Pattern Hatching: Design Patterns Applied (Software Patterns Series) |
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Author:
John M. Vlissides
By Addison Wesley
Average Customer Rating:  
List Price: £22.99
Our Price: £21.58
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.12
EAN: 9780201432930
ISBN: 0201432935
Label: Addison Wesley
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: 1998-07-03
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Studio: Addison Wesley |
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Dissapointed, 2006-01-25
I hadn't read his columns which this book is taken from but read GoF several years ago and keep an eye on patterns on the web. Expected more from this book from the writeup. It may be useful for someone who's just read GoF and not sure what to do with it. But for someone with more experience didn't seem to add anything. Also at 150 pages a bit thin for the price.
Good while it lasts, 2007-02-19
This is a collection of the author's columns of the same name from C++ Report. This is not a tutorial; you need to be familiar with the original patterns from the GoF book, and the more you like C++, the better.
The book takes you through a couple of extended examples, including an abstraction of a Unix-style file system, slowly building up functionality, and demonstrating how to introduce patterns and choose which one to use. If you're looking for some examples of how to use patterns, along the lines of Design Patterns Explained, this is one of the best books you could hope to read. There's also a couple of non-GoF patterns. In particular, the chapter that details some of the discussion between the GoF on the merits of the proposed Multicast pattern is a very illuminating expose of pattern thinking.
While it's unclear who wrote which bit of the original GoF book, from reading Pattern Hatching, it's an enormous pity Vlissides wasn't handed the lion's share of the writing task. Where the GoF book can be stodgy and opaque, Pattern Hatching is informal and conversational. Vlissides clearly had a love of writing, and he gives advice on writing style for patterns in the final chapter.
A caveat is the C++-centric approach of the book. It no doubt made a lot of sense in the context of the original articles in a publication devoted to that language. Non C++ users should be warned that a large chunk of the book considers handling memory management with singleton - you may not find much of value.
And as other reviewers have noted, this is a slim book of 150 pages. If you have to pay more than a tenner for it, you probably will feel a bit ripped off.
That said, the material that is here is very good indeed, especially if you're a C++ user. If you can find an affordable copy, you should definitely get it.
Very good book, but too C++ centric, 2002-11-05
Reading this book was real pleasure, but it seemed to me that only half of it was applicable in general, the rest was dealing with C++ specific issues.
I would still recommend this book however, even to Java programmers. Just skip the discussion about Singleton destruction problems :)
The key word is "Applied", 1999-07-28
Although I was familiar with the GoF patterns before I read "Pattern Hatching", John has given me a whole new perspective on their use. "Pattern Hatching" showed me how to use the patterns in a generative way. In the past I used patterns to explain a design I came up with through "intuition". But using the patterns to generate the design has improved the final outcome.Now I have a better understanding of the role of patterns in the development process. John has an easy to read style which makes the material very accessible. The length isn't daunting either. You should certainly spare the time to read this.
Read this after you've read Design Patterns, 1999-08-23
If you read and enjoyed Design Patterns this is a book you will also enjoy. Design Patterns laid the foundation and introduced the terminology. Pattern Hatching follows on from this and applies the patterns in small clusters to real world problems. It's this book that really brings home what patterns are and how to use them. The text is full of discussions on possible designs and the trade offs involved in choosing one over another. Priceless. It's like being in a design session with a real expert.
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