Head First Java

Amazon.com
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

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Head First Java is a beginning Java primer like you￯﾿ﾽve never seen before (and believe us, we￯﾿ﾽve seen plenty). This book makes Java fun. No, that doesn￯﾿ﾽt do it justice. Imagine learning Java from Robin Williams. (The comedian, we mean. If you can imagine him as a truly great Java programmer.)

Synapses firing, new ideas, new connections, attitude all over the place: That￯﾿ﾽs Head First Java. (Where else can you watch Java objects expose their inner secrets on Java Tabloid TV? Or learn why Lucy really keeps her variables private?)

Hilarious captioned photos. Text that￯﾿ﾽs actually funny (and we don￯﾿ﾽt mean the kind of ￯﾿ﾽalleged￯﾿ﾽ funny you￯﾿ﾽve seen in computer books before -- the kind that makes you cringe). Games. Puzzles. Mysteries. ￯﾿ﾽBe the compiler￯﾿ﾽ exercises. Great analogies.

And all these goodies weren￯﾿ﾽt bolted on at the end to enliven a deadly narrative or fit a format. They￯﾿ﾽre here to make the ideas come alive. And it works.

If you prefer to be lectured, if you prefer a rigid format where you know exactly what to expect every time you turn the page￯﾿ﾽlook elsewhere. Head First Java has a surprise waiting on pretty much every spread. Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, and the gang at O￯﾿ﾽReilly figure that people learn best when they￯﾿ﾽre fully engaged. When they￯﾿ﾽre being tickled. When they￯﾿ﾽre on the floor laughing. (And the latest research in cognitive science, neurobiology, and educational psychology backs them up.)

In Chapter 1, you￯﾿ﾽll build your first app -- not Hello World, but your own personal Phrase-O-Matic. Then, it￯﾿ﾽs straight outta main() -- or, as the authors put it, ￯﾿ﾽWe￯﾿ﾽre leaving this dusty old procedural town for good.￯﾿ﾽ You￯﾿ﾽll learn why objects are better through an imaginary competition between Larry, the procedural programmer and Brad, the OO guy (winner gets the cool Aeron chair).

Next, it￯﾿ﾽs on to primitive and reference variables. Think of ￯﾿ﾽem as cups. Think of 64 and Double 64 primitives as Starbucks Grande cups. Java cares about type and won￯﾿ﾽt let you put a Giraffe into a Rabbit variable: ￯﾿ﾽWhat happens when someone tries to ask the so-called Rabbit to hop()? You￯﾿ﾽll get to know life -- and death -- on the garbage collectible heap. There￯﾿ﾽs a full chapter on object behavior and on encapsulation (￯﾿ﾽdo it or risk humiliation and ridicule￯﾿ﾽ).

One big idea at a time, you make it through every Java fundamental. Solving problems with the Java Library APIs. Inheritance. Object-oriented design. Serious polymorphism, and interfaces: ￯﾿ﾽthe caffeine in Java.￯﾿ﾽ Constructors. Memory management. Garbage collection. Java math (static methods and variables, math methods, wrappers, and number formatting). Exception handling. GUIs, event handling, layout managers, and Swing components. Object serialization. File I/O. Networking and threads. Even getting your code ready for release (e.g., code organization, packages, executable JARs, and Java Web Start (which launches your application for the first time as a web browser and then runs it on a stand-alone basis).

Throughout Head First Java, you￯﾿ﾽll also find answers to the ￯﾿ﾽdumb questions￯﾿ﾽ other books don￯﾿ﾽt deign to answer. Oh, and plenty of ￯﾿ﾽReady-bake code.￯﾿ﾽ You￯﾿ﾽll never forget this Java book -- or what you learn from it. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

We know what you're thinking -- why is there a duck in the memory management section? Can a girl in a bathtub illustrate the fine points of polymorphism? Is this for real? Prepare to have your mind opened! Head First Java combines puzzles, strong visuals, mysteries, and soul-searching interviews with famous Java objects to engage you in many different ways. It's fast, it's fun, and it's effective. The more different ways you process the material, the more you'll remember, and the better you'll be able to put what you learn to use. Despite its playful appearance, Head First Java is serious stuff -- a complete introduction to object-oriented (OO) programming and Java. You'll learn everything from fundamentals to advanced topics, including threads, network sockets, and distributed programming with RMI. More importantly, you'll learn how to think like an object-oriented developer. And you won't just be reading and solving puzzles. You'll be writing real Java, and lots of it, including the "sink a dot com" game, a trivia quiz, a networked musical chat system, and a universal service browser. If you want to be bored, go buy some other book. Please. (We'd tell you which book, but we'd probably be sued.) But if you want to learn Java, get a high-paying job (right), and improve your social life at the same time, you need Head First Java.

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