Head First Java

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Overview

Learning a complex new language is no easy task especially when it s an object-oriented computer programming language like Java. You might think the problem is your brain. It seems to have a mind of its own, a mind that doesn't always want to take in the dry, technical stuff you're forced to study.

The fact is your brain craves novelty. It's constantly searching, scanning, waiting for something unusual to happen. After all, that's the way it was built to help you stay alive. It takes all the routine, ordinary, dull stuff and filters it to the background so it won't interfere with your brain's real work—recording things that matter. How does your brain ...

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More About This Book

Overview

Learning a complex new language is no easy task especially when it s an object-oriented computer programming language like Java. You might think the problem is your brain. It seems to have a mind of its own, a mind that doesn't always want to take in the dry, technical stuff you're forced to study.

The fact is your brain craves novelty. It's constantly searching, scanning, waiting for something unusual to happen. After all, that's the way it was built to help you stay alive. It takes all the routine, ordinary, dull stuff and filters it to the background so it won't interfere with your brain's real work—recording things that matter. How does your brain know what matters? It's like the creators of the Head First approach say, suppose you're out for a hike and a tiger jumps in front of you, what happens in your brain? Neurons fire. Emotions crank up. Chemicals surge.

That's how your brain knows.

And that's how your brain will learn Java. Head First Java combines puzzles, strong visuals, mysteries, and soul-searching interviews with famous Java objects to engage you in many different ways. It's fast, it's fun, and it's effective. And, despite its playful appearance, Head First Java is serious stuff: a complete introduction to object-oriented programming and Java. You'll learn everything from the fundamentals to advanced topics, including threads, network sockets, and distributed programming with RMI. And the new. second edition focuses on Java 5.0, the latest version of the Java language and development platform. Because Java 5.0 is a major update to the platform, with deep, code-level changes, even more careful study and implementation is required. So learning the Head First way is more important than ever.

If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect—a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. If you haven't, you're in for a treat. You'll see why people say it's unlike any other Java book you've ever read.

By exploiting how your brain works, Head First Java compresses the time it takes to learn and retain—complex information. Its unique approach not only shows you what you need to know about Java syntax, it teaches you to think like a Java programmer. If you want to be bored, buy some other book. But if you want to understand Java, this book's for you.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Head First Java is a beginning Java primer like you’ve never seen before (and believe us, we’ve seen plenty). This book makes Java fun. No, that doesn’t do it justice. Imagine learning Java from Robin Williams. (The comedian, we mean. If you can imagine him as a truly great Java programmer.)

Synapses firing, new ideas, new connections, attitude all over the place: That’s Head First Java. (Where else can you watch Java objects expose their inner secrets on Java Tabloid TV? Or learn why Lucy really keeps her variables private?)

Hilarious captioned photos. Text that’s actually funny (and we don’t mean the kind of “alleged” funny you’ve seen in computer books before -- the kind that makes you cringe). Games. Puzzles. Mysteries. “Be the compiler” exercises. Great analogies.

And all these goodies weren’t bolted on at the end to enliven a deadly narrative or fit a format. They’re here to make the ideas come alive. And it works.

If you prefer to be lectured, if you prefer a rigid format where you know exactly what to expect every time you turn the page…look elsewhere. Head First Java has a surprise waiting on pretty much every spread. Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates, and the gang at O’Reilly figure that people learn best when they’re fully engaged. When they’re being tickled. When they’re on the floor laughing. (And the latest research in cognitive science, neurobiology, and educational psychology backs them up.)

In Chapter 1, you’ll build your first app -- not Hello World, but your own personal Phrase-O-Matic. Then, it’s straight outta main() -- or, as the authors put it, “We’re leaving this dusty old procedural town for good.” You’ll learn why objects are better through an imaginary competition between Larry, the procedural programmer and Brad, the OO guy (winner gets the cool Aeron chair).

Next, it’s on to primitive and reference variables. Think of ‘em as cups. Think of 64 and Double 64 primitives as Starbucks Grande cups. Java cares about type and won’t let you put a Giraffe into a Rabbit variable: “What happens when someone tries to ask the so-called Rabbit to hop()? You’ll get to know life -- and death -- on the garbage collectible heap. There’s a full chapter on object behavior and on encapsulation (“do it or risk humiliation and ridicule”).

One big idea at a time, you make it through every Java fundamental. Solving problems with the Java Library APIs. Inheritance. Object-oriented design. Serious polymorphism, and interfaces: “the caffeine in Java.” Constructors. Memory management. Garbage collection. Java math (static methods and variables, math methods, wrappers, and number formatting). Exception handling. GUIs, event handling, layout managers, and Swing components. Object serialization. File I/O. Networking and threads. Even getting your code ready for release (e.g., code organization, packages, executable JARs, and Java Web Start (which launches your application for the first time as a web browser and then runs it on a stand-alone basis).

Throughout Head First Java, you’ll also find answers to the “dumb questions” other books don’t deign to answer. Oh, and plenty of “Ready-bake code.” You’ll never forget this Java book -- or what you learn from it. Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780596009205
  • Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 2/25/2005
  • Edition description: Second Edition
  • Edition number: 2
  • Pages: 720
  • Sales rank: 29,842
  • Series: Head First Series
  • Product dimensions: 7.98 (w) x 9.16 (h) x 1.40 (d)

Meet the Author

Kathy Sierra has been interested in learning theory since her days as a game developer (Virgin, MGM, Amblin'). More recently, she's been a master trainer for Sun Microsystems, teaching Sun's Java instructors how to teach the latest technologies to customers, and a lead developer of several Sun certification exams. Along with her partner Bert Bates, Kathy created the Head First series. She's also the original founder of the Software Development/Jolt Productivity Award-winning javaranch.com, the largest (and friendliest) all-volunteer Java community.

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.

Table of Contents

Intro
1 Breaking the Surface: a quick dip 1
2 A Trip to Objectville: yes, there will be objects 25
3 Know Your Variables: primitwes and references 47
4 How Objects Behave: object state affects method behavior 69
5 Extra-Strength Methods: flow control, operations, and more 93
6 Using the Java Library: so you don't have to write it all yourself 121
7 Better Living in Objectville: planning for the future 161
8 Serious Polymorphism: exploiting abstract classes and interfaces 193
9 Life and Death of an Object: constructors and memory management 231
10 Numbers Matter: math, formatting, wrappers, and statics 269
11 Risky Behavior: exception handling 297
12 A Very Graphic Story: intro to GUI, event handling and inner classes 335
13 Work on Your Swing: layout managers and components 381
14 Saving Objects: serialization and I/O 411
15 Make a Connection: networking sockets and multithreading 451
16 Release Your Code: packaging and deployment 509
17 Distributed Computing: RMI with a dash of servlets, EJB, and Fini 535
App. A Final code kitchen 557
App. B Top Ten Things that didn't make it into the rest of the book 587
Index 607
Customer Reviews
Average Rating 4.5
( 19 )

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 5, 2008

    Great read for new Java programmers

    I had to read this book for my class. Here I was thinking that this would be another boring book of how to code...wrong! This is a very entertaining and educational book. There are many examples and illustrations, and even some fun mind teasers at the end of every chapter! I feel that I gained a lot of information from this book, where previous to reading I was in the dark on how to program Java. I recommend it to the newbies. It is a great read. You just flow from chapter to chapter. It is NOT tedious and boring to read.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 16, 2009

    This book makes me look like a genius

    My classmates & professors think I'm a genius. If only they knew what I used to get this way, they would be amazed. I will have to admit the book's style makes it a love it or hate it situation. You'll either think this book is hysterical or totally annoying. I loved it, and found I really understood the material well enough to use it after reading. The other great thing was I understood the material well enough to remember it later, I "owned it". That doesn't happen very often for me. Somehow this book takes some really tough concepts, like generic collections, threads, or serialization, and makes them easy. After reading a hundred pages in other really, really dry boring books and not really getting it, I read a small simple chapter in "Head First" and I got it down cold.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 28, 2011

    Get the 2nd edition - not this one

    I love the Head First books. However, this book is out of date. It talks about Java 1.4 (aka Java 2) and almost everyone is using at least Java 5 which adds some new features such as an enhanced for loop and annotations. Get the 2nd edition which covers this newer version. Don't get me wrong, you'll still learn basic Java with this book but it's better to start with what everyone's using.

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  • Posted April 8, 2010

    Good starting point

    If you're trying to learn Java for the first time, this is a great book. If you're an advanced programmer, not so much.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 16, 2003

    Good for young readers

    Have you read 'Cartoon History of the Universe'? The irreverent cartoon book that starts by teaching cosmology? Perhaps inspired by that, Sierra and Bates have taken a similar tack to teaching Java. Charmingly distinctive. Aimed at the complete tyro to Java and object-oriented programming. The authors' pedagogy is that you learn better through wide use of visuals, since you can assimilate these better than almost-pure pages of lightly adorned text. So there are copious diagrams, profusely annotated by handwritten doodles. Plus they also provide many exercises, letting you learn by doing. All to the good. It does have the effect of bulking up the book. Not meant for brevity. A standard Java text could be half this size. But that is the tradeoff in this teaching style. The book is not necessarily for everyone. A programmer already experienced in another language may want a standard textual approach. The book's strength is in its appeal to a different person: Not just a Java beginner, but someone completely new to any programming. A far larger audience than experienced programmers. Specifically, the book would be good at the high school level or even primary school. Seriously. I see no reason why a smart fifth grader who wants to do more with computers than browse or write email cannot benefit from the book. There ARE computer books for this age group, but most (all?) seem to be for user level interaction, NOT programming. So if you have a child who is poking around computers, and you want her to have go further, why not use this book? Ditto if YOU are that fifth grader.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 7, 2003

    A different kind of Java book for beginners and experts

    When I first saw ¿Head First Java¿, it reminds me of the colorful ¿conversational English¿ books I had when I started to learn English years ago. The casual, humorous books have turned out effective for English language learning. Is that style good for the Java language learners as well? Is this type of books for beginners only?

    With those questions in mind, I started to read ¿Head First Java¿. Since I consider myself a Java expert (I wrote a Java book myself, after all), I decided that I would NOT read the book from cover to cover. Instead, I would randomly flip through the book for the humorous stories and photos. I figured that if I cannot learn much new about Java from a ¿beginner¿ book, I can at least have some fun.

    Geez, I was wrong. I was ADDICTED to the book¿s short stories, annotated code snippets, mock interviews, puzzle games and brain exercises. They are not only entertaining but also informative. It may be a beginner¿s book but the stuff they cover are definitely deep enough for expert readers as well (e.g. multiple inheritance, polymorphism, inner classes, threads, RMI, ¿ just to name a few). The best of all is that I can actually remember the things I learned from the book because I associate them with the stories and pictures. I guess it has something to do with the fact that both sides of my brain are active when reading this book: The right side is for the stories and the left side is for the technical and logic stuff.

    There are other great Java books (e.g. ¿Thinking in Java¿ by Bruce Eckel) in the market. But they are all very serious and require the readers to spend hours to read entire chapters. The great thing about ¿Head First Java¿ is that the bite-size code snippets and stories allow me to learn something about Java in my 5-10 minutes spare time, one piece a time.

    The overall writing style is casual and enlightened. The presentation style (fonts and placements of graphical elements) fits the content very well. The book covers a wide variety of Java topics including: basic code structure and language syntax, OOP concepts, math and numbers, exception handling, the Swing GUI library, serialization, network, and distributed computing.

    Of course, the casual style is not for everyone. I know people who love the re-assuring feeling from ¿serious¿ books. But I can re-assure you that Kathy and Bert are authoritative figures in the Java training community. The content is absolutely first class. I highly recommend ¿Head First Java¿ for both Java beginners and expert readers.

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