I have not managed to journal my experience with the Head First Java book by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates, but it has been great. One concept that I have had trouble with prior to Head First Java is the relationship between events and listeners with graphical user interface controls. Coming from a Visual Basic background, the programming of an interface was largely simplified, and subsequently limited.
While teaching the use of the ActionListener interface, the book fleshes out the concept of interfaces in general via the hands-on experience gained while working through the GUI-related chapters. In short, if you haven’t learned Java yet, get the book!
Almost every spare moment I have had lately has been devoted to trying to get through the Head First book since I have so much work coming up with the J2EE study group. This weblog will probably be pretty sparse for a while.