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Head First Design Patterns
Customer Reviews: 8 Average Customer Rating:   Write a Review and tell the world about this title! People who purchase this book frequently purchase: - Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design; Brett McLaughlin, et al, $31.50, 37% Off!
- Head First C#; Andrew Stellman, et al, $31.95, 36% Off!
- Head First Design Patterns Poster; Elisabeth Freeman, et al, $6.95, 30% Off!
- Head First SQL; Lynn Beighley, $28.50, 37% Off!
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You're not alone.
At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same
software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel
(or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned
by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take
advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend
your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex.
Something more fun.
You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to use them, when to
use them, how to use them (and when NOT to use them). But you don't just want
to see how patterns look in a book, you want to know how they look "in
the wild". In their native environment. In other words, in real world applications.
You also want to learn how patterns are used in the Java API, and how to exploit
Java's built-in pattern support in your own code.
You want to learn the real OO design principles and why everything your boss
told you about inheritance might be wrong (and what to do instead). You want
to learn how those principles will help the next time you're up a creek without
a design paddle pattern.
Most importantly, you want to learn the "secret language" of Design
Patterns so that you can hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail
party guests) when he casually mentions his stunningly clever use of Command,
Facade, Proxy, and Factory in between sips of a martini. You'll easily counter
with your deep understanding of why Singleton isn't as simple as it sounds,
how the Factory is so often misunderstood, or on the real relationship between
Decorator, Facade and Adapter.
With Head First Design Patterns, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking
Decorator is something from the "Trading Spaces" show. Best of all,
in a way that won't put you to sleep! We think your time is too important (and
too short) to spend it struggling with academic texts.
If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect--a visually-rich
format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology,
cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First Design Patterns will load
patterns into your brain in a way that sticks. In a way that lets you put them
to work immediately. In a way that makes you better at solving software design
problems, and better at speaking the language of patterns with others on your
team.
Table of Contents
Intro
1 Welcome to Design Patterns: an introduction
2 Keeping your Objects in the know: the Observer Pattern
3 Decorating Objects: the Decorator Pattern
4 Baking with OO goodness: the Factory Pattern
5 One of a Kind Objects: the Singleton Pattern
6 Encapsulating Invocation: the Command Pattern
7 Being Adaptive: the Adapter and Facade Patterns
8 Encapsulating Algorithms: theTemplate Method Pattern
9 Well-managed Collections: the Iterator and Composite Patterns
10 The State of Things: the State Pattern
11 Controlling Object Access: the Proxy Pattern
12 Patterns of Patterns: Compound Patterns
13 Patterns in the Real World: Better Living with Patterns
14 Appendix: Leftover Patterns
Customer Reviews
Customer Reviews: 8 Average Customer Rating: Nov 17, 2006  Jonas Okwara from Maryland
Great Subject hidden in too much fluff
When I saw this book a year or so ago I went straight for it because I reasoned that since Kathy Sierra and Bates are co authors the book must be great. kathy and Bates wrote the java certification book I used which was just wonderful. However as I started reading "Head First Design Patterns" it was obvious that the authors style of writing was becoming the message instead of the technical content of the book for which I bought it. I was therefore struggling with two issues: The authors' style of communicating a technical subject and understanding the subject proper. Consequently i had to return the book to Borders bookshop and proceeded to download James Cooper's java Design Patterns Tutorial. Along the way I also bought "Design patterns Explained". These two gave me what I wanted. My point is that in their bid to "dummy down" what is supposed to be a technical subject the authors of "Head First Design Patterns" paid more attention on their style instead of the subject. In the process they ended up with a fat book which doesn't compliment the immense technical knowledge they all possess.
Aug 17, 2006 sujeet.banerjee@gmail.com
The best book to start with
This was the first book that introduced me the subject, which is usually considered to be subtle, arcane. And looks like this is going to be the last one. I have been designing/writing softwares for long and I suggest this book to all my team members. You don't have to be a geek to grasp the subject anymore; just go through it whenever you find time, while at dinner, before bedtime...and you will get it!
Mar 31, 2006 Will Peck from CT
Great book, very engaging
It is an excellent book on Design Patterns with Java. It uses very unusual style but explains the subject in a very thorough way. Nothing can be better to prepare for GoF Design Patterns book.
It is not as "heavy" as GoF and is much easier to read. The downside is that as a reference GoF had deeper coverage. Overall if you want to know Patterns really well read Head First first and GoF book next.
Nov 8, 2005 Amos from Los Angeles
Terrible book, written for children
I feel like those reviewing this book before were either the authors or work in O'Reilly's marketing department. This book tries to distill what is arguably an extremely complex topic -- Design Patterns -- into a series of cartoons, gimicy metaphors, and language aimed at the average 10 year old. If you want to understand Patterns you'd be much better off purchasing 'Refactoring into Patterns' or 'Design Patterns Explained'.
Feb 11, 2006 Giuseppe Turitto from New York
Great book Higly recomendable
Maybe the Style of the book can be considered to much for beguiners, and not that serious. But after you read the first two chapters, and get hoocked up on the book you can find this book a great piece for your personal library, also the way to introduce the concepts it make it so easy for every body to remember them even after month's that you read it. It's one of the few books that I dont regreat the fact that I buyit.
Jan 24, 2006 Rajeev Gopal from Harrisburg, PA, USA
The best thing happened to me in 2005!!!
I have been hearing lot of hype about Design Patterns and GoF from my peers and architects I worked with. But when I ask them to explain me what they are with example, they shudder. And I consoled myself that I may be dumb! Then I asked James Avery, noted consultant and author, and he directed me towards this book.
Given a choice between a sumptous meal and to read a chapter on this book, I would skip the meal!
Jul 25, 2005 Glenn from St. Charles, MO
One of the few books I read cover-to-cover
I buy several programming books a year and rarely read any of them completely. This is the one book I bought this year that I read cover-to-cover. It may look a bit cartoonish, but the authors' approach to keeping the reader engaged works. I found it an easy read and was able to fully digest the material. Highly recommended.
Mar 13, 2005 A review from Missouri
EXCELLENT BOOK! Buy it right now (trust me)!
EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT BOOK ! If you are a Java or C#/.NET programmer, this is the book to learn design patterns. I just wrote a review of Steven Metsker's book "Design Patterns in C#" - trust me - do not buy that book. Get "Head First Design Patterns"! The examples and explanations are thorough and clear. They take you step-by-step through each pattern, telling you how the pattern is developed. They give you all the code. They provide code that is "bad", and then show you how to refactor it to make it infinitely better using the pattern. They provide examples of when to use the pattern, and when not to use the pattern. Their writing is funny and engaging as well as thought provoking. I cannot say enough good things about this book. Buy it right now.
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