Head First Design Patterns Book Review Prabhas Joshi prabhas@desdevpro.com http://www.desdevpro.com 12 Sept 2009 Book Reveiw Head First Design Patterns The "Head First Series"- are a unique variety of book: -a visually rich format designed for the way your brain work- utilising the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory while formatting these series of books. Introduction It was a sunday morning, when I was browsing through a computer book-store and suddenly my eye went to this book with a really fancy cover- the kinds you wouldn't generally expect in such a store. I am talking about the "Head First Design Pattern" book by oreilly media. bk001_img1.gif It's actually a part of the "Head First Series"- which are a unique variety of book: -a visually rich format designed for the way your brain work- utilising the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory while formatting these series of books. And pretty exciting, because let's face it- if you aren't excited about the topic, most tech-books aren't going to generate any excitement for you. The "Different" Visual Treatment The cover itself tells you that it's kinda different- so much graphics and mostly the kinds you dont find in any such reference books. But, then if you go through it, they've fully justified this by telling you that: this book is for you if you find "dinner party conversations" more interesting than "dry dull academic lectures". The insides is pretty interesting too. Interlaced with humor and lots of visuals in between the text. Also there is hand-written notes instead of reams of text, activities, multiple learning styles, people (as in, pictures of people), and content for both sides of the brain- they've made it pretty interesting to actually drive home stuff that sticks inside. Have a look @ the visual from amazon: bk001_img2.png Contents Now, having seen the visual style of the book, let's see what's inside it. This cover most of the common design patterns as described in: "Gang of four's" Design patterns Book These design patterns include: Decorator Observer Factory / Factory Method / Abstract Factory Singleton Iterator Composite State Proxy Compound Patterns and MVC (Model – View – Controller) Command Adapter Facade Template Method Conclusion & Criticism I have also seen some authors criticizing this book for adding a layer of abstraction to the real part- studying indepth design patterns. I feel that this is not some kind of reference book or a classroom study-guide, but still more helpful than those books. It doesn't tells your brain to mug all kinds of design patterns, but instead teaches you to apply them in the real world. Overall Rating: 8/10