Head First Java: Your Brain on Java - A Learner's Guide (Paperback)

by Bert Bates (Author), Kathy Sierra (Author)
Key Phrases: inner object, code kitchen, bass drum, Java Web Start, Dot Corns, Dot Com (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
It has taken four years, but with Head First Java the introductory Java book category has finally come of age. This is an excellent book, far more capable than any of the scores of Java-for-novices books that have come before it. Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates deserve rich kudos--and big sales--for developing this book's new way of teaching the Java programming language, because any reader with even a little bit of discipline will come away with true understanding of how the language works. Perhaps best of all, this is no protracted "Hello, World" introductory guide. Readers get substantial exposure to object-oriented design and implementation, serialization, neatwork programming, threads, and Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

Key to the authors' teaching style are carefully designed graphics. Rather than explain class inheritance (to cite one example) primarily with text, the authors use a series of tree diagrams that clarify the mechanism far more succinctly. The diagrams are carefully annotated with arrows and notes. Also characteristic of the unique teaching strategy is heavy reliance on exercises, in which the reader is asked to complete partial classes, write whole new code segments and do design work. Though there's little discussion of why the exercises' correct answers are what they are, it's clear that the practice work was carefully designed to reinforce the lesson at hand. If you've waited this long to give Java a try, this book is a great choice. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Java programming language for people with no Java experience, and even people with no programming experience at all. Key concepts read like a list of Java features: Object oriented design, variable type and scope, object properties and methods, inheritance and polymorphism, exceptions, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), network connectivity, Java archives (JAR files), and Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

Review
"I can heartily recommend it ... It takes a lot of effort to produce a book this good and it's going to be difficult to sustain." - Computer Shopper, October 2003 "In general the book works well. I found it interesting in the way that it presented Java in a not overtly technical manner; the prose was readable and generally well structured. For example the coverage of object references I thought was well done remaining accurate while being clear to a non-expert reader." - James Robert, CVu, April 2004

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 650 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 1st edition (May 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596004656
• ISBN-13: 978-8173666650
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (241 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #313,448 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #49 in

  Books > Computers & Internet > Programming > Java > Beginner's Guides

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

327 of 340 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A different kind of Java book for beginners and experts, July 7, 2003

By	Juntao Yuan (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I first saw "Head First Java", it reminds me of the colorful "conversational English" books I had when I started to learn English years ago. The casual, humorous books have turned out effective for English language learning. Is that style good for the Java language learners as well? Is this type of books for beginners only?

With those questions in mind, I started to read "Head First Java". Since I consider myself a Java expert (I wrote a Java book myself, after all), I decided that I would NOT read the book from cover to cover. Instead, I would randomly flip through the book for the humorous stories and photos. I figured that if I cannot learn much new about Java from a "beginner" book, I can at least have some fun.

Geez, I was wrong. I was ADDICTED to the book's short stories, annotated code snippets, mock interviews, puzzle games and brain exercises. They are not only entertaining but also informative. It may be a beginner's book but the stuff they cover are definitely deep enough for expert readers as well (e.g. multiple inheritance, polymorphism, inner classes, threads, RMI, ... just to name a few). The best of all is that I can actually remember the things I learned from the book because I associate them with the stories and pictures. I guess it has something to do with the fact that both sides of my brain are active when reading this book: The right side is for the stories and the left side is for the technical and logic stuff.

There are other great Java books (e.g. "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel) in the market. But they are all very serious and require the readers to spend hours to read entire chapters. The great thing about "Head First Java" is that the bite-size code snippets and stories allow me to learn something about Java in my 5-10 minutes spare time, one piece a time.

The overall writing style is casual and enlightened. The presentation style (fonts and placements of graphical elements) fits the content very well. The book covers a wide variety of Java topics including: basic code structure and language syntax, OOP concepts, math and numbers, exception handling, the Swing GUI library, serialization, network, and distributed computing.

Of course, the casual style is not for everyone. I know people who love the re-assuring feeling from "serious" books. But I can re-assure you that Kathy and Bert are authoritative figures in the Java training community. The content is absolutely first class. I highly recommend "Head First Java" for both Java beginners and expert readers.

115 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Amazing Achievment, November 14, 2003

By	Thomas Paul (Plainview, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Who do Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates think they are? Don't they know that learning a programming language is supposed to be hard? Don't they know that it is supposed to involve suffering? Apparently not, as they have written a complete introduction to Java that is fun to read and easy to understand. If we don't stamp this out now, students will start expecting their teachers to be entertaining!

The book is an excellent introduction to Java. It covers all the typical topics of a basic introductory text and some extra including serialization, networking, and distributed computing. Each topic is covered in a fun way with important information highlighted. The authors use stories, fake interviews, pictures, and assorted other clever techniques to catch your imagination and make the topics memorable. There are plenty of exercises (with answers) to help you check to be sure you understood each chapter. And there are plenty of fun programs to code including a cool music machine instead of the typical "reverse a String" exercises.

If you are looking for a traditional text then this book is definitely not for you. Instructors should think carefully whether this book fits in with their style of teaching. This book is not for everyone but if you want to learn Java and object oriented programming in fun and unique way then this is the book you want. Now I just have to figure out how to keep it away from my students.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My all-time favorite tutorial on Java (or anything else), January 7, 2004

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In all my years of reading technical books trying to learn new skills, the closest I have ever come to a book like this was when I first read a Dummies book. I liked it because it presented information in a humorous fashion that made things easy to comprehend. This style takes that type of learning to a whole new level. Using a combination of writing style, graphics, illustrations, and sample code, they draw you into each subject in such a way that you can't help but learn and understand.

This book starts with the basics of Java and progresses clear through to RMI and JINI. Granted, those last subjects are just touched on, but at least you're exposed to them. Even after all the Java tutorial manuals I've read, I still got a lot out of this book. For instance, I always was sort of fuzzy on the event listener logic. The Head First explanation was one of the most understandable (and entertaining) treatments of it that I've ever read. Likewise, inner classes were always confusing to me. The coverage of that subject here makes it sound so simple.

And why do you need this if you're a Notes/Domino developer? If you've never worked with Java, you're probably intimidated by the subject and afraid to get started. Don't be... This is the most fun you'll ever have learning a new skill. While it doesn't talk specifically about how to code a Java agent in a Notes application, you'll learn the concepts and the syntax you'll need to be able to do that. Once you have those skills in place, you can move on to a book specific to using Java in a Notes environment (such as Domino Development With Java by Tony Patton). The book doesn't assume you're a programming guru to get started. You will learn a lot from this material, and it's something you need to do in order to continue to stay relevant in the IBM/Lotus world.

Conclusion
If you're a C/C++ guru approaching Java, this book may not be for you. You'll already know much of the material from your exposure to those languages. But if you're a mere mortal like the rest of us, you need to buy this book if you're looking to learn Java. I am SO hoping that the Head First approach to tech writing becomes a series. If it does, I'm ruined for life in what I will expect from a book. This is really great stuff!