Today we wander through the library and learn about my first design patterns book that I actually got through. Most were just so damn academic that it just isn’t fun to learn. While its examples were a little weird, it really sold me on the relevancy of design patterns. It is such a So lets dig into Head First Design Patterns.
The Good of Head First Design Patterns
Being a Head First series book, that made it stupid simple in terms of presentation. That is an accomplishment because that can be difficult due to the complicated nature of the topic. Just look at my posts for example. It really present about dozen patterns really well.
The pacing can be a bit taxing but that is as much about the speed drop caused by the reinforcement tactics they use. If you like this style of book, you accept that you are going to talk about in 700 pages what most books would talk about in 250.
Like most Head First books, it is a fun read. At least as much as talking about design patterns can be fun. It is the hallmark of the series and they do it maybe a cut above where other members of the series like Head First Android book run. I enjoyed it more than many of the other books in the series.
The Bad of Head First Design Patterns
One you only cover maybe a dozen patterns. To be fair that is more patterns than the average programmer knows but it is a bunch of pages for only a dozen patterns. I feel like its pacing was a bit uneven between chapters. Not sure if we had different authors or maybe different patterns lend themselves differently to the books pacing. Either way, it felt uneven at times. I remember the decorator pattern being weirdly paced as well as the adapter and facade pattern. Your mileage may vary and quite frankly those were still solid chapters.
For some people being talked down to is a hard thing for them to take. Most of those people really struggle with a book like this because it assumes quite frankly that you are kind of stupid relative to most IT books. I don’t think it is so much they think your stupid as if they teach you like you are stupid and you are smart, you will really grok it.
The Verdict
If you followed any of my book reviews in the past, you know I love this series. Being that it is computer science rather than a computer technology, it ages well too. Best of all I have seen them at least twice in a Humble Bundle so look for it there as you can get a top notch book for the really cheap.
It has a bit of pacing issue and it can be juvenile but that did not cause me any consternation when it came time to read. This is really one of the best design pattern books out there for novice on the topic.