Head First Java Review | O'Reilly Media

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Book:		Head First Java
Subject:		Head First Java Review
Date:		2003-06-07 22:15:33
From:		Dale Craig

Rating: I have been teaching college level programming classes since 1979 including FORTRAN IV, Pascal, ADA, C, C++, COBOL, RGP, BASIC (on a teletype), Visual Basic, Java, and C#. Students, like the languages, have changed while most programming textbooks have not. This book, Head First Java, looks promising as a textbook for first semester Java programming. Some of the good points are: It covers topics in a well-paced and entertaining manner. The book is "cute", but never talks down to the student. There is not a lot of code to type and students will get quick feed-back on what they create. Objects are covered early but in a simple enough manner so that students can understand the topic. There are some very clever end-of-chapter exercises and projects that provide additional support. I have not taught a class with this book, but will do so next semester. The authors might want to think about putting together some teaching materials to support this book if it becomes popular as a programming textbook.