Rating: 
Summary: Bootstrap your fluency in C#
Review: C# is still a relatively new language. Certainly younger than Java or C++, which are the 2 most common OO languages. So chances are, some people coming to this book are still clumsy in C#. But I think it is also reasonable to say that if you are contemplating ANY book on design patterns, that you are fluent in at least one language.Strictly, a purist might say that design patterns do not need to refer to a specific language. They are a level above code. But pragmatically, to understand them, it helps to instantiate examples in a language. All this means that the book is good for an experienced developer who is still new to C#. You understand why design patterns are important. You can use the book to bootstrap your fluency in C# by studying the examples and tackling the supplied problems. If you are indeed an experienced developer in another language, you might find the narrative more appealing than that in a Dummies-type book. The level of discussion that Metsker supplies is more advanced and challenging. More interesting. Hey! He also gives answers to the problems.
Rating: 
Summary: Different Take
Review: Fine book for the experienced C# developer wanting to enhance their understanding of design patterns ala Java. (I've picked up many "new" ideas!) But this slant is not without its pitfalls. For example, the recommendation for implementing a singleton may be a best practice in Java, but its a big no-no in .NET.
Rating:
Summary: A Pragmatic Approach to Design Patterns
Review: I've read several books on design patterns (including the classic "Gang of Four" work) and this is by far the best I've seen. What is unique about this book is its concise focus on the practical application of each of the 23 classic design patterns. The examples are short and can be written and tested quickly, yet cover real world programming issues that are encountered every day. "Challenges" (with solutions) are interspersed throughout the text to reinforce the concepts and help you bridge the gap between the specific example and a more general understanding. If you've been fascinated with the elegance and power of design patterns, yet sometimes struggle with exactly how and where to apply them, then the "light" will go on after reading this book. Get this book first, then grab the classic "Gang of Four" work. You'll find your understanding of both books and design patterns in general greatly enhanced.
Rating:
Summary: A Pragmatic Approach to Design Patterns
Review: I've read several books on design patterns (including the classic "Gang of Four" work) and this is by far the best I've seen. What is unique about this book is its concise focus on the practical application of each of the 23 classic design patterns. The examples are short and can be written and tested quickly, yet cover real world programming issues that are encountered every day. "Challenges" (with solutions) are interspersed throughout the text to reinforce the concepts and help you bridge the gap between the specific example and a more general understanding. If you've been fascinated with the elegance and power of design patterns, yet sometimes struggle with exactly how and where to apply them, then the "light" will go on after reading this book. Get this book first, then grab the classic "Gang of Four" work. You'll find your understanding of both books and design patterns in general greatly enhanced.
Rating: 
Summary: Unnecessarily laborious
Review: If you're a "notch above beginner" in regard to patterns (like me), then this is not the book for you. How strange that something as concepually simple as patterns can be so difficult to weave into applications. This book doesn't help. Steve chooses to use an arcane fireworks company as the standard example and then adds unnecessary complexity by incorporating complex code. (At one point, Steve goes into the calculus of fireworks trajectory!) Very frustrating to struggle with the application of patterns when the sample code itself is mindboggling.
Every once in a while I pick the book up to remind me how incompetent I am. I don't like books that make me feel that way.
Look into O'Reilly's "Head First Design Patterns" instead.
Rating:
Summary: It helps me to know how C# implemens Design Pattens
Review: Let's get real. When talking about C# and Design Patterns, there are so many people with different levels and areas of experties. Some knows VB.NET well and nothing about C# and Design Patterns, some knows Java and Design Patterns well but nothing about C#, some knows nothing well, ...
So, who will benefit from this book most?
For people knows about Design Patterns but not C# and .NET, you will learn how C# implements design patterns.
For people knows .NET but not Design Patterns, you will find this book more approachable than GoF. You can use this book as a supplement or introductory book for GoF's discussion.
For people knows nothing about .NEt and Design Patterns, this is probably not the book you should pick. Learn some .NET and OO stuff.
For me, I did some Java and design patterns in the paste. After reading this book, I have a deeper understanding of Design patterns, while I gain more knowledge of C#.
So, if you think you need to know more about design patterns, I would recommend this book without reservation.
Rating: 
Summary: Could be much better
Review: Pros
Steven knows what he's talking about. All patterns are nicely organized. I really liked chapter introductions and summaries because they were at times much clearer than chapter content itself. Small typos here and there didn't bother me that much. Overall, the book is proof-read quite well.
Cons
Each chapter presents a number of challenges, or quizzes. They appear intermittently with text and therefore distract you from the discussion each time because their solutions are listed in the back and you have to flip back and forth to follow code.
In a couple of places Steven throws a quiz at you and afterwards presents the subject at hand. Normally, you present material first and then quiz. Doing it the other way around is quite a strange educational technique.
Steven is an author of a number book on Java, and it shows in his C# code. Nothing wrong with Java per se, but c'mon! For example, he refers to the book Concurrent Programming in Java as an excellent resource when discussing multithreaded programming in .NET.
The singleton implementation found in this book is downright wrong! It may lead to deadlocks and is not thread-safe. You can find a more efficient implementation of a singleton with a double-check lock at Microsoft's Patterns and Practices.
Conclusion
The book *is* valuable. I didn't think it was a waste of money. Still, it fails to be the best book on the subject of Design Patterns in C# around.
Rating:
Summary: Design Patterns in C#: A great book!
Review: This book is very well and clearly written, with to the point examples and figures.
I enjoyed reading it, and even more enjoyed learning new patterns, and recognising some of the patterns I already did use (though without knowing it had a name).
The book contains lots of "challenges" or questions, and if you try to answer them, you really get to understand the pro's and cons of every patterns... Of course, it contains all the answers, so you can check if you're thinking the right thing. Steve, please continue writing about the other 77 patterns :)
Rating:
Summary: Not good for self study/reference
Review: This book may work well in a human-taught course but I down-rate it for self study and reference. I found it tedious because content is spread over several pages when it could have been effectively presented much more concisely. The flow of information is interrupted by frequent "Challenge" exercises with solutions in the Appendix: normally I would applaud efforts to engage the reader's thinking, but although the challenges were pretty straightforward checkups on understanding I found them very distracting. When I am trying to learn something I really want the content presented directly and clearly up front.
Rating:
Summary: Works best in conjunction with GoF Design Patterns
Review: This book reminds me of the 'Numerical Recipes in <x>' books. They were the thin adjunct books that accompanied Numerical Recipes which showed the examples implemented in various languages. The books were no good on their own, you needed Numerical Recipes to understand them. This book has the same problem. It doesn't introduce the patterns from scratch, it assumes that you have read the GoF book and that you can use it as the base source material.
That being said the author puts together, succinctly, with both diagrams and code, C# examples for all of the GoF design patterns. Even though in some cases there is very little code because the patterns have been integrated into the structure of the .NET framework.
I think this book is worth a look for anyone writing C# on a daily basis and who is a patterns fan. It's something you need to evaluate before you buy because, frankly, you may already know most of what you are going to see.
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