HF Design pattern book - Reader question

[Alvin chew]

good day, Elisabeth A. Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates and Kathy Sierra , mind to ask what are the requirement knowledges need for a reader ?
thank you !

[Elisabeth Robson]

Hi Alvin,

The only requirement for Head First Design Patterns is a little knowledge of Java. However, if you are a C++ or C# programmer, you'll probably do just fine. Our examples use, on the whole, just basic Java - nothing fancy - and we don't assume that you are completely familiar with all the Java libraries and frameworks, although you'll probably need a web browser and the Java API docs handy for a few parts of the book if you're not.

Hope this helps!

Elisabeth

[ November 30, 2004: Message edited by: Elisabeth Freeman ]

[ November 30, 2004: Message edited by: Elisabeth Freeman ]
[ November 30, 2004: Message edited by: Elisabeth Freeman ]

[Alvin chew]

hi,Elisabeth Freeman , would this book samples all wrote in java language ?

[Elisabeth Robson]

Hi,

Yes, all the examples are written in Java.

Elisabeth

[Alvin chew]

as there are many design pattern book around, what is the major different in this book as compare other ?

[Alvin chew]

how to i read this book effiency ? should i read this book chapter by chapter or i just pick up the interest topic that i concern ?

[Alvin chew]

is this book cover all design patterns around?

[Elisabeth Robson]

Well, there's quite a few design patterns books out there. Some of them are general, talking about the basic design patterns, while others focus on domain specific patterns - like enterprise patterns, J2EE patterns, concurrent patterns - or refactoring with patterns.

Other differences are the languages used for the examples, and how the patterns are presented. Some books are focussed purely on code and learning patterns through code examples, while others are focussed purely on the abstract notions of the patterns, and provide little, if any code. So there's really quite a wide spectrum of books.

One area which we didn't think was covered at all well was Design Patterns for new or intermediate programmers - many books assume you've had years of experience, or are an experienced object oriented programmer, or even that you've had prior experience with patterns. We really wanted to make Head First Design Patterns accessible for those who are not necesssarily quite as experienced, while also hopefully giving a new look at patterns for those who are.

Elisabeth

[Elisabeth Robson]

Head First Design Patterns definitely does not cover *all* design patterns - there's too many! However, it covers the most used of the "original" patterns - the patterns that started it all, and we believe that by understanding these, you'll be in a good position to more easily learn the others (as most other patterns are derived from, based on or somehow related to the original, basic patterns).

I would suggest reading the book from start to finish if you can, especially if you are new to this topic. However, most chapters do not rely too much on previous chapters for patterns or examples, so you could certainly pick a chapter to read in the middle and probably be fine for the most part. However, we do rely on you learning the design principles as you go along, and various aspects of the book - like the Fireside chats - do assume you're reading in sequence, so keep that in mind.

Elisabeth

[Mike Farnham]

Greetings,

>>
Paperback: 608 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly; 1 edition (October 1, 2004)
ISBN: 0596007124
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.1 x 1.6 inches
<<
I see from Amazon this is not a light tome. High pages/dollar!!

Is there accompanying media with the book or an associated website?

I'll have to get it since it was published on my birthday.

Cheers,
Mike

[Alvin chew]

mike, u can have a look on http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfdesignpat/index.html

[Mike Farnham]

Thanks Alvin.
For whatever reason, the publisher hasn't provided samples for Amazon.com.
Cheers,
Mike

[Elisabeth Robson]

Hi,
Believe it or not, it actually costs money to provide samples for Amazon.com. So... no samples there. But as Alvin pointed out, they are readily available at oreilly.com.

The book actually ended up at 676 pages, so you get an even better value for your dollar

Elisabeth

[Mike Farnham]

Based on what I just looked at on the O'Reilly site, I would say it definitely is an easy-to-read book. Also, very amusing the drawings and diagrams. Unfortunately, the sample didn't have any of the "Fireside Chats". And, it is really too bad, you had to remove the "Patterns DeathMatch". I enjoy books with a good sense of humor. I think that is why I liked the Anti-Patterns book so much.

I look forward to reading Chapter 13 - "Ahhhh, now you're ready for a bright new world filled with Design Patterns".

Cheers,
Mike

Is it a sign of bad design to have a class with a name like XXXXXProxyFacadeFactory?

[Alvin chew]

would HF design pattern book come out e-book version ?

[Ko Ko Naing]

Originally posted by Alvin chew:
would HF design pattern book come out e-book version ?

I haven't seen any book in HF series got ebook version. As Kathy said in the past, it is pretty difficult to deliver the HF series book as Ebook. And one obstacle is that the illegal copies might be spreaded by using Ebooks...

So I also don't think that HF Patterns will have its Ebook version...

[Alvin chew]

hi,Elisabeth Freeman , would you plan to have a HF refactoring book in future ?

[Ilja Preuss]

Alvin, may I kindly remind you to post new question in new threads, please? Thanks!

[Elisabeth Robson]

Hi,

We're not planning a refactoring book currently, nor an e-book version of HFDP. But we're always looking for ways to get HF stuff online, so keep watching

Elisabeth