This book is the most user friendly book to teach Java. This is how I got started, and am now a full-on software developer for a fortune-500 company making a good living. I recommend this and other books in the HF series to anyone wanting to learn programming on their own.

Hard to make learning Java fun but they do try. It is a fairly easy read with lots of pictures and alternative ways of getting the same point accross. Not a reference book on Java, it will teach you Java.

I'll admit it... I'm a huge fan of the Head First series. This is the third I own and at least two others (currently unreleased) are on my to-buy list just waiting for their release. The style of Head First books in general is fantastic and helps things make sense right away. That being said, I was a bit disappointed in certain aspects of Head First Java. Make no mistake, I still heartily recommend it, but it was not as good as it could have been.

Frankly, the only specific identifiable element that I disliked was the crossword puzzles. Now, I LOVE the crossword puzzles in other Head First books. In fact, they're one of my favorite elements in the Head First equation. However, the crosswords in Head First Java were lacking, often with strange "hints" that were more confusing than helping. Examples: "can't pin it down", "dept. of LAN jockeys", and "Pi house".

Additionally, the overall feel of the book was inferior to the previous two I've read (Head First C# and Head First SQL). Unfortunately, I can't articulate exactly what the difference is, but it just wasn't as engrossing as the others.

In the end, I do recommend the book. It is a fine-quality product. However, do not use this as a prime example of the Head First series -- it is not their best.

Very good book to use as a supplement for a Java course.
Course texts need ppt slides and question banks and Case problems at the end of each chapter to supplement the text.
But for buying a book to learn Java - this is a good one.

This book is for beginners but it assumes that you know the basics about computer programming, I mean, it won't teach you what is a program, what is code or those very basics things. If you have programmed in C, C++ or C# then this books could be slow for you but still useful but if you don't know about those languages or Object Oriented Programming then this book is great to learn OOP and JAVA, really good.

I am an instructor who was tasked with teaching a basic Java class even though I didn't really know the language. I had to learn it FAST. I looked at a lot of different Java books and this is the one I settled on.

The style of the "Head First" books is unconventional and may seem silly on the surface but it is based on serious metacognitive (thinking about thinking) principles and IT WORKS.

The book is fun but it makes its point. It is also a comprehensive and well-chosen coverage of the subject. Java is a whole universe and they have made a good call on what to present and what to leave out.

This is my first purchase from the "Head First" series and it won't be my last.

The style and manner of presentation of the new HEAD FIRST Book Series is a great way to learn these newer languages. Highly recommended for everyone.

Basically the book was ok. The difficulty I had was when I paid for Expediate service, I was expecting 2-3 days for delivery, not five days. and when I requested the tracking# and name of delivery company. All I got was the order# which did not help me at all. I will not order from this company again.

That's what the "Head First" philosophy seems to purport, and the foray into their lingua franca (Java) is a prime example. From the start Sierra and Bates break down the essence of "whole brain" learning a potentially dry subject like programming and design in the Java language. They then apply this methodology to each chapter by framing core instruction with cute sidebar humor and illustrations and then concluding with review exercises in the form of puzzles that openly appeal to the right-brained audience. Such a shift in the paradigm of computer science instruction has been scoffed at by many, but the truth of the matter is the new generation of developers are those who have an affinity to agile-dev, elegant-syntax type technologies such as Ruby or PHP, those who are learning from the avant-garde likes of the "Poignant Guide to Ruby". For Java evangelists extraordinaire like Bert and Kathy, making the sacred core language that much more accessible only made sense. That being said, I would caution the droves of aspiring young webmasters (not to mention migrants from older high-level languages) to understand that even with the "connect the dots" activities besprinkled throughout some assumptions about programming competency are made by the authors. In my opinion, this would not be an exclusive venture into the world of Java (and it's a BIG one) but a supplemental text that spawns the "aha" moments when more condensed and comprehensive texts like those by Cay Horstmann just don't drive a critical point across. I can say that I do appreciate the authors jumping immediately (erm, head first) into OOP concepts.

In sum, I would say that this book is not for everybody, but for those that need a healthy diversion from the "standard" reference material (read: Java API).

I liked everything from the early, 5 days before scheduled, delivery, to the actual book reading. Very interesting and effective approach, it's my favorite book right now, even before going to bed.

This book changed my life and the way I look at learning. After reading it, I wanted every "Beginning..." book to be written like this one. In my opinion, the whole Sierra & Bates approach to learning styles is right-on. Thus, I enthusiatically read this work from cover-to-cover and in the end felt quite "satiated".

Only problem is, if you're already a well-versed programmer (like I was), you may find Kathy and Bert's approach frustrating. Lots of pictures, lots of little notes, lots of (unnecessary) humor will tend to distract you from the goal of just learning Java and getting on with life. Also, this book is not good as a later "reference" as the material is just not presented in such a way where all the relevant info is in one place.

Also, if you're studying for the Sun Certified Java Programmer exam, this book is NOT for you. Kathy and Bert wrote another book targeted at that audience which is also quite excellent and enabled me to pass both the SCJP 5.0 and 6.0 effortlessly.

Overall great book, makes you learn what you need to know.
It is missing information on 1.5 Annotations, so if you need this information you will need to find other material.

It was great I guess, but I really don't think I am going to take my programming skills past the web design base.

I was referred the book for a java class for a job i'm going to. However, once starting to read the book, i realize it has some problems with it. Perhaps i was simply the wrong person for the book.

1) There are notes and small written comments, pictures, and things EVERYWHERE. It makes it kind of tacky and cluttered looking; and what ultimately made me throw the book to the side. Example. In code examples, it will have 'hand-written-like' notes all on the right side, following no specific alignment, with arrows pointing to spots in the code. (Ug, This just gives me a headache.)

If you need to read every single thing (or are a strictly visual person)and have trouble understanding the principles behind the explanations, then it might be good to use. Otherwise, this is a big downside.

2) There is no Index at the rear of the book. This would fail horribly if you needed to look up something later unless you knew exactly where you were reading from before.

3) Due to the way the book is written, with all it's notes, you can't skip ahead and skim for a topic you are more interested, you need to read it IN ORDER in order to make sense of it. (Maybe if it's taught in a Junior High School environment it would be more useful)

As a more advanced programmer, this book obviously wasn't for me. I ended up picking up an old copy of 'O'Reilly: Java in a nutshell Second Edition' which told me in the first chapter everything i wanted to know straight up, simple, and answered all my questions re-guarding Java in about 20 pages. (Yes i know it's a old copy, shows how useful it was)

If you want to get your feet wet with Java, buy this book at your own risk. If you are more advanced, (especially with C/C++ programming) go elsewhere, this is a waste of your time.

This book is extremely helpful for those who wish to learn Java programming fundamentals but require a more entertaining approach. Let's face it, learning any new programming language is tedious at best. Personally I found it a bit too simplistic in some areas and, at times, a little overly distracting. The content of the book accurately reflects it's title and does an excellent job teaching anyone who has some time to be entertained while learning Java programming. In addition, this book provides links to websites which offer many more helpful learning resources. I can highly recommend this book with 5 Stars to it's intended audience.

Just started the book, but I'm really enjoying it!

The authors are correct about the effectiveness of having different methods of teaching, pictures, puzzles, etc. It makes such a difference now when I look at other books. I would definitely recommend purchasing this book to learn Java!...even as a beginner to programming (if you a moderately good w/ computers).

Now if only I wasn't trying to juggle so many things at once - I could knock the book out and finish it.

Head First Java helps to establish a better understanding between the reader and the material. I had already completed an Intro to Computer Science course that was based in Java, and I felt that this book helped me to have a better understanding of the material. I would not recommend however, to read solely this book without a classic Java textbook, because I don't believe it goes in depth enough.

Overall: Great Supplement to Reinforce the Material

As much as I love this book (and I really, really do), I must point out something that is annoying about it. Early on, the practice problems are very difficult.

Whereas the projects that are developed during this book are brilliant (the server beat box is awesome), the exercises entitled "pool puzzle" are frustratingly difficult and not examples of good coding practice.

For example, page 91 of the second edition: To have to struggle through 30 lines of convoluted code just to produce an output of "result 543345".

That said, this is still a great book. Just skip the "pool puzzles", and you'll learn Java in a way that few books can teach. You will learn strong programming methods using good examples.

The casual style of all of the Head First books is great. What a nice change from the usually dry material. That being said, there are times when I would have preferred they just get to the point and dispense with the cuteness. Don't let that scare you away however. You will still learn from this book.

I am an English teacher by profession but I've always wanted to learn a programming language in order to be able to build simple interactive exercises for my students. I have a working knowledge in Visual Basic and JavaScript in which I've been working for the last couple of years. Not knowing where to start with Java, I picked this book based on the numerous positive comments and the fact that it is considered to be a beginner's book. However, my overall impression so far, I've covered the first five chapters, is that like some other programming books I've seen it teaches you about Java, but not Java. What I mean is that it gives you the description of the tools but it hardly tells you where, when and how to use these tools. Probably these are left to the reader to figure out. Now in my opionion this is too heavy a burden for a begginer who needs guidance all along. In my opinion, it's a bit like teaching foreign languages. Giving just grammar rules is never enough. Just as important, if not more, is to to provide situations where these rules are put to use.

It starts very basic, so those of us who have already some experience with Java will find it boring at the beginning. I hope it gets more interesting as I move forward in the book.

I didn't know anything about Java before reading this book, and after finishing it, I've improve my skills on programming by 200%

I have little experience programming with Java, I know the basics.
I like this book cause it has a fresh approach to the Java Programming.
You will find in it a funny and easy reading and a series of interesting excersises to keep the concepts in your mind for a long time.
Worth it.

This is one of the BEST computer related learning tool I've read. They certainly don't put a lot into this book to make it not just another "programming book". I recommend any title produced by Head First Labs!

Best way to put yourself to bed is read a boring technical textbook. This book is not one of those! I actually have some great Java reference books but none of them explain java concepts in such a concrete and tangible and entertaining way. Never have I ever had a book that made me laugh so hard while learning Java. I love this book, it helps to really drive home java concepts in a way that's easy to understand and it makes you laugh.

The printing, black and white, features airy pages, varied typography, an ongoing cast of cartoony characters, and plenty of humorous illustrations.

Much to my surprise, it also features good content about Java 5, very good. It covers wait/notify better than others I've seen, and takes a fair stab at generics. They describe synchronization and deadlock, as well as good chunks of the standard libraries. They even describe serialization and deserialization well enough to get going with. Quizzes with answers and solved problems check your understanding as you go along.

On the minus side, I didn't see mention of "volatile" declarations - a necessity for safe sharing of data between threads. Even if you don't use the volatile declaration, you need to know what volatility is or face erratic, unrepeatable error in your threaded code. Murphy's Law being what it is, such errors rarely occur in lightly loaded test conditions; they usually wait until a system is running a big configuration and a heavy load, i.e. just when you want failures least. Pretty much everything else is somewhere in this book, though, in enough detail to get you started.

So, decide what you want. If you already know that you're born member of the video game generation, this light and breezy presentation might suit you. Speaking as a user-unfriendly user, I have to grit my teeth to get past the fun fluff and into the gritty bits. They are there to be had, though.

-- wiredweird

I am teaching a Java Programming class and using this book as my text. The course assumes some prior programming experience, and I believe all of students have that. In fact, most of the students are doing great! I am truly amazed at how quickly they are learning and applying concepts that other Java texts don't even touch or get into.

Personally, I think the content and presentation can't be beat, but at least one of my students has a COBOL / mainframe background, and he is not adapting to the text. In fact, he said he is used to reading big reference manuals, which this book clearly is not (a good thing). I only mention this becauase the use of graphics, younger people, and the wry, hip slang they use can be a turn-off to some people.

Bottom line: I think it's a great book. It is not for everybody, but then, no book can be. Buy the book, learn Java, and have fun!

I have read a lot of programming books, but rarely do I read them cover to cover. They are usually too lengthy and only suited for reading individual captures as a reference.

This is my second Head First book (I bought Design Patterns first and now also have Servlets/JSP) and it is fantastic. There are several hokey tricks that are very effective at getting the point across for me as a person that learns much better by using diagrams.

It also drives points home with subtle repetition. I say subtle, because it always rephrases the concept with each iteration. This is also a key to how it is so effective, because when we communicate, we often get into a rut of repeating the same thing over and over to someone even though they can't understand it. Rephrasing will often remove the mental block.

I tore through the entire 650+ pages in two weeks while doing all of my other regular stuff. I haven't had to write an app in Java in over 6 years, but I feel very well equipped now. I intend to get as many Head First books as I can find.

The authors have a wonderful way of presenting the material so that it is memorable. This is a great way to get up to speed on Object Oriented Programming and on Java.

I found this book to have a very interesting and efficient approach to help memorize the content. Pictures and labels in or near the picture makes it fun and easy to read unlike other boring 600+ page technology books. I would recommend it.

This book is just plain FUN and easy to read, whether you plan on becoming a professional Java programmer or just want to know what "object-oriented" programming is all about. It is filled with humor and plain language explanations of Java concepts, including loads of examples. Its greatest value, in my opinion, is as a tutorial approach to Java newcomers.

Head First Java is NOT a good reference book though, so don't buy it if that's what you need! The index is missing many common references to ordinary Java concepts so it is difficult to look up how to do something and find instructions, unless it's something extremely mainstream.

That said, this is by far the best book I've ever seen of its kind. If you have the time to actually read through the book and do the exercises, you will come away with an excellent foundation in Java programming. Each exercise (most of which are games) begins with a conceptual explanation, followed by a "prepcode" version (the program written in a combination of English and actual code), and finally as a real Java program. The authors have gone to the trouble of labelling each line of "real" code with an explanation of what it does. They have anticipated users' questions and answered them. They occasionally leave bugs in a program deliberately, so that you can see the error message and then receive a thorough description of why it occurred and how to fix it. Excellent!!!

I'd like to say a few words about Head First Java, 2nd Edition by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates. Teamed with their publisher, "O'Reilly Media, Inc.", they were extremely successful at producing a book of high technical value, worthy entertainment, and having the virtues of a true certification aid.

Technical value: From learning the core fundamental Java features to truly understanding the inner working or Stacks and Heaps, you'll find this book a valuable reference regardless of the assignment or task you are working on.

Worthy Entertainment: Most books put you to sleep, this book keeps you awake. From parameterized duck sizes to polymorphic hippos, the book is filled with entertaining diagrams, examples and exercises. One will find him/herself revisiting the chapters just for the fun on it.

Certification Aid: Sun Microsystems lists this book as a "Supporting Material" for their Sun Certified (Java) Associate for the Java Platform Exam (CX-310-019). As president of the Tech Center Java User Group, supporting the field of aviation in Southern New Jersey, I can vouch for members of our group who have achieved this SCJA certification with assistance from this book, including myself. Our group gives Head First Java, 2nd Edition a total of (5 out of 5) Stars.

All in all, I consider this Head First Java, 2nd Edition's a must-have. Its catalog page is at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfjava2/ and its retail price is $44.95.

Robert J. Liguori, President
Tech Center Java User Group

Great book to read if you are new to Java. I like the way they explain the concepts which makes it easy to understand. Its best to start learning Java with this book.

I was completely new to Java programming and this book made understanding the Object Oriented programming with Java fun and interesting. The exercises included in each chapter were very helpful.

The pace of this book is wacky. On one hand, it moves slowly, often repeating basic information 3 or 4 times in an attempt to drill it into your head. The inescapable blurbs, pictures, and sidebars, while amusing, are also distracting and sometimes feel like "filler". On the other hand, the book introduces somewhat advanced concepts like loops, encapsulation, etc very quickly, but glosses over most of the details, promising to explain the details in later chapters but more often than not failing to deliver on that promise.

It's hard to tell who this book is aimed at. Beginners with no programming experience can learn basic OO concepts, but the complete lack of actual programming exercises (as opposed to "exercises" like crossword puzzles) will prevent them from getting their feet wet.
Those readers with even a modest programming background will be left with more questions than answers, as the book explains only those details which are necessary to build its sample programs.

Not sure about this book. With almost 700 pages it is a little daunting. There are a lot of examples, cartoons, jokes, etc. so you aren't reading 700 pages of text. It does have an interesting way of presenting things. I think it may be of more use as I get more into coding java.

If you already know programming, or you're happy with being given vague hints of what things do rather than an organized explanation, this might a fine text for learning Java. This book throws language features at you, without following any of them up with discussion when or why you might want to use certain features. So if you don't want the book's first programs to include all of: variables, loops, method calls, and boolean values all one one page (with only sporadic re-visitations to the topic), then another text might be better for you.

To its credit, this book does manage to present the material in a way unlike any other, which can appeal to certain learning styles.

If you cant learn java from this book you are not fit for IT.

Pretty funny and quite easy to follow... not for the experienced programmer :)

I purchased a few other books on Java and have found this one to be the best by far. Unlike most texts on Java, it actually goes through and teaches the subject rather than just serving as a reference material. Another great feature of this book is that it does not assume you already know C++ like most other Java books I purchased and subsequently put down after reading a few chapters. This is a great book if you are new to object oriented programming and would like to learn Java without having to first learn C++ and/or object oriented programming principles as a prerequisite.

I needed to learn some Java fundamentals for the SCJA exam. I picked up this book, and it taught me what I needed to know for the syntax part, and then some.

This is the best book around for learning Java syntax and the language. Certainly covers more syntax than you need to know for SCJA, but more is better than not enough!

Great book.

this is a very good book. It gives you a very solid understanding of object oriented programming world. I have done first 5 chapters . I feel good about java.

I was surprised at how well this book kept my attention. This is the only programming book I've ever read cover-to-cover without falling asleep. Not even once. This book is very easy to follow and understand. No need to re-read sections. Everything seems to somehow "stick" just like the book advertises. I would highly recommend this book to anyone needing to learn Java. Be advised though that there is no such thing as a "cureall" book. You will need other texts after this one. But I will say that this should definitely be your first book whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned professional starting a new language. You won't be dissapointed.

the title self explains my point of view

While this book may be intended for the beginner, it's diconnected brief writing style will lead inexperienced programmers to frustration and disgust. The first chapter on fundimentals starts with a basic printed line (typical hello world! program) to the next exercise on IF statements. Then the next directly to loops. No beginning programming book should dive headfirst (pun intended) directly into loops on the first chapter. The book offers little explanation of it's code examples which are usually in the form disconnected, nonfucntioning snippets of code in misalligned boxes peppering the pages. Java is hard enough to learn without having to decypher crossword puzzles to find the answers to what code does. Many times in the book, the authors will present a new code concept and ask to reader to guess what the code does without ever reveiling what the correct answer was. You'll find that 90% of the reviews that gave this book a positive review was reviewed by programmers that were experienced in other programming languages and understood the core concepts of programming. I would highly NOT reccommend this book to any beginner programmer and suggest one of the Deitel books instead.

I am a veteran mainframe programmer (COBOL, PLI, etc.) with some OO (Object Oriented) experience. With this book I am having a lot of fun learning Java. I am finding this a great place to start my experience with Java.

If you are not already familiar with the "Head First" series of books, they are technical books on various subjects that feature an unconventional method of learning. They usually include crossword puzzles, Q&A sessions, fake conversations between different pieces of code, and even cartoons so that the subject matter will stand out in the reader's mind versus the format of a standard textbook. If you like the more conventional approach, you might be advised to stick with the old standard tutorial on Java, "Core Java" by Cornell.

The book starts out talking about the history of Java, the various versions of Java, and what is different about each one. It then goes on to explain the very basics of writing a Java application and then illustrates with the book's first so-called "serious business application" - a Java version of the song "90 bottles of beer". Of course, as is typical in the head-first series, the book codes the application up somewhat incorrectly in its first attempt and asks you to find the problem. The second chapter is an introduction to objects, their value, and how they are implemented in Java. From that point forward, for the next eight chapters or so, you are not seeing content much different from what you would see in any thorough book on the Java programming language - just a difference in presentation.

Starting in chapter 11, the book takes a series of subjects that can get involved and, as a result, often lose the reader, and makes it interesting by building a Music Machine - specifically a BeatBox Drum Machine. By building this application piece by piece the reader learns about exception handling, Java GUIs, Java Swing, and the interaction involved in all three subjects. The final chapters in the book deal with object serialization, networking and threads, data collections and generics, and releasing your code through packages and jar files. When it is applicable the BeatBox Drum Machine is toyed with to expand its capabilities and demonstrate the new concepts, but the author also shows some simpler applications to get the point across too. There hasn't been a really good book on Java distributed computing written in about ten years, and the next chapter goes over the basics of the subject for beginners. It does a good job of explaining the purpose and use of RMI, servlets, Enterprise JavaBeans, and even some Jini at a basic level.

This is a good book for someone who is just starting to learn Java, and is very suitable for self-study. However, although most people really love the head-first series, there are a very few people that just hate this approach. Thus you might want to glance at any book in the head-first series and see if this style of learning appeals to you before purchasing this particular book.

As a developer that started in the mainframe world, my transition to OO programming has been less than smooth. A co-worker suggested the Head First series and I was DELIGHTED with the presentation of information. This book presents the same information that the 10,000 other beginner-Java books present, but with stories, pictures, games, puzzles, fun dialogues, jokes and a series of challenges that stimulate your brain in a whole new way. Unlike other technical books, sitting down and reading this one cover-to-cover was a lot of FUN. Plus, I walked away with a solid understanding of many of the basics.

I now use it as a reference and refresher manual that has come in handy more than once.

The only thing I would like to see improved is that the Index in the back could be a little more comprehensive. But I can live with a mediocre Index if I walk away with a new set of skills and a ton of confidence in my new job.

This is my second Head First Book that I have finished, my first was Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (Head First). This book is a much more dense book compared to the HTML one, which makes since due to the fact that OOP is a much much more deep a topic than HTML & CSS.
I took my time reading this book and have read each chapter at least twice to reinforce all the concepts, and have placed tabs on pages that I reference frequently.

The first half of the book goes over proper Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and really tries to reinforce how to think about Objects. The second half of the book goes over using common classes already in the Java Runtime so you learn not just how to do OOP but also so you learn how to use and discover new classes.

I also think that the concepts taught in this book will help you regardless of what programming language you use. I recently earned my degree in Management Information Systems. I have taken many programming classes (VB.NET, C++) and none of them taught OOP as well as this book. HF Java has taught me proper OOP which has really helped my in my new job in which I use VB&ASP.NET.

As for my review all I can do is add to the deafening chorus of all the other reviews and proclaim that this is indeed a fantastic book!

Now I'm off to go read Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design: A Brain Friendly Guide to OOA&D (Head First) and then probably Head First Design Patterns (Head First)!

This book is good for helping you understand the object-oriented concepts of Java. It is written in a fun style and still has lots of substance. The book assumes you are not a total beginner at programming. It is helpful especially for procedural programmers struggling to come to terms with object-oriented language design.