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Head First Design Patterns
 
 
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Head First Design Patterns (Paperback)

by Eric Freeman (Author), Elisabeth Freeman (Author), Bert Bates (Author), Kathy Sierra (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
RRP: £34.50
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Head First Design Patterns + Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: A Brain Friendly Guide to OOA&D + Head First Java
Price For All Three: £69.89

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Review
This is a gimmicky book that actually works for once. It is an intelligent and well thought-out discussion of Java design patterns, and if you dont know what a design pattern is then this is an excellent way to find out. It is also an interested discussion of object-oriented design. I found that the authors often anticipated my reaction to their initial explanations and asked the questions that I would have asked had it been a lecture. - Mike James, VSJ, April 2005

Argyro Kazaki, JHUG/Weekend Geeks, October 2007
To conclude, I can definitely say that I consider this book a must-have for all.


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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightenment, 27 Feb 2006
By A Customer
Ok, if you work in a big consultancy your boss/client may not want to see this on your desk.

If you can read the GOF patterns book, then you dont need it. If like me, you know patterns are good, but you quickly lose the will to live when seeing yet another esoteric UML diagram describing a pattern, then get this book.

One important way that this book differs from others I read, is in the examples. These actually look like something you might write and the final example using many of the major patterns was superb.

Oh, and this book is funny.

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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Such an easy read, 15 Aug 2006
By C. CLARK "Web Developer" (Exeter) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is an excellent book. I have read other books on design patterns including Design Patterns Explained by Shalloway Trott and whilst it was a good book it was rather a dry read.

By contrast the Head First book although looking a bit like a Design Patterns for Dummies type book by the cover does indeed cover the same material but in a way which is definetely easy to read and hopefully better to remember.

Where the book excels is in it's examples which clearly show you where you may wish to apply a paticular pattern which is really the key to the whole field. There may be more exhaustive books on the market but this one explains the key patterns and more importantly the principles behind them well.

I'm a C# programmer and the fact it's a Java book doesn't really make a difference. The code samples are almost exactly the same as they would be in C#. On a few occasions it does make reference to paticular Java classes to show examples of patterns in use (e.g. Iterator) but it's easy enough to relate these to their .NET equivalent and even if you can't it doesn't really matter.

All in all the most enjoyable computer book I have ever read and thoroughly recommended if you want to start learning about Design patterns and their use.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Best software book I've bought, 2 Aug 2006
ESSENTIAL reading if you develop or test OO software. You can read this book cover to cover (not something I'd recommend for the GoF book, unless you are actually a computer). Use this book to learn the concepts quickly, then use the excellent GoF book for reference. If you're already familiar with and have used a lot of OO patterns this book is not for you, however, if you want to learn how to design and write more robust, elegant and maintainable code, read this book now! It will even show you why some areas of the Java API have been built the way they are.
Warning: this book contains some cheesy jokes and slightly wacky examples, but you will not be worried about that when you get to the last page and realise that virtually all of it is stored securely in your mind.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very refreshing
I highly recommend this book - it was fun, informative and easy to read. It made a refreshing change from the usual dry texts that we usually get for this sort of subject matter... Read more
Published 1 month ago by AlexC

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent book
Basically it is brilliant the way this book describes each pattern. Even though I am not a Java developer, I was able to understand everything.
Published 2 months ago by Mr. J. D. Zullo

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected
This book has changed dramaticly the way I think and write my code. I would definately recomend this to anyone who's programming into an object oriented language and is not using... Read more
Published 2 months ago by B. M. Albei

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for gaining understanding
I found this book excellent. Being a professional software engineer in the financial industry I always enjoy reading a good text book but this one stands out in that it helped me... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Sven-Ivar Fjeld

2.0 out of 5 stars Overated...
I'm all for new approaches in learning but I find that this book while seeking to de-mystify various OO design concepts actually introduces more confusion. Read more
Published 8 months ago by E. Squire

2.0 out of 5 stars Are people really giving this 5 stars
I am kind of surprised that so many people have given this 5 stars. I don't think this book is very good and here are my reasons. Read more
Published 9 months ago by W. Shareef

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
A very good book. Its been written to be read from cover to cover and its a joy to do so. There are a lot of practice questions and task to do, which means you have to put the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mr. M. Rolf

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for JAVA
I am an ASP.NET developer and write in VB and C#. If you program in any OO language the fact that this book is written in Java will not be a problem in the slightest... Read more
Published 13 months ago by William Duffy

5.0 out of 5 stars A really enjoyable read
This has got to be the most enjoyable programming book I have ever read. Every spare minute I have is spent wanting to see what happens next. Read more
Published 14 months ago by James P. Taylor

5.0 out of 5 stars Very clear
Excellent book - very clear in putting the concepts across. Gradually builds towards understanding. Some repetition - but it works by re-enforcing the concepts. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Mr. Iain Wrench

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