Head First Learn to Code: A Learner’s Guide to Coding and Computational Thinking PDF
Preview Head First Learn to Code: A Learner’s Guide to Coding and Computational Thinking
Head First Learn to Code Eric Freeman Praise for Head First Learn to Code “This is one of the most surprising, entertaining and brilliantly-planned software books I’ve ever read. It’s more interesting and better thought-out than all other beginning programming books I know put together. I run into people all the time who need to learn programming and want to know what course to take; I plan to tell them to forget about courses and get this book instead.” —— David Gelernter, Professor of Computer Science, Yale University “Head First Learn to Code has humor, emotions, and step by step instructions. This book turns on your brain, makes you laugh and teaches you to be a code master—it’s a keeper.” —— Smore Magazine, a science magazine to know more and be more “The book is a great read, even for an experienced programmer, with new perspectives on how to teach difficult concepts we take for granted. Whether your just starting out or trying to figure out ways to bring more people to code, this book will serve you well. Eric has made learning to code accessible and approachable without dumbing anything down and setting the expectations of effort and difficulty that actually exist.” —— Avi Flombaum, Dean and Chief Product Officer of the Flatiron School “As a high school computer science teacher, Head First Learn to Code is my new primary resource for introducing topics to students. It has an immensely personal touch and its conversational nature, humor, and general style make it feel as if you are learning from another human rather than merely reading a piece of text.” —— Brandon Shufflebarger, Regents School of Austin “This is the book I wish would have been around when I first started learning to code. Unlike other beginner’s programming books, Freeman strikes a perfect balance of humor, concise tutorials, and helpful background information—without sounding condescending or overly technical. Head First Learn to Code will certainly be a valuable resource for beginning coders at our school fablab.” —— Patrick Benfield, Innovation Director, The Magellan International School “It takes talent and creativity to write in such an accessible manner. I am looking forward to using the book next school year in an introductory course. I became enthralled with the relevant and accessible examples that were substantive rather than the typical irrelevant and superficial examples presented to the reader of a typical text on the subject.” —— Josh Sharfman, Teacher, Shalhevet Advanced Studies, Computer Science “In keeping with a book about a language named for Monty Python, there’s a lot of meta-humor here about the software industry, about programmer culture, and about tutorial books themselves. It’s nice to be reminded that coding takes place in the (sometimes illogical) world of humans.” —— Adjunct Professor of Music Technology at NYU and Montclair State University “As a National Champion Rock Band Coach, I understand that students must feel inspired by a subject in order to consistently practice and enjoy themselves in the process. Without inspiration and joy, people eventually lose focus and enthusiasm. That’s why good teachers are so valuable to our society. They can break a potentially boring complex subject, like learning code, down into easily digestible, delicious nuggets of fun. As and educator, Eric Freeman is masterful. He shows us how learning can be simple, enjoyable and easily retainable.” —— James Mays, Director, Band Aid School of Music “HFL2C is a pleasurable, entertaining and effective way to learn computational thinking and python basics. The book has strong pedagogical underpinnings, an exciting array of learning activities and is well written in a fun and conversational tone that is approachable and breaks down complex computational concepts in an easy, digestible way.” computational concepts in an easy, digestible way.” —— Troy Welch, Coordinator, Innovations, Thompson Rivers University Praise for other books by Eric Freeman “I feel like a thousand pounds of books have just been lifted off of my head.” —— Ward Cunningham, inventor of the Wiki “The admirable clarity, humor and substantial doses of clever make it the sort of book that helps even non-programmers think well about problem-solving.” —— Cory Doctorow, co-editor of Boing Boing, Science Fiction author “Freeman continues to use innovative teaching methods for communicating complex concepts to basic principles.” —— Mark Arana, Strategy & Innovation, The Walt Disney Studios “I can think of no better tour guide than Eric.” —— Miko Matsumura, VP of Marketing and Developer Relations at Hazelcast Former Chief Java Evangelist, Sun Microsystems “The definitive book on HTML5 for everyone from beginners to experienced developers.” —— Aaron LaBerge, CTO, ESPN “The highly graphic and incremental approach precisely mimics the best way to learn this stuff...” —— Danny Goodman, author of Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Guide “Eric clearly knows his stuff. As the Internet becomes more complex, inspired construction of web pages becomes increasingly critical. Elegant design is at the core of every chapter here, each concept conveyed with equal doses of pragmatism and wit.” —— Ken Goldstein, former CEO of Shop.com and author of This is Rage: A Novel of Silicon Valley and Other Madness Other O’Reilly books by Eric Freeman Head First HTML and CSS Head First JavaScript Programming Head First HTML5 Programming Head First Design Patterns Other books in O’Reilly’s Head First series Head First HTML and CSS Head First JavaScript Programming Head First HTML5 Programming Head First Design Patterns Head First Servlets and JSP Head First Java Head First Python Head First Learn to Code by Eric Freeman Copyright © 2018 Eric Freeman. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly Media books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles (http://oreilly.com/safari). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. In other words, if you use anything in Head First Learn to Code to, say, run a nuclear power plant, you’re on your own. No turtles were harmed in the making of this book. ISBN: 978-1-491-95886-5 [M] Before KISS I had zero experience playing in a rock band that wears makeup. — Gene Simmons the author Eric is described by Head First series co-creator Kathy Sierra as “one of those rare individuals fluent in the language, practice, and culture of multiple domains from hipster hacker, corporate VP, engineer, think tank.” And his background matches that description well. By training, Eric is a computer scientist, having studied with industry luminary David Gelernter during his Ph.D. work at Yale University. Professionally, Eric is a former media company executive—having held the position of CTO of Disney.com at The Walt Disney Company. Eric has also held positions at O’Reilly Media, NASA, and several startups, and his IP is licensed and in use on every Mac and PC. Over the last 15 years Eric has been one of the top-selling technical authors on topics from beginning web development to high-level software design. Eric is currently is a Principal at WickedlySmart, LLC, and lives with his wife and young daughter in Austin, Texas. Write to Eric at
The list of books you might like
