Head First Design Patterns (Head First) by Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates, Kathy Sierra Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Head First Design Patterns (Head First)
Book Review: Excellent Intro
Summary: 5 Stars
Easy to read and follow.
All the examples are in Java and I'm not a Java programmer, but I can understand the examples.
This books is not a pattern catalog. Only the fundamental patterns are presented.
An excellent place to start learning about design patterns.
Book Review: Love it or Hate it and I hate it
Summary: 1 Stars
I just felt the strong urge to write a review. I usually don't write reviews. My opinion about this book is either you will love it a lot or hate it to the core. I hated it. Their writing style is not conventional. So please go to a book store and read a few pages and see if you like this style of writing. Even though when I first read, I thought I liked it, I realized I don't like this style of writing for a technical bookBook Review: Excellent learning style
Summary: 4 Stars
I think the book is great for learning what it was written to teach. I found it easy to read and stay in its pages for a longer period of time. If you've read computer related books you know what I'm talking about. I would definitely recommend this book if you ware getting into design patterns and want to get a rock solid foundation. One consideration though, you really need to know something about Java or C#. If you are completely unfamiliar with OOP languages altogether, you might want to tackle that subject before this one. Book Review: Theory AND Practicality!
Summary: 5 Stars
I flipped through this book to get a feel for how it will differ from other design patterns works. I immediately realized that the authors are taking a very accessible approach to teaching readers about patterns.
On an individual basis, the text is very accessible. It is written in an easy-to-read style. Instead of avoiding technical jargon, the text improves understanding and retention by coupling technical terms with humorous anecdotes and quips. This approach gives the feeling that design patterns are within reach (and they are) of even readers new to the concepts. It also serves as a built-in mnemonic tool.
The structure of pattern delivery seems to be intentional as well. In the rare case where a pattern is referenced without yet being described, it is almost always in the context of how the current pattern will prove useful in other scenarios. As such, the reader never feels lost. In fact, quite the opposite affect occurs. Readers should feel like they are following a logical approach to learning patterns.
Although it may seem, from the above comments, that the book is elementary, I assure you that even seasoned developers will find the book useful. Even if you know the material extremely well, you may find that the authors' descriptions are useful when teaching junior developers on your teams.
The book layout, like the rest of the book, is broad-reaching. Obviously, it is an instructional work. More than that, however, the book is also a teaching tool. It can easily be adapted by educators and trainers for classroom-style and one-on-one teaching. The book also serves as a workbook. There are exercises and notes pages throughout each chapter. Finally, the book serves me as a reference work as well. If I remember the gist of a pattern but not the specifics, it is easy to find examples and canonical references.
I absolutely love this style. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn patterns, refresh their existing patterns knowledge, or just take in a proverbial "breath of fresh air" to the stiff writing style of other books covering complex topics. I also feel that any of the "Head First" books are worth consideration. They provide accessible formats that promote learning.
I have to close this review by concurring with the authors in their note to the "Gang of Four". Seriously, when are we going to see another book? :)
Book Review: A good choice
Summary: 4 Stars
If you are working, if you don't have too much time to invert in learning, or if you feel that leraning something new is very difficult for you, then this book may help you. When i started reading it, the book traped me, and all that stuff (that the book does) to keep your atention focused works.
The book says on the first pages that there will be repeated things, with the purpose of helping you to GET the concepts, and not forGET them later. Besides that trick, there are other aids and ideas to achieve that (text written very near -or inside- images, exercises and more).