You're not alone.

At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel (or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex. Something more fun.

You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to use them, when to use them, how to use them (and when NOT to use them). But you don't just want to see how patterns look in a book, you want to know how they look "in the wild". In their native environment. In other words, in real world applications. You also want to learn how patterns are used in the Java API, and how to exploit Java's built-in pattern support in your own code.

You want to learn the real OO design principles and why everything your boss told you about inheritance might be wrong (and what to do instead). You want to learn how those principles will help the next time you're up a creek without a design pattern.

Most importantly, you want to learn the "secret language" of Design Patterns so that you can hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions his stunningly clever use of Command, Facade, Proxy, and Factory in between sips of a martini. You'll easily counter with your deep understanding of why Singleton isn't as simple as it sounds, how the Factory is so often misunderstood, or on the real relationship between Decorator, Facade and Adapter.

With Head First Design Patterns, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking Decorator is something from the "Trading Spaces" show. Best of all, in a way that won't put you to sleep! We think your time is too important (and too short) to spend it struggling with academic texts.

If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect--a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First Design Patterns will load patterns into your brain in a way that sticks. In a way that lets you put them to work immediately. In a way that makes you better at solving software design problems, and better at speaking the language of patterns with others on your team.

Rating:

Rating:

Rating:

Design Patterns and Generics,  July 22 2007
Submitted by Kevin   [Respond | View]

For the Second Edition, it would really be great if you should how "Generics" could should be incorporated into these patterns.


More please,  June 16 2007
Submitted by William B. Sanders   [Respond | View]

If a second edition is in the works, I would really like to see working examples of the leftover DPs. A single working example that just shows how to get going on these other DPs would be an immense value. For me the greatest values of the book is in both the exaplanations of why the DP is useful,principles, and examples. In fact, I'd buy a book on just these "orphan" DPs--either an e-book or regular one if they included nice clear examples of the DPs.


Some Real Annoyances,  May 23 2007
Submitted by John Seals   [Respond | View]

I really liked the style of the book a lot and I learned tons from it. But some of the code samples are presented in such a way that you spend a lot of time adding to them to get them to work. In version 2 I would recommend the authors explain more about creating packages and the like when presenting samples. Saves a lot on frustration for newbies like me.


Don't stop writing !,  April 28 2007
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

I am an ex-physicist and i've started learning design patterns in C# with this book. This is the first one which talk about that i could understand when i was beginning. It's because i've red this book that i have also red "Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software"


Inspirational,  April 18 2007
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

I am not a Java but a C++ software engineer but had no problem understanding the lingo and examples in the book.

This is by far the BEST book I have seen on patterns - it is easy to understand the workings on them and it is very inspirational writing that makes you to think about your current work and re-evaluates design decisions




Heading in the right direction...,  March 11 2007
Submitted by Steve   [Respond | View]

I just wish more technical books were written in this way - humour, images, well researched content and digestably sized chapters. I've recommended it to others and had simiar responses as a result.


dead last,  December 19 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

The constantly changing fonts (some of them cartoonish), font sizes and styles may have seemed like a "cute" approach at first but they quickly become annoying. Some pages have the look of a "Ransom Note" made up of bits and pieces cut and pasted from all kinds of sources. This has never been considered a good design paradigm by anyone, anywhere. Pretty sad for a book on DESIGN patterns.


head last,  December 18 2006
Submitted by ralph   [Respond | View]

Someone once said "The first victim of War is truth". I like to turn this around when commenting on technological education and say "The first victim of expertise is perspective". Time and time again I read things written by "experts" wherein it is abundantly clear that the person doing the writing/speaking knows exactly what they're talking about. Unfortunately, they've completely forgotten what it was like to "not know" and they are at a loss as to how to communicate/teach their subject to the uninitiated.

This is the feeling I get when reading this book. The author(s)'s credentials are impeccable. There seems to be an implied level of previous knowledge which is assumed on the part of the author - as if the book is intended as a review for those folks who already know this stuff.

I didn't buy the book (a mistake) because I already know this stuff. I bought the book because I don't and wanted to learn.

A lot of the language reads like goobledegook. There seem to be MANY assumptions of prior knowledge and you know what the wise man said about what happens when you ASSUME.

Very disappointing. I wuldn't even give it one star except that's the lowest rating available.


great way to learn,  November 06 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

the way this book teaches you design patterns is both refreshing -- and also in line wiht how I learn best. It would be an even better experience if it came with an audio file to support some of the heavier topics.


Poorly chosen example,  October 27 2006
Submitted by kriviere   [Respond | View]

First off, I only read the sample chapter 3, but the example shown there seemed so poorly chosen that I lost interest. I'm sure the decorator pattern they described is useful, but the various decorator classes they created were so similar that they varied only in their data. A much simpler design driven by data instead of having to write additional code when a new option is added would be much more appropriate. If the examples in other chapters are as poorly chosen then this could lead to learning the wrong lessons about which patterns to use.

(p.s. this comment form didn't display properly in Firefox 1.5.0.7. The image of the cover overlay the fields for the name and whatever the second field is.)


I would love learning if my tutor taught like that...,  September 14 2006
Submitted by dawncaller   [Respond | View]

What a fantastic way to learn! I wish I had a tutor who taught like that, and I would love studying at colleges...


Amazingly Brilliant,  July 23 2006
Submitted by Balaji Sunder   [Respond | View]

Makes learning a fun, and never looses its core objective of ensuring that the reader understands the intent of each pattern.
A killer combination.
Buy it, read it, you'll never regret it.


Excellent,  May 02 2006
Submitted by salgo60   [Respond | View]

Excellent book that makes me understand a little bit more. Feels it should be combined with a lot of exercise and maybe a study group. Really nice that someone has done some c# examples...

See Mark McFadden C# examples
(https://www.wickedlysmart.com/HeadFirst/HeadFirstDesignPatterns/HeadFirstPatternsIndex.html")

https://www.msquaredweb.com/DesignPatterns/


Wouldn't had learned Design Patterns w/o this book,  April 25 2006
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

This is my first reading of Head First series books. And already hooked on to the Gang of Fours. Without this books I would have never been able to understand design patterns.


Excellent rendering of complex material,  March 24 2006
Submitted by sharadhegde   [Respond | View]

Encouraged by a wise colleague, when I first read the GOF book way back in '97, it was a revelation. At that juncture, I had already read the tomes by Rambaugh and Booch. Though these books enabled me to talk about merits of OO design vs. procedural languages, using them in practical situation was difficult. I usually ended up designing deep inheritance trees and when stuck resorted to declaring friend functions and classes.
But "Design Patterns" by GOF totally changed my life(that sounds geeky). I understood how to use composition and started writing better OO code. But reading that book was some task. It was difficult read and understanding a pattern required several reads. This is probably the reason that the most popular pattern is "Singleton?, sadly that too is usually misused.
The "head first design pattern" has given a different treatment to the whole topic. It has simplified it for the future generation of OO programmers. It's a "must read" for every budding programmer, and I would also recommend it to everyone who has read the seminal "Design Patterns" book and wished they would write a simplified "Revised edition".
-Sharad Hegde




Head first UML, pretty pleeeeaaasse??,  November 13 2005
Submitted by Elisabeth Freeman   [Respond | View]

Hello -
Very glad to hear you like Head First!
To answer your questions:
Head First Objects, coming out in 2006 will have some UML. Head First UML is definitely on our list of "would love to have" titles, so hopefully that will come soon, too.
Color: Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML is a beautiful, four color book. You'll see this in stores in December.

Beth Freeman



Head first UML, pretty pleeeeaaasse??,  September 06 2005
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

What I forgot to ask - next time in color, maybe? For that I would even give a six star rating ... :)


Head first UML, pretty pleeeeaaasse??,  September 06 2005
Submitted by Axel Bock   [Respond | View]

I am **AMAZED** by the head first approach. I purchased "Head first design patterns", and I love it. I can't express how grateful I am that for once someone company tried to deliver knowledge in a different (and in my eyes very much more effective!) way. Actually after having taken a look into HFDP I picked up the "gang of four", because -- after all -- it does look more "serious" and has an excellent reputation, so I thought I might maybe be better of buying this one.

About one minute later I was purchasing the Head First book.

And yes, it's that great. I am actually looking forward to reading a new chapter, every time I have to take a break. (Remember? It's a book about software design theory, not a Dan Brown thriller, right?)

It's funny, informational, and it gets the knowledge into my brain. I love it.

But - I have one little plea: "HEAD FIRST UML 2.0".
Everyone seems to love UML, but -- to be honest -- this is by far the most boring, dry, non-practical, headache-creating stuff to be learned by reading a book. But after seeing the Head First approach, I start to think that this could be done a bit better ... :)


A very interesting book of a relatively complex subject.,  June 24 2005
Submitted by Syed Suleman Ghaznavi   [Respond | View]

This is the first time i've ever given a 5 star rating to a book!
This is definately the most interesting and entertaining book i have ever come across on the subject of design patterns. The depth and scope of coverage, makes it a very well balanced read for both design patterns and fundamentals of good object oriented design. Even though the title of the book is simply "Design Patterns", it covers some very important aspects of OO design in addition to it.
The books covers some very practical examples and problem scenarios that programmers and software engineers encounter in their daily environments, which makes it very valuable to the reader and fun to read as well.
I wish if the "Head first" series would add much more topics in their collection of publications. :)

Syed Ghaznavi



Like it!,  June 20 2005
Submitted by John   [Respond | View]

I haven't finished it, but so far so good. Knowing that this question is rather sacreligious to a Java person, but I'd like to see a .NET version. Not that much would change, and I don't have an issue with the Java syntax, but there are differences. Or perhaps you could add C# code below the Java code, if there are differences.

Other than that, it's a refreshing book that I've thusfar enjoyed.



Enterprise Design Patterns?,  April 27 2005
Submitted by Matt   [Respond | View]

This book looks great. I ordered my copy almost immediately after reading the sample chapter (chapter 3 on the Decorator pattern). If the rest of the book is that easy to understand and follow, then I'm really looking forward to future Head First titles.

I was wondering, though... Is there going to be an Enterprise Design Patterns book any time in the near or distant future?



Hitchhiker's Guide to Design Patterns,  April 23 2005
Submitted by Adam   [Respond | View]

I consider myself an expert in Java, but a total amateur when it came to design patterns. This book gave me the confidence to sling my backpack over my shoulder, grab my guitar case, write "design patterns or bust" on a piece of cardboard, and hit the road.

Too many times I've attempted to read articles on design patterns (sometimes from Sun's Java site). Inevitably I pray for a big red button that I could press repeatedly to make sense of the garbage.

About six months ago when the book was published I snapped it up and expected another "oh so fun" read (only a trite bit of sarcasm). However, I was immediately impressed with the writing style that appealed to multiple learning styles. The bizarre and quirky pictures and layouts made the material fun and interesting to navigate. I did not have to suffer through page after page of the same boring technical explanations.

I was able to start using the examples in the book and was soon able to integrate the material I had learned into my own daily projects at work. After a few months of reading and re-reading pieces of the book my projects at work have drastically improved as have my Java architect design skills. This past week I interviewed for and was offered a Java architect position at a very prestigious research lab in upstate NY. I definitely plan to share this excellent design patterns book with my new colleagues when I start my new position next Monday.

I am very appreciative to the entire Head First design team for producing such a fantastic text (part of the real I wrote this review). I very much look forward to upcoming "Head First" texts from O'Reilly.




Absolute killer, Must read!,  March 21 2005
Submitted by Ash   [Respond | View]

Hi

Great book.


The most important aspect that I liked about this book is it's simplicity and usage of simple/fun language with good examples.


I was for so long trying to understand the GOF book but never really got it straight.
I often wished if the authors would have written that book in much simpler language and provided java examples.
But this book fills in that void.


Good job by the authors.I would love to read EJB design pattern book from them.

Regards,

Ash

Learn with Fun...D.P. Great Fundas...,  March 07 2005
Submitted by Raxit Sheth   [Respond | View]

My comment is already given by Eric Gamma...in the book.This book is very interesting to read,makes one 's Funda Deep in OO,Reusable,Maintainable Design of software.I think Everyone who is using DP should Read this book so that more and more Funda would get settle in one's Brain.Also After Reading this book its easy to find Pattern Because its example is real life (that we face many times in design) and Funny also so easy to remember.

Also the person who wants to enter in DP from Scratch this book would be proved as Bible of "DP Funda's" after GoF book.



My first funny computer book with interesting content,  March 02 2005
Submitted by Joey Tang   [Respond | View]

Head First Design Patterns
(https://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfdesignpat/index.html)
By Eric Freeman, Elisabeth Freeman, Kathy Sierra, Bert Bates
676 pages, US $44.95

---

I always hear the term of “design pattern” in programming books and magazines, e.g. factory pattern, singleton pattern. This takes my attention to know more about them. Therefore, I have looked for a book of “design pattern” for a long time. But most of them are boring and hard to understand as common computer books and web articles. Fortunately, I found this book.

The beautiful and funny book cover gives me a good first impression. After I got the book, woo~ what a thick and heavy book! I felt afraid because I guessed it would be full of text and I may need several months to complete it.

Nonetheless, boring is not the truth. With a lot of funny stuff (big font size, graphics, photos, hand writing stretches), exercises/games (crossword puzzles, match games), story like format, elaborate content, I couldn’t stop to read. I am able to get a clear picture of each pattern in easy and interesting ways. It does not deeply explain the detail of each pattern, but gives you a well introduction to each pattern with sample codes. It is suitable to people who are getting start to learn about “design pattern”.

However, the thickness of the book brings inconvenience. I cannot put it in my briefcase, carry it on the way and read it in bus. I think it will be better if the size can be reduced.

In conclusion, the book is cool and smart. I will recommend it to my friends.



i18n of "design patterns",  February 26 2005
Submitted by Elisabeth Freeman   [Respond | View]

Achim,

On page 26 in the left bubble, you'll find the descriptions of all the sandwiches. They correspond exactly to the names in the right bubble. So C.J.White is the first sandwich in the list on the right, so it corresponds to a "Cream cheese with jelly on white bread".

Regarding the British looking socket and ac adapter - they are British. Silly us, we thought Britain was part of Europe.

We're very glad to hear that the book is helping you! Thanks for the review.

Beth


i18n of "design patterns",  February 18 2005
Submitted by Achim Rumberger   [Respond | View]

I want to thank the authors for this book, which helps me a lot achieving new levles in java coding ;)
I have one minor suggestion for the second edition of this book. I would appreciate if the examples you chose for clarifying certain point would be understandable for an international readership - for example I simply didn't get the diner talk on page 26 - what's a 'C.J. White' for example?
Otherwise keep up the good work and have fun.
Achim

p.s.
the socket and the ac adapter shown seemed british to me and not (continental) european :^P
ar


Very Good and I want to say excellent,  January 04 2005
Submitted by pwc   [Respond | View]

The book broke my inability to grok some of the patterns. I am very appreciative to the authors.

I had not been able to see "inversion of control" or
dynamic proxy before.

The authors should be congratulated for their development and explanation of the patterns. It
was the best, the very best pattern book, I have read.

Sorry, but I didn't really enjoy or find valuable the features such as the crosswords, guru, interviews etc. The cute photos and text to start the chapters such as 5 were good for a chuckle but not worth the space they took up. I skipped over much of the cute/hip/creative stuff. It must have taken a lot of work, but I don't think it was worth it. I focused on the text and the script annotations. What do the say, "No fluff, just stuff". That's my preference but then I am not an artist or an editor.

I liked the design principles and wonder if it
shouldn't be discussed upfront in chapter 1 and then reinforced in subsequent chapters.

I was very
disappointed with the cursory treatment given
to the "other" patterns in chapter 14/appendix.

The book seemed to run out of gas.
Chapters 11,12,13 were hard for me to get thru
and I had found myself eager to read and discover
in the previous chapters. As mentioned before,
the dynamic proxy was most helpful and the explantion of MVC2 clarified my understanding.

Chapter 4 was a heavy chapter. I need to go
back and reread the whole book, but I felt
that 4 was the toughest for me. I wondered
why the abstract factory wasn't presented first.

Some authors also discuss a "Null" Pattern but
that seemed to be viewed as a useful feature
or idiom but not really a pattern.

I hope my somewhat lengthy review might be helpful for a future edition. I got more out of this book than another computer related book in the past year.

I feel like I did after seeing " Lemony Snicket's...", Jim Carey was terrible and he got
in the way of the movie. I felt the "yucks" got in the way of an very good book

One of a Kind Book,  January 04 2005
Submitted by Jens Thiede   [Respond | View]

This is honestly the best book that I've ever read. Here are my reasons:

1. The writers know their stuff.

2. Thanks to the Head First series, this book explains design patterns in a clear and concise way.

If the book wouldn't contain the detailed illustrations and visual metaphors that not only remain in your brain but explain and refrain from traumatic eye strain, then I believe that 95% of the design pattern students would inherently be failures at the subject.

You don't remember what you do not understand. It's one thing to try remember zen like explanations for a day, it's insane to think that you would remember it for the rest of your life - let alone use it!

3. I love Mac OS 10. :)

A hearty thanks to the Head First crew.


Wow,  November 21 2004
Submitted by C Johnson   [Respond | View]

I am ashamed to admit this but I felt really dumb after reading and re-reading the GoF and other related pattern books and just not "getting it."

This book feels like cheating because it just does not read like any other computer book I have read before it and it really left an impression. Most importanly it left information I was able to grasp, digest, and use.

I am more inclined to lean towards languages like C and C++ and though Java is the language used for examples I had zero problems understanding and adapting.

I thought I knew OOP. After reading this book I now know what it means to use the OOP paradigm appropriately. I realize that this is a book about design patterns but if you read this review and you are the least bit uneasy about patterns or OOP, save yourself time, energy, sweat and tears and GET THIS BOOK!

This book improved my life and reduced my strife. Writing code is not the chore it had turned out to be for so long thanks to using this learner and the authors command of the material, delivery, and passion for my success in understanding.


Thanks,  November 10 2004
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

Anonymous Reader, the Ferris quote is just brilliant and it describes exactly the kind of experience we want all readers to have!

Eric

P.S. Can we use that quote in the next printing? ;)



Finally, a fun way to learn about design patterns!,  November 10 2004
Submitted by Anonymous Reader   [Respond | View]

Usually when reading through a book or article on design patterns I'd have to occasionally stick myself in the eye with something just to make sure I was paying attention - until I picked up this book.

The first thing you notice is the pages are not paragraph after paragraph of information. There isn't a single page that doesn't contain a doodle, a sidebar, a picture, or something different. While at times it can be a little distracting, it's in a good way (at least I don't have to poke myself with something sharp anymore).

The chapters cover various design patterns and along the way have exercises such as crossword puzzles or match games to test your understanding. The answers are also included at the end of the chapters - so you don't need to purchase a "Teacher's Edition" on the black market. =)

Typically, books on design patterns are saying, "Buehler... Buehler... Buehler...". This book is belting out "Shake it up, baby!"