http://www.twitter.com/bdmclaughlin
Author, educator, curious and driven geek
Areas of Expertise:
- java
- xml
- object-oriented analysis and design
- learning theory
- cognitive science
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Brett blogs at:
http://www.headfirstlabs.com
http://radar.oreilly.com
http://toc.oreilly.com
July 13 2011
HTML5, when used both as the 21st century web suggests and as the original HTML specification allowed, is best at interconnecting things. read moreJuly 06 2011
Learning Node might take a little effort, but it's going to pay off. Why? Because you're afforded solutions to your web application problems that require only JavaScript to solve. read moreWe are iPad. Resistance is (not) futile
April 09 2010
When did developers ever need permission to break things? When did Steve Jobs become not just rule maker, but some sort of deity that actually prevented me from ignoring said rule maker, and doing whatever I could with my device? read moreIs the "e" in ebooks the new blink tag?
March 30 2010
The first group/publisher/company/person who moves away from the ebook and to content -- content that can be delivered to a variety of media, digital and non-digital, with display and style applied separate from and after content creation -- wins. read moreAugust 18 2009
I've recently resumed a childhood love affair with comics. In particular, I'm a fan of the Uncanny X-Men. While they're not as edgy as the Dark Knight, and not as hip as a Dark Horse mini-series, they're what got me started on comics, and what I continually go back to.… read moreJune 24 2009
Over the next few weeks, I thought we'd take a close look at some of the common Head First elements. A lot of folks love getting into the pedagogy of Head First, so this is almost a mini-primer to how... read moreJune 22 2009
I tend to browse around Flickr a lot, and came across this image: So what's missing here? Well, it would seem obvious... except to many technical book authors. See, for most folks, the obvious answer here is, "There are no students!" But for the average technical book author -- and… read moreWhen do your beliefs become knowledge?
June 08 2009
I've been reading a lot of philosophy lately -- Kierkegaard and Dawkins, Lewis, Hume, Calvin and Augustine, you name it -- for a class I'm taking, as well as for my own enjoyment. One of the interesting things about philosophy is that it's a discipline that takes the understanding of… read moreYour brain really is forgetting... a LOT
April 27 2009
I'm currently reading Welcome to Your Brain: Why You Lose Your Car Keys but Never Forget How to Drive and Other Puzzles of Everyday Life by Dr. Sandra Aamodt and Dr. Sam Wang. The enormity of the title notwithstanding, I'm enjoying the book, and ran across this rather amazing quotation:… read moreWhat does it take to be a Head First author?
March 06 2009
Do you ever wish you could write a Head First book? Wondering what it takes? Check out what Brett, the series editor, has to say about writing a Head First book. read moreFebruary 10 2009
A few weeks ago, I was chatting with Tim. He mentioned that he'd recently taken his first ride on a Jet Ski. Several torturous minutes later, he got off, still alive and capable of detecting faint signals. But his back was suffering... badly. read moreOur brains are sort of... well... stupid
February 02 2009
I've long heard people complain about how commercials represent the basest forms of humanity. Yesterday, I was reminded this, as Twitter was all ablaze with people in outrage over the latest GoDaddy.com commercial. read moreChoose your own adventure... er... learning path
January 14 2009
There's a lot to be said that's positive about our declining economy. (Yeah, it's an odd beginning. But hang in there with me.) In the publishing industry, for example, we're having to be a lot more careful about what products we release. We're also having to be more efficient in… read moreThe dreaded EJB question... addressed
January 13 2009
Lots of folks have been clamoring to know about the second edition of Head First EJB. Click Play on the video below to get a direct answer... I promise. read moreJanuary 06 2009
So here we are, a new year. Unsurprisingly, we're getting lots of questions here at the Labs about what's coming in 2009. What books are in progress? What about Rough Cuts and Safari... what's going on there? And where, oh... read moreSpecial Announcement: Head First PDFs
December 19 2008
Hey there, Head First fans. It's been a crazy year for us here at Head First, and we've been working hard to end the year on an amazing, Joe-Frank-and-Jim would-love-this note. You've already seen our latest newsletter, where we've made... read moreNovember 26 2008
I'm so completely fascinated by how we get the learning principles that science tells us about into books... but also as to how common phenomenon in life translate into books, as well. Case in point: I've been really working on... read moreNovember 26 2008
We're all about visuals here at Head First. Everything we know, as in we at Head First, and we, as in humans, says that visuals get the brain's attention. There's an ease of remembrance inherent in photos, images, and especially... read moreNovember 26 2008
I read to have fun, or for enjoyment, or for entertainment, or perhaps to escape the drudgery of my day. And even if I'm reading non-fiction, or "for learning," I still have to enjoy the book. The writing has to... read moreThat great big voice in the sky
November 26 2008
I've thankfully never been into or hooked upon soap operas (although you could argue anything on in the evening that's "character-driven" is little more than a revamped soap opera), but I've from time to time seen a TiVoed or YouTubed... read moreThey're so smart, they're telepathic...
November 26 2008
I received an interesting mail today, on something I'd almost forgotten about: There's one thing I find really distracting. All of your speech balloons use a string of circles to connect the speaker to the words. If you buy any... read moreNovember 26 2008
I mentioned yesterday that I've been conducting a Head First author training in Boston. We've got about 18 authors (although not that many books) represented, and I've been having the time of my life. What's amazing at these sessions is... read moreWe are gawered herwe togewer...
November 26 2008
Okay, so it's hard to write the accent of that crazy minister in The Princess Bride, but hopefully you get the idea. Anyway, I'm writing from a hotel in Boston. In just about an hour, we'll start one of our... read moreNovember 26 2008
One of the most common emails we get around here at Head First is the "Will you please publish Head First XXX?" Usually, there are little touches of individuality sprinkled in with these requests... maudlin stories about a child who... read moreWhy don't you TELL us what you want
November 26 2008
I've taken a few days off from posting more thoughts on anticipation (see the previous few blog entries), largely because everyone's on holiday and probably not spending much time reading Head First blogs :-) We'll get back to anticipation in... read moreNovember 26 2008
So how does anticipation affect learning? And how can we use anticipation to enhance learning? It's something I've thought about a lot, and while we've never really codified this in Head First, we do tend to work with anticipation in... read moreAnticipation (for a book, a box, a blog...)
November 26 2008
I wonder a lot about anticipation. It's one of the strongest unexplored and unexplained feelings. Heck, I'm not even sure if it's formally a feeling, even. The effect anticipation can have on me, at least, is amazing. And, with Christmas... read morePresents for under your tree (for next year)
November 26 2008
I'm going to do something that makes me very nervous, because all this Christmas giving makes me -- perhaps -- a little addled in the brain. I'm going to pull back our proverbial kimono 'round here, and tell you a... read moreWhen the box (or book) finally arrives...
November 26 2008
There's a syndrome, so to speak, in guitar-player circles. It's rather unfortunately known by the acronym GAS, which stands for Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. And while that might seem sort of odd, it's completely relevant to our latest releases, Head First... read moreNovember 26 2008
Yes, that's really a copy of Head First C# you see there... and yes, that means it's really out, completed, shipping towards your local B&N and Borders and piling up somewhere at Amazon.com. I thought it appropriate to have my... read moreNovember 26 2008
It's been interesting to see what a strong reaction I received to my recent post on Hello, World (you might want to read that post and then come back here if you didn't catch it the first time around). While... read moreNovember 26 2008
I'm a programmer. Despite being an editor and author, husband, dad, etc., etc., I really started out in "real life" as a programmer, and it still largely defines me. Even though I'm not writing code every single day for 8... read moreFly away, fly away, Head First C#
November 26 2008
One of my jobs as series editor here in Head First land is to balance what everyone wants (can you say a Head First book a month, every month, forever?) with what's really going on (2 books released this year... read morePressure isn't always a bad thing
November 26 2008
Most people hate pressure. They'll tell you pressure makes them nervous, or perhaps they perform badly under pressure. But more often than not, pressure can be a really good thing... Click through for some questions regarding your project experience.... read moreNovember 26 2008
This is a continuation of the previous entry, Don't I know you? You can personalize a site by changing its STYLE... Whatever you came up with in terms of customizing a site, it boils down to knowing what your customer... read moreNovember 26 2008
No matter how many fancy acronyms and technologies you throw at your website, it's still all about the customer. And the customer really only cares about one thing: how does your site respond to their needs? When you cut away... read moreNovember 26 2008
Late in 2006, the Head First series was going pretty strong, and lots of people were really into a new technology called Ajax. The folks at Head First Labs went deep underground, and surfaced in February with a new title:... read moreSo you wanna be a servlets stud? Or a JSP jedi?
November 26 2008
The next Head First book showing up in your local book store might surprise many of you... it's a brand new edition of Head First Servlets & JSP. This new edition has flown under the radar a bit, competing... read moreIn search of a few good authors...
November 26 2008
Suppose you're reading your favorite Head First book, waiting for your stop to come up on the train. You're learning, it's great, you might even laugh a bit along the way. All good stuff, right? But then it hits you,... read moreDid you read the book from that movie?
November 26 2008
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that media is changing the way books are viewed. In fact, video — and YouTube in particular — has already changed how books are sold. Most big fiction releases are heralded by... read moreDid you read the book from that movie?
October 09 2008
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that media is changing the way books are viewed. In fact, video - and YouTube in particular - has already changed how books are sold. Most big fiction releases are heralded by short "book trailers" that give an almost movie-like feel to… read moreRecent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts
Webcast - Effective Communication: Making your point in a video-game culture
May 19, 2009
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free The book is dead; the play is dead; the lecture is dead. Everywhere you turn, you've heard about the demise of classic forms of communication, from the written word to the spoken. So how do you communicate...
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