[Edu-sig] re: book: Head First Java

[Kirby Urner]

At 06:30 PM 6/24/2003 -0400, Jason Cunliffe wrote:

>I say this becuase I've been browsing "Head First Java" in my local Barnes&
>Noble a few times since I first posted here.. The more I look at it, the
>more impressed I think I am ;-) I'll wager it's fast on its way to becoming
>a new 'classic' and a best seller . It's cartoony and witty, but benefits
>greatly from the facts that its own content is the result of the two
>authors' direct experience and collaboration.  Java is scary and verbose,
>but powerful and ubiquitous. "Head First" really tries to tackle ideas
>first, and let the syntax follow. But it gets into some serious work soon
>enough. Reminds me of "Who is Fourier?"


Yes, exactly.  I was just browsing it in Borders this evening,
remembering very well your praise way back in June.  Indeed, the
similarities to 'Who is Fourier?' are striking, and the playfulness
is motivated by a similar rationale, "getting the brain to absorb
a new language" (Java in one case, some higher math in the other).

I'm impressed that O'Reilly would risk this foray into new
territory -- certainly helps that the authors have good credentials
and explain the "whys and wherefores" of their pedagogical methods
up front.

It's not a in the "for dummies" genre, but one might see some of
the same techniques being employed -- a conversational versus a
didactic style, sudden gear shifts, playfulness, graphics.  But
this book has more graphics, and better ones, than the average
"for dummies" -- it's really a higher end product.

Where I'd like to go is even further in this direction, but with
multimedia -- Flash, voice, the rest of it, but with high level
technical content crammed in.

I think think these pedagogy pioneers are really on to something.

Kirby

PS:  browsing in another bookstore, decades ago, I recall coming
across something by Timothy Leary (perhaps collaborative) published
in a tabloid style, with a similar rationale:  tabloids look like
that for a reason (the brain responds to those blaring headlines).
One can harness the techniques for more serious purposes.  Of course
it's a risk to bring up Leary and tabloids when trying to underline
the legitimacy of a genre, but I can't help myself:  giving credit
where I feel credit is due.  Oh, and another one fit here:
'I Seem To Be a Verb' by Buckminster Fuller.