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Head First Design Patterns (A Brain Friendly Guide) Paperback – 1 Nov. 2004

by Eric Freeman (Author), Elisabeth Freeman (Author), Kathy Sierra (Author),
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,777 ratings
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There is a newer edition of this item:

Head First Design Patterns, 2E: Building Extensible and Maintainable Object-Oriented Software
Head First Design Patterns, 2E: Building Extensible and Maintainable Object-Oriented Software
£39.00
(730)
Only 12 left in stock.
Provides design patterns to help with software development using the Java programming language.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0596007124
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0596007126
  3. Publisher
    O′Reilly
  4. Publication date
    1 Nov. 2004
  5. Part of series
    Head First
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    20.32 x 3.56 x 23.5 cm
  8. Print length
    638 pages
  9. See all details
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From the Publisher

What you’ll find in Head First Design Patterns, 2014

s

The core design principles and design patterns - everything you need to take your programming skills to the next level.

S

The same great visual explanations and brain-friendly learning style you’re used to from Head First, with exercises and challenges so the design patterns really sink in.

S

Updated code! The code for all the examples and exercises now compiles and runs with Java 8.

Product description

Review

An intelligent and well thought-out discussion of Java design patterns and interesting dicussion of object-orientated design. -- Visual Systems Journal, April 2005

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

About the Author

Kathy Sierra has been a master Java trainer for Sun Microsystems, teaching Sun's instructors how to teach the latest Java technologies. She is the founder of one of the largest java community websites in the world, javaranch.com. She is also a key member of the development team for the Sun Certified programmer exam and has developed dozens of applications to demonstrate Java technology. Bert Bates is a 20-year software developer, a Java instructor, and a co-developer of Sun's upcoming EJB exam (Sun Certified Business Component Developer). His background features a long stint in artificial intelligence, with clients like the Weather Channel, A&E Network, Rockwell, and Timken.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ O′Reilly (1 Nov. 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 638 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0596007124
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0596007126
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 20.32 x 3.56 x 23.5 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,777 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Elisabeth Freeman

    Elisabeth Freeman

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    Elisabeth Robson is currently co-founder of Wickedly Smart (wickedlysmart.com) where she is creating new brain-friendly learning products.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Eric Freeman

    Eric Freeman

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Eric is described by Head First series co-creator Kathy Sierra as “one of those rare individuals fluent in the language, practice, and culture of multiple domains from hipster hacker, corporate VP, engineer, think tank.” Professionally, Eric recently ended nearly a decade as a media company executive—having held the position of CTO of Disney Online at The Walt Disney Company. Eric is now devoting his time to WickedlySmart, a startup he co-created with Elisabeth Robson.

    By training, Eric is a computer scientist, having studied with industry luminary David Gelernter during his Ph.D. work at Yale University. His dissertation is credited as the seminal work in alternatives to the desktop metaphor, and also as the first implementation of activity streams, a concept he and Dr. Gelernter developed.

    In his spare time, Eric is deeply involved with music; you’ll find Eric’s latest project, a collaboration with ambient music pioneer Steve Roach, available on the iPhone app store under the name Immersion Station.

    Eric lives with his wife and young daughter on Bainbridge Island. His daughter is a frequent vistor to Eric’s studio, where she loves to turn the knobs of his synths and audio effects. Eric’s also passionate about kids education and nutrition, and looking for ways to improve them.

    See more on the author's page
  3. Bert Bates

    Bert Bates

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    Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
1,777 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book useful for learning design patterns. They find the examples instructive and fun, serving as excellent introductions that get them up to speed quickly. The book is easy to read and understand with illustrations and examples. Readers appreciate the humor and sense of humor that keeps them interested. Opinions differ on the narrative style - some find it straightforward and effective, while others consider it quirky and wacky.

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Design patternsReadabilityHumorHumourNarrative style
67 customers mention ‘Design patterns’61 positive6 negative

Customers find the book helpful for understanding design patterns. They find the examples instructive and fun, serving as excellent introductions and getting them up to speed quickly. The examples follow a learning person's logic and answer questions that pop up. The book makes them understand the topic in hand deeply with solid explanations.

"...It envolves you from its beginning and keep you reading about design patterns, object oriented principles, rubber ducks, MVC, ... until the end of..." Read more

"...Although the description of the pattern was good, it wasn't clear enough how to implement it in other OO languages, and I ended up skimming most of..." Read more

"...however, if you want to learn how to design and write more robust, elegant and maintainable code, read this book now!..." Read more

"...This gives you a head start and very good milage in all the important design patterns before you dive in to more detailed GoF patterns." Read more

41 customers mention ‘Readability’38 positive3 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and understand. They appreciate the clear, concise writing style with illustrations and examples. The information is presented in simple English, making it easy to digest. Readers also mention that the narrative writing is helpful and inspiring.

"A very well written book for people trying to get their head around design patterns...." Read more

"...Funny, straight forward, clever......" Read more

"...Once read and understood, Second and third readings are very easy to read and revise...." Read more

"...but it's such an easy read it really doesn't matter - and there's even a fair bit of humour in..." Read more

12 customers mention ‘Humor’12 positive0 negative

Customers enjoy the book's humor. They find it amusing and easy to read, with its own sense of humor. The book keeps them interested and makes dry subjects easier to understand.

"...Very easy to read and has its own sense of humour. Highly recommended!" Read more

"...Funny, straight forward, clever......" Read more

"...were clear, and the samples realistic enough to be useful, without being boring...." Read more

"I like the Head First books. They make dry subjects easier to get into and can be read through quickly...." Read more

6 customers mention ‘Humour’6 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's humour engaging and lighthearted. They say it provides a rewarding and inspiring learning experience. The balance between being technical and not being too serious is appreciated by readers.

"...It envolves you from its beginning and keep you reading about design patterns, object oriented principles, rubber ducks, MVC, ... until the end of..." Read more

"...This book, with its focus on teaching and learning makes the whole experience self-rewarding...." Read more

"...using a mixture of graphics, text, interactions, and some humour is a very pleasing one - and it works...." Read more

"...It's much more readable and provides a light-hearted but nonetheless technically adept introduction, without getting too bogged down in UML diagrams." Read more

7 customers mention ‘Narrative style’3 positive4 negative

Customers have different views on the narrative style. Some find the underlying storyline helpful and appreciate the head-first approach that explains common development patterns. Others mention some cheesy jokes and wacky examples. The teaching style is described as quirky but effective.

"...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..." Read more

"...The book has an underlying storyline which also acts to add bloat, but for some readers this could act as intended; allowing them to 'take more..." Read more

"I like it but I am not convinced about the teaching style which is a bit gimmicky...." Read more

"...It explains most common and important development patterns. You will be asked about these patterns in interviews and in your daily job...." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • Maksym
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 August 2024
    Verified Purchase
    A very well written book for people trying to get their head around design patterns. The style of the book makes you understand the problems and solutions to these problems in the way of design patterns. Very easy to read and has its own sense of humour.
    Highly recommended!
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  • Ojs
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliantcaba
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 March 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Great, faboulous, brilliant!

    This book was exactly what I was looking for.

    It envolves you from its beginning and keep you reading about design patterns, object oriented principles, rubber ducks, MVC, ... until the end of the book.

    An excellent way to learn GoF's design patterns, the quality of the content keeps on really high until the last page, something very difficult in these kind of books. Funny, straight forward, clever...

    I've read the original Design Patterns book by Erich Gamma, and honestly, it was very difficult for me to understand it. Now, after getting a clear vision about design patterns thanks to Head First Design Patterns, I'm going to give it a go again..

    Looking forward to reading another book from Head First series.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Yossu
    4.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant - but why is it so Java-oriented?
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 November 2010
    Verified Purchase
    Having read several books on design patterns before, and ending up no wiser than before, this book was a refreshing change. Even without the wacky style (which I liked a lot), the explanations were clear, and the samples realistic enough to be useful, without being boring.

    So my overall opinion of this book is that it's easily the best design patterns book around, and essential reading for anyone who wants to do Grown Up Programming.

    Having said that, I have a very serious complaint about this book, which is why I gave it four stars not five.

    Design patterns are language agnostic, so you can use them equally well in any true OO language. Given that Java is (probably) the most widely-used OO language around today, it made sense to give the samples in Java. I don't think anyone could complain about that.

    However, why oh why did the author have to make it SO Java-oriented? A lot of the book kept referring to the JVM, and using the Java console and so on. This was unnecessary and annoying to us non-Java programmers. The chapter on the Iterator pattern made it even worse by using a Java-specific feature, without any real explanation of how to do it in other languages.

    Even this might not have knocked it off the five-star rating, had it not been for the chapter on the Proxy pattern, which was basically useless to non-Java programmers, as instead of showing how to implement it in a neutral way, they used a Java-specific one, which doesn't help the rest of us. Although the description of the pattern was good, it wasn't clear enough how to implement it in other OO languages, and I ended up skimming most of the chapter.

    So, the book was brilliant, but if you aren't a Java programmer, be prepared for some disappointing bits. The annoying thing is that it would have been SO easy to have written the book to apply to any OO language, and just add some notes as to how specific languages have extra features that can help.

    So well done guys, but how about a revised version of the book that appeals to everyone? Why do you assume that only Java people are interested?
    14 people found this helpful
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  • Nick
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best software book I've bought
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 August 2006
    Verified Purchase
    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.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • MAV
    5.0 out of 5 stars Read this as your first book for Software Design Patterns.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 December 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a must have book for any beginner or mid level software engineer. This book makes complex topic of design pattern very easy. 10 on 10 for this book for innovative way of story telling and pictorial depiction of design pattern. Once read and understood, Second and third readings are very easy to read and revise. I recommend this book highly if you are preparing for job interviews. Although JAVA is used in all the code examples these patterns are equally applicable to all mainstream programming languages, such as C++, C# etc.
    If you are serious design patterns, I would still recommend reading this book before you jump on to GoF book. This gives you a head start and very good milage in all the important design patterns before you dive in to more detailed GoF patterns.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • B. Wooding
    5.0 out of 5 stars Yes, it's "Design Patterns For Dummies" - but in a good way!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 February 2010
    Verified Purchase
    If you're an OO programming beginner, this book is the perfect introduction to the main design patterns. It steps you through each one in such a clear way, you'll blast through it in no time. There's an awful lot of repetition and a crazy amount of whitespace (the book could have easily covered all of its content in less than half the number of pages), but it's such an easy read it really doesn't matter - and there's even a fair bit of humour in there to keep things entertaining.

    Read this, then get the "proper" one by Gamma et al.
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  • D. Deasy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 March 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I overheard a colleague talking about an example from this book and convinced me to give it a go.
    I had read and kept a copy of the original Gang of Four Design Patterns book and I really liked the idea of design patterns, but the GoF book is a bit dated and very dry and academic. This book is much more readable and it uses very memorable examples. And the use of Java throughout suited me just fine.

    I am keeping my copy. It is covered in highlighter and it is very useful when I want to review and use one of the basic design patterns.
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  • thebigcheese
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on 18 May 2024
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    thebigcheese
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality
    Reviewed in the Netherlands on 18 May 2024
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  • Kindle Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Must read for a easy, fun understanding of design patterns
    Reviewed in India on 8 March 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Great book for beginners. It explains the concepts in a fun, interesting and interactive manner. Would recommy this book to anyone willing to learn design patterns
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  • Euber
    5.0 out of 5 stars Muito bom
    Reviewed in Brazil on 9 August 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Excelente livro, boa didática e já utiliza o Java 8
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  • KenE
    5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to read
    Reviewed in Canada on 15 June 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Easy to read, very insightful. Not only to wrap your head around the basics, but to return to over and over again. I am a php/javascript programmer, and although the examples were all in Java, this book was so clear that the patterns can easily be translated across languages.
    Very good read, and excellent reference for the future.
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  • Mellgood
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best buy per chi ha già una conoscenza base di java e vuole passare ad un livello superiore
    Reviewed in Italy on 24 November 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Ho acquistato diversi libri sui design pattern e sono finiti tutti sullo scaffale, prima di arrivare alla conclusione. Il motivo è semplice: erano tutti noiosi.
    Questo libro invece scherza, ironizza, ti parla, ti chiede pareri ma senza mai inerrogarti... insomma ti insegna le cose senza farti ccorgere che lo sta facendo!
    Davvero positiva l'esperienza di questo libro, che ha lasciato in me un mondo di sensazioni e di sapere, a costo mentale davvero minimo.

    Il libro parte da concetti molto basilari di programmazione e progettazione software, li combina tra loro e offre un continum narrativo che porta il lettore a comprendere realmene i concetti che sono alla base dei pattern stessi, fornendo gli strumenti necessari a capire dove sia meglio fare ricorso ad essi all'interno di un progetto. Al termine della lettura non si sapranno di certo a memoria tutti i pattern, ma sicuramente sarà rimasto impresso nel lettore quale strategia utilizzare di volta in volta per raggiungere lo scopo di adattare il software al cambiamento.
    Davvero consigliato
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