I got a few books out from the library, recently, which I’ve been reading on the bus. I’m currently alternating between Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change and The Joy of Patterns: Using Patterns for Enterprise Development. I wish I had read the XP book before being project manager for my Software Engineering project at University, a couple years ago. But perhaps having gone through that experience allows me to relate to the material more directly. It’s easy to read and the author, Kent Beck (one of the fathers of XP), identifies the reasons behind the development methodology, and the problems they help solve. I’ve always had this feeling of agreement with XP practices, many of which seem like common sense, but haven’t always been able to articulate the reasons. Thankfully, the author does not have this problem. 🙂 I’m about 50 pages in, and it’s quite good, so far.
I picked up the Design Patterns book because the one I wanted, Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, wasn’t there. (The library has 3 copies of it, but it’s always out with a wait-list of people requesting it. This list now includes me. 🙂 ) Anyway, the one I picked up is extremely terse. There are UML diagrams provided, sample code, and a problem description… but not much in way of explanation. It’s format is kind of like this: there’s this problem, how do we address it? Boom, here’s a pattern. Boom, here’s a diagram. Done. Next. Or… but we could improve on this pattern with this other pattern. Boom, another diagram. Why? Figure it out.
This book is fine if you’ve been exposed to the patterns previously, and need a refresher, but it is not a good source to learn from. I’m familiar with some of the patterns, but even then, they may be called something different, or implemented slightly different, and it’s been a while, so it takes me longer to understand than if there was more explanation. Looking forward to picking up the other patterns book. If you have not been exposed to design patterns before, or are a relative beginner programmer, and definitely if you are not familiar with UML diagrams, avoid this book. It’s a book on design patterns (not a simple topic) that’s less than 200 pages, so you can’t really expect a thorough resource. I’m about half way through it. On one hand, I’m curious what such a small book has to offer, but on the other, I’m not sure I’ll finish it. I’ll probably concentrate on the XP book, for now.
I have “Design Patterns” if you want to borrow, but every programmer should own a copy.
Thanks, but I imagine I’ll probably buy it, anyway, as you said. And my request at the library should come up before you return to Vancouver to lend me your book. So after reviewing the library’s copy, I’ll probably place my order.