Head First Java, 2nd Edition by Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Head First Java, 2nd Edition
Book Review: Makes concepts so much easier to get
Summary: 5 Stars
Was peculiar at first - irreverent when lined up against similar books. But very easy to get into and you can be confident in knowing that the silliness is helping the information get in, stay in, and with you making your own connections when it's there - it is so much easier to comprehend concepts with this approach.I'm partway through, and several times I've found myself thinking "well, if that's the case, then surely this will happen if you do that...?", and then turning the page I have found that there is an explanation or example of what I was just thinking! Reading the book you get a sense that the authors realise what direction your thoughts will go in when they present ideas - it seems that the book has been written by people who understand how to get your head around something, rather than coders who are presenting what they already know inside out.
The book treads a logical path through Java, which further helps you gain a holistic knowledge of how and why Java does what it does - it builds upon previous concepts rather than being a disjointed reference (it would make a good reference for how java does things, but it's not designed for finding particular code to do a specific job).
Other beginners books I have read state how to do things, leaving out why Java does it a particular way. This book has a very easy way of explaining things, and quite abstract concepts are translated into everyday forms and relationships that you can easily grasp. Thinking about this difference in approach, it makes me glad the other books don't try - I'm sure I would get utterly lost! But I have found that I have learnt much more, with a much greater understanding and a great deal faster by going through this book.
If you've read the demo chapters it may seem kitsch, but after reading it I now don't care - it works! Very recommended (if you hadn't guessed :-). I just don't let people see me with it in public, that's all.
Book Review: Understand why things work as they do
Summary: 5 Stars
Was peculiar at first - irreverent when lined up against similar books. But very easy to get into and you can be confident in knowing that the silliness is helping the information get in, stay in, and with you making your own connections when it's there - it is so much easier to comprehend concepts with this approach.I'm partway through, and several times I've found myself thinking "well, if that's the case, then surely this will happen if you do that...?", and then turning the page I have found that there is an explanation or example of what I was just thinking! Reading the book you get a sense that the authors realise what direction your thoughts will go in when they present ideas - it seems that the book has been written by people who understand how to get your head around something, rather than coders who are presenting what they already know inside out.
The book treads a logical path through Java, which further helps you gain a holistic knowledge of how and why Java does what it does - it builds upon previous concepts rather than being a disjointed reference (it would make a good reference for how java does things, but it's not designed for finding particular code to do a specific job).
Other beginners books I have read state how to do things, leaving out why Java does it a particular way. This book has a very easy way of explaining things, and quite abstract concepts are translated into everyday forms and relationships that you can easily grasp. Thinking about this difference in approach, it makes me glad the other books don't try - I'm sure I would get utterly lost! But I have found that I have learnt much more, with a much greater understanding and a great deal faster by going through this book.
If you've read the demo chapters it may seem kitsch, but after reading it I now don't care - it works! Very recommended (if you hadn't guessed :-). I just don't let people see me with it in public, that's all.
Book Review: Understand why things work as they do
Summary: 5 Stars
Was peculiar at first - irreverent when lined up against similar books. But very easy to get into and you can be confident in knowing that the silliness is helping the information get in, stay in, and with you making your own connections when it's there - it is so much easier to comprehend concepts with this approach.I'm partway through, and several times I've found myself thinking "well, if that's the case, then surely this will happen if you do that...?", and then turning the page I have found that there is an explanation or example of what I was just thinking! Reading the book you get a sense that the authors realise what direction your thoughts will go in when they present ideas - it seems that the book has been written by people who understand how to get your head around something, rather than coders who are presenting what they already know inside out.
The book treads a logical path through Java, which further helps you gain a holistic knowledge of how and why Java does what it does - it builds upon previous concepts rather than being a disjointed reference (it would make a good reference for how java does things, but it's not designed for finding particular code to do a specific job).
Other beginners books I have read state how to do things, leaving out why Java does it a particular way. This book has a very easy way of explaining things, and quite abstract concepts are translated into everyday forms and relationships that you can easily grasp. Thinking about this difference in approach, it makes me glad the other books don't try - I'm sure I would get utterly lost! But I have found that I have learnt much more, with a much greater understanding and a great deal faster by going through this book.
If you've read the demo chapters it may seem kitsch, but after reading it I now don't care - it works! Very recommended (if you hadn't guessed :-). I just don't let people see me with it in public, that's all.
Book Review: A Java Joke Book
Summary: 1 Stars
Despite prefering 'stimulating dinner party to dry, dull, technical lectures' (who wouldn't?), I discovered that this book is not for me. It's hard to see who this book is aimed at. It would certainly freak-out a novice programmer, it does not work as any kind of reference book and experienced programmers would probably prefer something a little less vacuous.Content with added humour is an excellent way to facilitate the learning process but, in this book, the houmour dominates and obliterates the content. Even the comedian who is prepared to marry the book must find the style a touch frivolous after more than 650 pages.
Chapter one starts on page 33! Some texts would be into the index by then! You can almost feel the planet warming as the trees come down!
My advice is head first for a different book!
Book Review: Absolutely superb!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you have just started learnig JAVA or even if you have a few years experience of the language, you need this book!! its as simple as that.The one thing that seperates this book from the countless others is that its readable; and an enjoyable and entertaining read at that. Learning JAVA is hardly exciting and it can be very confusing at times, thankfully though this book eases the process significantly.
All i can say is that there should be more books written in this style it would have been even more valuable to me if i had discovered it when i first began learning JAVA.
You will not regret buying this book:)