Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Design Patterns is one of my favourite technical books of all time. It has been highly influential on my understanding of object-oriented design and software engineering principles in general. It helped me hone my skills as a software architect early in my career and now serves as a reference material for many of my training sessions.
This book catalogs 23 commonly used design patterns:
- Creational
Abstract Factory, Builder, Factory Method, Prototype, and Singleton
- Structural
Adapter, Bridge, Composite, Decorator, Facade, Flyweight, and Proxy
- Behavioral
Chain of Responsibility, Command, Interpreter, Iterator, Mediator, Memento, Observer, State, Strategy, Template Method, and Visitor
|
|
|
For each pattern, the authors describe the design problem addressed, the circumstances in which the pattern is applicable, and the consequences of using the pattern to solve the problem. Each pattern is supplied with relevant UML diagrams and simple C++ examples.
As design patterns are becoming mainstream, more and more books are published on this subject. You can easily find resources with examples in C#, Java, VB.NET, and other programming languages. My recommendation is to read the original book first. I find it less prescriptive and more thought-provoking, leaving you with options for implementing design patterns in practice. Do not fall into the trap of thinking about patterns as prescriptive solutions to common design problems. Instead, think about each pattern as a multiple-step journey. At each step, you can and should review your design problem at hand as well as the trade-offs associated with using the pattern. You can stop, move to the next step, or to continue with implementation in a different direction. The choice is yours.
This is a must-read book for any software engineer and is highly recommended for first-line managers. As a minimum, it will allow you to speak with your team at a higher level of design abstraction. Happy reading!
Currently rated 5.0 by 2 people
- Currently 5/5 Stars.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5