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Design Patterns Explained, by Alan Shalloway and James Trott

Posted by Cathryn in : Book Reviews , trackback

This is the first software engineering book I’ve read in years. As a project manager, I rarely become involved in software design, except perhaps to sit in on reviews, but it is useful and interesting to improve one’s understanding of the other important disciplines involved in projects.

Design patterns had their origins in architecture, and the work of Christopher Alexander, who is an architect (of buildings) and has had enormous influence on design, in both computer science and architecture. A design pattern is a conceptual solution to a common problem, and a good working knowledge of the ones which have been identified, according to both this book and the developers I’ve asked while reading it, essential for any developer designing software now.

Rather than being a list of patterns, this book is a tutorial on good object-oriented design, showing how the patterns discussed are derived from design principles, and reinforcing those principles as it goes. Armed with a basic understanding of object-oriented ideas, and the ability to read the Java code fragments, the reader is lead through case studies and examples which introduce a dozen standard patterns and shown how good design practice leads to them. This is linked into agile programming ideas, and analysis techniques (particularly a matrix for analysing commonality and variability).

It’s clearly written in that structured American textbook way, with review questions at the end and a companion website with answers, code examples and further information. It is well-pitched for the project manager who is a few years away from hands on technical work, but who would like a better understanding of the ideas involved.

Added to the reading wish-list: The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander

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