The Pragmatic Craftsman :: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::

Design Patterns (GoF)
by Ralph Johnson, Richard Helm, Erich Gamma, John Vlissides
ISBN 0201633612
Date Read 10/2006

My Rating

A classic.

I have read several books on patterns. This is the best. You’ll get sound design principles as well. You will become a better designer if you read this book. If you can finish it — you might want to take it slow…

This is not an easy book. I had tried reading it couple times but could never finish it. It was boring to me. I was getting distracted by the C++ code that this book has as sample code. But now, after finally reading it from start to finish, I can see that this book has great value.

This book is the definite guide to the most important patterns, the GoF patterns. These guys invented — or first reported — these patterns. Other books, which claim to simplify them and make them easier to remember (ie. Head First Design Patterns), don’t come close to this book. Some of them are helpful, though, and you might want to start with them before you read this book — learning patterns is hard.

There are several approaches in how you can read this book. The authors say you can just select a pattern you are interested in and just read it. I think the best way to read this book is to start with the indroductory chapter, which contains a lot of great advice on design in general; get to know the patterns referenced in these chapters; and then read one of the three major sections: creational, structural, or behavioral. The author refer to patterns in each section, so I think it’s good to read the whole section. It is also good to have other examples of the patterns to look at — you can find many by searching the web.

The GoF patterns are the most important and most widely used patterns. Every architect/senior developer needs to know them. This book is a must have.