Customer Reviews

Head First Programming: A Learner's Guide to Programming Using the Python Language

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I like the Head First Books. I find them enjoyable and a lot of fun to work through. So I was looking forward to starting a hobby in programming by working through this book. Unfortunately I found this book to be both frustrating and confusing in places rather then enjoyable and rewarding.

The goal of the book is to use the Head First method of learning to teach the reader programming concepts using Python 3. HF Programming is very good in explaining programming concepts, however personally I had problems with some of the exercises it gives the reader. The reason I had problems with some of the exercises was I felt that the authors didn't explain how Python 3 worked in sufficient detail.

There are two main types of exercises in HF Programming, code completion and writing/modifying a program from scratch. In the code completion exercises the authors would present the reader with a program that was missing code segments. They would supply the code segments needed to complete the program at the bottom of the page. The reader had to pick the correct code segment and insert it into the missing line. The writing/modifying a program from scratch exercises would present the reader with a problem and then ask the reader to write/modify a Python 3 program to solve the problem.

I had no problem with the code completion exercises. Using the concepts taught in the book, and examining the code carefully, I was able to work though these exercises, just fine. However most of the time I found that I didn't have enough knowledge of how Python 3 worked to be able to complete the writing/modifying a program from scratch exercises. I found that I either had to do some research via Google, or look at the solution of the exercises to understand how to write the required program.

To be fair, researching via Google, and carefully going through the provided solution code, did teach me a lot. But personally I would have preferred to have had the required knowledge presented in the book before the exercises in numerous simple and clear example programs, but that's just me. Other readers may not have this problem.

To conclude, this is a good book that does meet it's objective in teaching programming concepts. However I found that it can be confusing and frustrating to work through in places.

This book teaches general programming concepts to people who have used a computer but never programmed before using Python 3 and the IDLE IDE. Python was used because it has a pseudocode look to it - the new programmer doesn't have too many obscure things to remember. If you are going to use Python, you should teach version 3 since not even Python 2 print statements work in Python 3. If you know you are going to be using Python, one of the main drawbacks of this book is that it does not teach you to program in Python "the Python way". However, the authors believe, probably correctly, that if you don't even know what a control loop or an exception is, that most of the books on specific languages might be too big a first step for the budding programmer, and they are probably right. The book doesn't get into heavy concepts such as algorithms, automated testing, threads, recursion, and alternative tools, but once you finish that book you can go to more advanced texts and pick those concepts up fairly easily.

If you are not familiar with the Head First approach in textbooks, it may seem strange at first. The book uses lots of cartoons and odd looking pictures of people that appear to be from 50's issues of Life Magazine so that you'll remember things. There are Q&A sessions, concrete projects and exercises, and even crossword puzzles. Be sure to finish every exercise or the information won't "get into your head" the way the information has been designed to do so. I'd say because this series of books is so good at holding your interest, it would be an especially good choice for a high school student who is just learning to program. Highly recommended for the novice programmer.

This tutorial in programming for the adult (high-school and beyond) beginner is outstanding, probably the best volume of its kind. But, determining whether this book is for you and getting the most out of it requires understanding what it successfully sets out to accomplish. It is a careful guide-yourself tutorial in programming concepts and practice for the mature (but-not-humorless) reader providing scientifically-designed pedagogy to instruct and give practice in modern programming concepts using the Python 3 language. The purpose of this book is to enable an adolescent or adult who has never programmed previously, to accomplish significant coding projects and to provide instruction in modern programming methods. It is not (nor does it claim to be) the most efficient method of learning Python and its idioms for someone who has previous programming practice. In fact it eschews Python style in favor of whatever control structures and statements will be clearest to the novice and that will provide a template which can be followed in other modern languages. Like all of the excellent and carefully taught Head-First series it offers designed multi-sensory instruction in the topic under consideration applying recent discoveries in cognitive science and instructional design to ensure that the reader "gets it" and can carry out the methods s/he has learned in practice. I would highly recommend this book to instruct a beginner in programming on modern methods and practices. It does not pretend to be a general introduction to the Python language, its idioms, libraries and practices. In choosing Python 3 for its well-thought examples it uses the best of this batteries-included language but many of the tools, libraries and graphics and scientific packages that so far are only available for Python 2 cannot be demonstrated to the reader.

To summarize this is an outstanding and comprehensive introduction to programming for the mature reader, but in designing this text for that specific goal it does not pretend to be a general tutorial in Python or other particular methods.

--Ira Laefsky

I like this book so far; it covers the basics, it moves at a good pace, and requires me to review and implement what I've learned.

Heads up:
In chapter 3, the code exercise given simply will not work as is - Twitter changed from Basic Auth to OAuth; the code exercise used to work, but doesn't now. I wasted a few hours trying to make it work before I went looking for help. Anyhow, the book's graphics of how the example code might have worked helped with comprehension; I just read Chapter 3 closely, and kept moving. I gotta admit, I really missed being able to 'code-along' with the book for the last half of the chapter - I missed the kick I was getting out making things 'work.' If you are really keen on making Chapter 3 exercises work, check out the following links - they may help:

[...]

Using an interesting format based on the latest theories on how human learn, I consider Head First Programming to be an excellent introduction to programming fundamentals.

Make no mistake: despite containing a significant amount of information on the Python programming language, this book's main goal is to teach you the basics of computer programming which can be applied across (more or less) all programming languages. In order to teach those principles, the authors give you a good amount of Python in order to give you the tools to put into practice what you've just learned about programming through various exercises spread throughout the book. The exercises themselves are presented meaningfully as, for example, an independent programming contract with a health club to develop a p.o.s. system. This framework really helps to create a sense of accomplishment and also illustrate how what you are learning might be usefully applied in the real world. It is this approach, as opposed to many introductory books to programming which merely teach theory, that makes this book so great.

That being said, the book is not perfect. The solution to several of the exercises necessitates the use of (small bits of) code that hasn't been shown to you before anywhere up to that point, necessitating glancing at the answer for a hint. Also, there's at least one small mistake in the sample code (specifically for the final code exercise) that, while not making the program you're working on wholly inoperable, is frustrating to deal with as your seemingly perfect code keeps throwing up an error message when you attempt to close it. The sample code provided on the book website, however, is free of this error. Ultimately, however, while they were unsolvable except by looking at the answer provided, these small flaws served to force me to think more about what I was doing and I learned more because of them.

From what I've seen and heard of other introductory programming books, Head First Programming stands far above the rest and is definitely where someone with no former programming education should start, regardless of the programming language you'd eventually like to learn.

Like some of the reviewers here, I too bought this for my 11 yo son. The book keeps his interest and the fill-in exercises are good for helping him to think about the ideas behind coding. The graphics are well done and explanations about coding concepts using everyday experiences are worthwhile. I also like the way it takes a simple problem and keeps expanding it by using new structures.

While I realize this is not a textbook, I would have liked to see a few more programming exercises within the text, so that I didn't have to wander all over the Internet to find some. That's why I gave it 4 stars. Fortunately, the open courseware web site from MIT has an intro python course with doable exercises. Google "Codingbat" to find an interactive page that helps practice basic code writing.

Overall, this book is very good for the beginner. It succeeds in making computer programming interesting and meaningful to a different audience than standard computer books.

This is a great introduction to programming. I've tried to learn programming in the past but I usually get distracted and end up moving onto something else :). This book is great for me! The book has a lot of attention grabbing content while simultaneously managing to explain difficult programming concepts clearly. I also enjoy its informal writing style (with light humor that's unlikely to have you laughing out loud, but is occasionally able to put a smirk on your face). So I gave the book 5 stars because:

1. The author doesn't have a dry writing style (like most programming books).
2. There are tons of workable examples to help you learn.
3. There's attention grabbing content that aids in your understanding of the material.
4. Their choice of using Python 3 as a first programming language (better than Basic in my opinion).

I bought this manual to learn the basics of programming necessary for my job. The book was good but the exercise format was a little cheesy for an academic type. Also, I found that much of this material could be learned from pythons online tutorial. Not enough information on image creation or analysis.

Overall, a good buy if you have no programming experience and want to learn the extreme basics of programming and python. Not necessary if you have knowledge of logic and experience with other types of computer modeling (matlab, excel macros, etc.)

I really wanted to like this book. I am currently in chapter 7 but I believe I have gotten far enough to make an educated assessment of this book.

I am a total newbie when it comes to programming. I don't know a method from a function. I still don't after reading this book. At least when to use them. The book takes you through concepts, using python as the example language, that can be applied no matter what direction of programming you decide later on. That's fine. The problem I have is that I never felt confident applying the concepts to the example programs you are expected to complete at throughout the chapters. I kept telling myself I will catch on I will finally get it. But it's just not happening. It seems like such a far stretch to apply what you have learned to the problems presented.

This is the kind of situation that can really destroy a newbie's confidence with learning a subject. maybe their are much smarter learners than myself who love this book.

I really tried to tackle the problems without looking at the final answer but I could never get my syntax to look even remotely similar to what the suggested answer was. I know their is no one right answer in programming but my syntax wouldn't even work.

I guess I am still looking for a book that teaches the how's and why's, or how to think like a programmer and why the we decided to tackle the problem in this manner.

The reason why I didn't give a lower rating is because I do love the head first series. The format keeps me interested and wanting to read on. It's not dry like so many other tech books. I just felt that the manner in which the material was taught and the expectations of the reader left a little to be desired.

I am still determined to finish this book because I am more than 3/4's the way done. But I just don't have any confidence that I will be ready for the next step. I would really appreciate someone else's thoughts and suggestions on how to study this book.

I now have three different head first programming books, and I highly recommend them. They don't go as deeply into the languages as other books might, but what they cover, they cover incredibly well. I would use these books as an introduction to any computer language, and if you need a follow up book, you can always choose a more complete book (one that's for someone who doesn't need the basics). This system works pretty well. If you are looking for a follow up to this book, I would choose Head First Java!