Review:Cover is hard and protective, pages are floppy and easily turned, doesn't require too much muscle power to get to the next page. Could use more pictures of kittens. All in all, it does everything I expect a book to do. Read more

Review:Reading it through gives you a complete picture of building microservices. I have already had experiences with restful service design, cloud computing and so on. Microservice is just one step ahead. Good to see the author listing various software to use for each aspect and his judgement on them. Very helpful! Read more

Review:In popular culture, computer programmers, sometimes confused with sysadmins, are often described as teenage punks, sitting in a dark, lit only by the glow of their monitor, empty cartons of pizza and Mountain Dew bottles scattered strategically around, frantically hacking away on their keyboard.

What does it mean to be a professional programmer? Is it wearing a suit and tie to work? Is it having certifications or diplomas decorating the walls of your office? Is it working hard, sometimes ... Read more

Review:Several months ago, I had a renewed interest in computer programming and started researching . John's blog was one of the first places where I found some wonderful advice. Around this time, he was promoting this wonderful book. I signed up for the Manning Early Release Program like some others, and was really impressed when I read the first two chapters - I couldn't wait to read the rest of it.

"Soft Skills" has great advice for those who are interested in becoming software developers.... Read more

Review:My first (rash) reaction to this book was unfairly negative, because of the word "code" in its title. I teach software design to technicians, and so they already know how to code. The problem I have is getting them to think about design and its importance. This book, despite its title, contains a lot of useful information regarding design. The electronic (Kindle) version was helpful to find the areas where it is. Read more

Review:The only thing that stopped me from giving this book a top rating was the author's solemn observation that no executive was likely to work with a terminal in his own office. After all, the executive had far too much paperwork to manage. Right. Well, it was the 1970's. Apart from that and the mysterious absence of female programmers, the book has timeless advice for the management of software projects and team members. Read more

Review:As mentioned in other reviews, the book itself is low quality. The cover image is blurry, there is no print on the binding, and there are pointlessly large margins surrounding all of the text. On top of that, the printed font is grainy and difficult to read.

I would rather track down a proper printing of this product, than try to trudge through reading this. As a comparison, Code Complete is three times longer than this book. However, I was able to easily hold and read that book. This ve... Read more

Review:Some books really don't need ratings, this is one such book. Any experienced software developer should own a copy of this book and should have studied this book. Beginners are recommended to maybe also buy Alan Shalloway's book titled Design Patterns Explained as companion read or as a primer. Read more

Review:A wonderful book to introduce and explain some of the key design patterns. The Java examples are well explained and clear. It's not an exhaustive definition, nor does it claim to be. It is, however, a very approachable guide. I reopen it to review the examples almost weekly. Well done Head First! Read more

Review:Refactoring definitely embodies the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover". Unfortunately I did this and missed out on a great book for too long. Franky, this thing looks like a text book... not something that would be an easy, enjoyable ready. However, this is exactly what it is.
Fowler's conversational style keeps the book moving and very enjoyable. He opens with a refactoring walkthrough that introduces you to the general concepts. After this the book catalogs all of the refactoring... Read more