Design Patterns Explained : A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design (2nd Edition) (Software Patterns Series)

Rating:
Summary: More than just a book on patterns
Review: I don't write reviews often but this book was so good that I felt compelled to do so. It's not just a book about design patterns but also about the thought processes that lead to them. After reading this book (the 2nd edition), I was able to find and fix the flaws I knew I had in one of my existing program designs. By learning to isolate concepts that vary, you can create loosley coupled designs that are easy to modify and extend. Thinking in patterns allows you to see the bigger picture in your design without getting caught up in the details. By having a more conceptual view of your software, you can borrow ideas from time tested solutions.

Highly Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: even better than the first and deals with current issues too
Review: I read the first edition of the book and was greatly pleased by it. I loved the way it described the reasons patterns were good. In other words, although it clearly explained the patterns in the book, it also explained the underlying approach used by the people who wrote the software that later became described as patterns. The book helped me think like these developers instead of just using solutions they had come up with.

I also liked the way the authors showed how to use the patterns in the real world. I had always thought you used the patterns as solutions to recurring problems. However, the authors described how the patterns were really about a new way to think of the problem you had to solve.

As good as the first edition was, however, it left some gaps. In particular, while the domain analysis approach they espouse called commonality - variability analysis looks great, not enough information on how to actually use it was presented. Also, as XP has become more popular, I had been wondering about how patterns and XP fit into things.

The book addresses these and some additional issues incredibly well. (...)

Overall, I give this 2 thumbs up and recommend reading it even if you've read the first one. It is a much more involved book than the first with new chapters and improvements on the existing ones.

Rating:
Summary: An Eye Opener
Review: The author has really taken effort to explain hard concepts in understanding Design Patterns and he has done an excellent job at it. I would highly recommend this book as a good primer for the GoF book and for anyone who is interested in Design Patterns. I had originally bought the first edition and within the next couple of months the 2nd edition came up and bought that as well. I really feel that its worth the money.
You might also want to check the website for the book www.netobjectives.com/dpexplained.

Rating:
Summary: should be called "Design Explained"
Review: This book is great. It goes way beyond patterns. It starts with what design patterns are and the main principles behind them (coupling, cohesion, testability, ...). It does this in an interesting manner. We first solve a problem in the way we most likely would. The book then takes us through patterns and shows us a couple of better solutions using patterns and other techniques discussed in the book that are consistent with patterns.

The book also discusses the motivations of the GoF patterns - they manage variation in our problem domain. Variations in our problem domain (i.e., changes) is what makes our life as programmers difficult.

Then the killer- the authors talk about two techniques they use (one in analysis - the analysis matrix; and one in design - commonality - variability analysis) which are awesome. These techniques go way beyond patterns but relate to patterns which is why I guess they are in this book and not in a general design book (which is where they could very well be).

What's also interesting is throughout the book they talk about how patterns relate to eXtreme Programming which gives insights into both.

A must buy!