I first lend this book from collage developer an have read with great enthusiasms and finally ordered my own copy of this book.
The book gives detailed information on how to developing software from scratch, taken you by hand and leading you de hole way step by step.
With the different way to present the information en with lot of illustrations its newer a boring read.

Anders Kjaer

[...]

Although I was initially put off by the non-serious cover and gimmicky premise, I decided to trust to O'Reilly and give this book a try. That turned out to be a great decision!

Be forewarned that the real title should be "Head First AGILE Software Development," so don't expect other methodologies, but it definitely delivers. Whether you're just beginning to take the plunge into agile development, or you've been sort of trying to do it for a while but don't have a real clear picture of your goal, this is a great book for you.

However, if you've been developing agilely for a while, then what you'll find here isn't much more than a refresher course or reminder of how you should be doing things.

I've been eyeballing the Head First books for a while, specifically the Java and Object-Oriented Analysis & Design. I don't program in Java and I think I understand OOP very well. Because of this, the Head First structure looks to offer a bit less structure - so a good "read as you can" book.

I got this title in a raffle. I'm glad I did. It whetted my appetite for more Head First. Not so much for the content (Which I will review further down) but because it's almost like reading a comic book. Easy, entertaining and something my busy dizzy mind could readily grasp in small chunks. I will probably get another Head First book in the future. Probably more than one.

As for the content of this book, it was well laid out and for someone new to the concepts of formal software design, it was nice to see all the little pieces come together. I did have a hard time with the Java specific environment, but I guess it would be a much larger book if they covered other systems. The steps were clear, some of them a smidge corny, but most of them logical.

After having read this, I was inspired to put it to use. That's when it hit me. I can't see this working unless the entire development group reads the book - or they were all newbies. Well I can see it, just not in the places I've worked.

The way this book is writen is just fantastic. Wonderful book to LEARN how to develop GOOD software.

Head First Software Development is another home run from the Head First series. I have bougth the HTML/CSS, Design Patterns, Object-Oriented Analysis & Design, and now this book. These "Brain-Friendly Guides" are such wonderful learning tools packed with great information, and so much fun to read. Keep them coming!

This book explains the dynamics of Agile development. it is a great introduction for team leaders. it dosent discuess the philoshophy that stands behind agile development but describes in a great way HOW TO start an agile project.

the special "head first" attitued to computer books is a pleasure as usuall.

Since becoming a Development Manager, this is the first book I've made required reading for the team. Good software development is NOT common sense. When confronted with something as complex as a software project, people tend to respond with panic (which the book calls the Big Bang) or massive attempts at control (the Waterfall method).

HFSD preaches Iterative Development without all the dogma of Scrum or XP. It leaves the controversial stuff to other books, focusing on what good developers pretty much agree on. The practices are easily adopted and flexible, although like all worthwhile things in the world, they take a lifetime to master.

There's a lot to like about this book. The other Head First guides are good, but the style really, really fits the material here ... maybe because development is really less about technology than it is about working with others.

Stop hacking together bad code, stop insane cost overruns and missed schedules. This great book in the terrific "Head First" series tells you how, in easy to understand ways, to use Agile Methodologies so you can stop hacking and 'programming' and start doing real product development. Produce quality software that meets the customer's requirements and do it on time and on budget. What a concept!

I have used these methodologies for several years at two Fortune 100 companies and these have been the most productive and personally satisfying years of my 32 years in software engineering.

If you develop software for a living, you need this book. Period.

I've read and reviewed several of the "Head First" series of books on programming languages and software design, so I thought I would give this one a try too. Unlike so many books on software development, this one doesn't start with a terse and rather useless overview chapter. Instead it clearly tells you who this book is for: Those who have a background in programming, specifically Java, who want to learn techniques for building and delivering software. First the book explains the Head First concept in learning - using puzzles, cartoons, graphics, and anything else that should stick in your head to explain the usually dry topic of software engineering.

The first three chapters - "Great Software Development", "Gathering Requirements", and "Project Planning" - talk about how software development usually goes wrong and talks about some of the methods for organizing your efforts. Chapter 4 puts some of these ideas in motion when the book analyzes the development of a mythical application, iSwoon. The book has the application get into serious trouble and then shows you the way out of the abyss using good software design methodology. Next, the book has you adding features to "BeatBox Pro", which is an application from the "Head First Java" book. This is where your ability to understand Java code comes into play. The book also discusses the use and usefulness of the Ant build tool for Java projects. However, this is a book on how to approach the design of the software, not how to perform the detailed coding, so having somewhat rusty Java skills should be acceptable. Throughout the book are puzzles, Q&A sessions, and "There are no dumb question" sessions that really drive home the points being made. The following is the table of contents for the book:

1. Great Software Development
2. Gathering Requirements
3. Project Planning
4. User Stories and Tasks
5. Good-enough Design
6. Version Control
6.5 Building Your Code
7. Testing and Continuous Integration
8. Test-Driven Development
9. Ending an Iteration
10. The Next Iteration
11. Bugs
12. The Real World
Appendix A. Leftovers
Section A.1. #1. UML class diagrams
Section A.2. #2. Sequence diagrams
Section A.3. #3. User stories and use cases
Section A.4. #4. System tests vs. unit tests
Section A.5. #5. Refactoring
Appendix B. techniques and principles
Section B.1. Development Techniques
Section B.2. Development Principles

In summary I would highly recommend this book for someone looking for an approachable guide to software development. It will probably also help students enrolled in a course in software engineering since it makes clear and accessible a subject that usually gets bogged down in dry academic prose in the textbooks usually assigned for such classes.

I've read and reviewed several of the "Head First" series of books on programming languages and software design, so I thought I would give this one a try too. Unlike so many books on software development, this one doesn't start with a terse and rather useless overview chapter. Instead it clearly tells you who this book is for: Those who have a background in programming, specifically Java, who want to learn techniques for building and delivering software. First the book explains the Head First concept in learning - using puzzles, cartoons, graphics, and anything else that should stick in your head to explain the usually dry topic of software engineering.

The first three chapters - "Great Software Development", "Gathering Requirements", and "Project Planning" - talk about how software development usually goes wrong and talks about some of the methods for organizing your efforts. Chapter 4 puts some of these ideas in motion when the book analyzes the development of a mythical application, iSwoon. The book has the application get into serious trouble and then shows you the way out of the abyss using good software design methodology. Next, the book has you adding features to "BeatBox Pro", which is an application from the "Head First Java" book. This is where your ability to understand Java code comes into play. The book also discusses the use and usefulness of the Ant build tool for Java projects. However, this is a book on how to approach the design of the software, not how to perform the detailed coding, so having somewhat rusty Java skills should be acceptable. Throughout the book are puzzles, Q&A sessions, and "There are no dumb question" sessions that really drive home the points being made. The following is the table of contents for the book:

1. Great Software Development
2. Gathering Requirements
3. Project Planning
4. User Stories and Tasks
5. Good-enough Design
6. Version Control
6.5 Building Your Code
7. Testing and Continuous Integration
8. Test-Driven Development
9. Ending an Iteration
10. The Next Iteration
11. Bugs
12. The Real World
Appendix A. Leftovers
Section A.1. #1. UML class diagrams
Section A.2. #2. Sequence diagrams
Section A.3. #3. User stories and use cases
Section A.4. #4. System tests vs. unit tests
Section A.5. #5. Refactoring
Appendix B. techniques and principles
Section B.1. Development Techniques
Section B.2. Development Principles

In summary I would highly recommend this book for someone looking for an approachable guide to software development. It will probably also help students enrolled in a course in software engineering since it makes clear and accessible a subject that usually gets bogged down in dry academic prose in the textbooks usually assigned for such classes.