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Book:   Head First C#
Subject:   Opinions vary
Date:   2009-07-29 06:06:37
From:   RichardL1969
Response to: Awesome book

Rating:  StarStarStarStarStar

It's be interesting to see which types of people find this book fantastic, and which find it really confusing, as I think assuming those that are confused must illiterate or stupid is arrogant and naive.


People think in different ways. Perhaps it's a left brain/right brain thinker thing. Most people are left brain thinkers, and if something is arranged in a way that suits them perfectly, they'll find it totally logical. A right brained person could be presented with the same information, and just not be able to visualise the solution at all.


Overall I think the book has a terrific approach, and they way it dealt with the basics was excellent. The problem I have with it is in the longer exercises, where I find I'm having to spend so much time trying to figure out what it is that the program, and in particular the methods, are supposed to do and how they should be used, that I've really had enough for the day when it comes to actually writing the code.


I actually felt that I learned more on the shorter exercises, as the longer ones bored me, and I just wanted to get them over and done with. They also often seem contrived to give them a "fun" spin, and I rarely saw a benefit for some of the features in a real world application.


For me, reading about a C# feature, I want to know how to write it and why I'd use it, and have a short punchy exercise demonstrating that I've understood it. I'm less keen on it being part of a long "logic puzzle" of an excercise. Perhaps those who enjoy logic puzzles will think differently.


I would recommend the book though, as most do seem to find it fine, and it's certainly better than terminally dull books I've tried in the past. I just find I need my learning split into two or three hour long sessions in a day, and at times it's hard to achieve that with this book.


My three stars reflects than when it's good it's very good, but I found the frequent need to understand the author's logic for a solution to be really painful at times.