the whole language in one chapter before diving into details. Some people may see that and be turned off. I hope they'll dig a little deeper.

I am very interested in what Slashdot readers have to say about how to make the book better. Your comments would be very well timed right now as I am updating the book for Java 1.5 as we speak.

I hope you'll check out my book if you need to learn (or learn more about) Java. If you have already mastered Java then I hope you'll buy a copy of my book and give it to a homeless person ;);)

Thanks,
Pat Niemeyer
Author of Learning Java, O'Reilly & Associates and the BeanShell Java scripting language (www.beanshell.org).