Comments about oreilly Head First Software Development:

Great, I used this book for a lecture and it worked out awesome. The only problem I had is I found it difficult to quickly look for certain marks I wanted to use.

Comments about oreilly Head First Software Development:

I have used this book constantly to assist with web development at the office and home. I have used it to get a better understanding of developing my servlets in an organized and professional manner. I also have used this book to better understand how to make my projects more accessible for web developers and inexperienced developers. Additionally I have used this book in preparation for the SCWCD exam, and it is one of the best resources you can have to master this exam.

There are several very good things about this book. First, it's a Head First book, written by the Head First creators. They know what's important for the exam, they know the material, and they know how to keep the reader engaged. Also, it's well structured, so you can read through it and get a solid understanding of the material. It's also segmented well enough that it makes for an invaluable reference. Third, it's just a fun read. If you don't handle overly technical books, this book has enough personality to keep the reader going.

I thought a few shortcomings were in the Typos and Final Test Exam inaccuracies. Every book has them, and the O'Reilly errata pages helped bring me back whenever the book confused me, but it did make the final practice exam cumbersome.

Comments about oreilly Head First Software Development:

This book is presented in the familiar style of other Head First titles,

which use a variety of techniques, exercises, and tests to appeal to a

wide audience and reinforce the learning experience. While the book is

intended for relatively new developers who are familiar with Object

Oriented development (specifically Java, since the technical aspects of

the book are geared towards it).

I do appreciate that the style lets me do a bit of picking and choosing

for what I may want to learn, essentially passing over something that

doesn't work for me where I might already know or understand the topic.

Certainly, working through all of the material, where I am unfamiliar with

it or need to learn it, is the best course.

I like that there is an emphasis on some relatively standard

methodologies, from design requirements through to testing and further

development. What is interesting to me is how there are so many

methodologies out there that are actually very similar. I think what's

important is to be able to adapt to the specific environment you are in. I

am very happy to be doing most of my development in an environment that

allows me to do a lot of prototyping, which is mildly different from the

iterative approach advocated in the book.

I found some of the tools interesting - the "planning poker" game is a

somewhat innovating way to estimate how long various tasks will take.

Obviously, that means a team approach to estimating, compared to an old

school method I recall whereby the team lead would make a best guess

based on experience, then double it, and double it again. The object was

simply to overcome the developer's optimism while taking into account all

the things that could cut into the team's productivity.

Because I'm not much into Java, I found some of the tools to be less than

beneficial. However, it should be noted that the principles are still

important, and learnable, even if you need to use different tools because

of your environment. Also note that to cover all the bases would have

required a volume many times the current ~450.

I would also state that "Object Oriented" isn't necessarily the best way

to go. I still do a lot of procedural programming, and even blended

procedural with object oriented. Use the right tool for the job.

All in all, a pleasure to read, with (for me) lots of review and plenty of

new takes on old techniques. Recommended.

http://elug.ca/reviews/head_first_software_development.shtml (http://elug.ca/reviews/head_first_software_development.shtml)

Comments about oreilly Head First Software Development:

I've been eyeballing the Head First books for a while, specifically the Java and Object-Oriented Analysis & Design. I don't program in Java and I think I understand OOP very well. Because of this, this Head First structure look to offer a bit less structure - so a good "read as you can" book.

I got this title in a raffle. I'm glad I did. It whetted my appetite for more Head First. Not so much for the content (Which I will review further down) but because it's almost like reading a comic book. Easy, entertaining and something my busy dizzy mind could readily grasp in small chunks. I will probably get another Head First book in the future. Probably more than one.

As for the content of this book, it was well laid out and for someone new to the concepts of formal software design, it was nice to see all the little pieces come together. I did have a hard time with the Java specific environment, but I guess it would be much larger if they covered other systems. The steps were clear, some of them a smidge corny, but most of them logical.

After having read this, I was inspired to put it to use. That's when it hit me. I can't see this working unless the entire development group reads the book - or they were all newbies.

I'm an idealist, so I'll believe this kinda of software development exists. It has to exist. And someday I'll work in a place where it does.

Comments about oreilly Head First Software Development:

very very good!

it's very useful for me.