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Design Patterns for Object-Oriented Software Development by W Pree Recommended

ISBN: 0 201 42294 8       Publisher: Addison-Wesley       Pages: 268pages       Price: £24-95

Categories:   object oriented     patterns

Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 7-4 (May 1995)

Patterns has aspects at all levels of programming and, like OO before it, it encapsulates understandings and insights that seem to be second nature to the very best programmers.

In a previous issue of C VU I commented favourably on Jiri Soukup's 'Taming C++' in which that author deals with practical aspects of patterns as they affect style and development of programming in the small.

This book is far more concerned with patterns as they relate to design and development.

The author uses C++ where he needs an implementation language. The design and implementation of application frameworks is central to Pree's presentation.

This is definitely a first generation book on the subject, well written by an author who has a deep understanding of his subject matter but one where the reader must be willing to work at grasping relatively new ideas. Too often casual readers of such books find difficulty with understanding exactly what it is that is new. This should not be that surprising. Remember that many programmers take considerably more than a year to grasp what OOP is about. Some never make it.

If you want to start the journey early and are well motivated this is a good place to start - about equivalent to starting C++ in 1986/7 by reading The C++ Programming Language

At the Object Expo Europe Conference last Autumn I remarked to Jim Coplien (author of the excellent Advanced C++ Styles and Idioms) that I thought I now understood object orientation (looking back, I think I might have qualified that a little). His reply was: 'Yes Francis, and the rest of us have moved on.' True, and patterns were where they had moved to. This book gives you a start at getting to the next base.