Most Helpful Customer Reviews
46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable, usable guide to project management, August 19, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis (Paperback)
Perhaps the title of this book is unfortunate, given the fact that those who have posted bad reviews here seem to have expected it to be an extension of the GoF Design Patterns book. (In which case they would have been better off with the GoV A System of Patterns book.) All such expectations aside, however, this book is an enjoyable guide to project management that is well worth reading. As for the criticism that it is nothing more than common sense packaged as wisdom, I would argue that common sense is nothing more than applied wisdom, and the common sense this book aims to teach is sadly lacking in too many companies today (hence the existence and popularity of Dilbert). BTW, the reviewer who attributed the quote, "there is nothing new under the sun" to Shakespeare might be amused, given the nature of the quote itself, to find that it was originally written by Solomon (in Ecclesiastes 1:9), quite some time prior to Shakespeare! There is nothing new, indeed.
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44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let this book be what it is., December 11, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis (Paperback)
I can't believe the number of reviews on this site that compared the book to Design Patterns from GOF. If you bought it expecting the same, write yourself the one-star review. This book does have some problems, but it really does a whole lot of things very well. - It's easy, and fun, to read. The authors expertly inject humor and life into a dead topic. A dull book with good ideas will rot on the shelf. - It provides a fresh, new angle that has value. We programmers do not learn enough from war stories told around the water cooler. - It provides the other side of the design pattern. You really do need both, and this industry needed someone to take a stab at creating a template for antipatterns. Consider health care. You need diagnostics and preventative care. Ditto for auto maintenance. Operations research has been built around building models that work while trouble shooting the kinks in a system. The authors did a noble job of seeing the vacuum and stepping up to fill it. I find it incredible that this book has been slammed for something that it does not pretend to be. If you wrote a one star review because this book was not the second coming of the Design Patterns book, then shame on you. What you will get is a humerous look at some very real problems around software development. The bias is clearly toward project management, and that is a appropriate for a first book on antipatterns. That much was clear to me from browsing the book for a minute or two. Great job, team. If I had a criticism, it would be that the contributions from the four authors were not better coordinated. After writing two books with two additional co-authors each, I can testify that it is a difficult problem to solve. Still, better coordination could have helped. Five stars for the writing style and the concept. That's why this book is a smashing success.
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32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A good idea, a very boring and dissapointing implementation, January 23, 2004
This review is from: AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis (Paperback)
I was very anxiuos about reading this book. Before of purchasing it, I had already read some info and presentations on the web (c2 wiki, antippaterns site, etc.). I already knew the catalog and i'd like it very much. But the book...what can i say of the book? first of all, I found it quite boring and verbose. The same could have been sayed using half of the words or maybe less... In the book I've found a couple of annoying things:
- The authors quote themselves ALL the time
- The solution to ALL architecture antipatterns (and software as well) includes a reference to CORBA, OMG IDL or open systems...There are more things in the world! What can we, developers in sin, that don't use open systems or corba do?!?!
- They never do quote the GoF work, altough in same cases it would be very helpful, instructive and fair. In turn, they quote to their CORBA patterns book
- They only quote the GoF to say that their patterns are complex and that antipatterns are easier and funnier. Couldn't disagree more on this!
- There are some contradictory ideas throughout the book
- They are doing themselfs in some of the antipatterns (I would not say which ones, but after a quick read is easy to guess ;))
- The second chapter, the reference model, is very boring and with lots of unnecesary rethoric
- In fact, all the book is full of unnecesary and unpleasant rethoric stuff
- After reading the book from cover to cover, I realized that just reading the "Appendix A" I would had enough
- The name of the book is tricky. They don't say nothing about CORBA, but inside the book they say that this is the companion book of "CORBA Design Patterns"
- Many of the solutions are biased
- Their concept about refactoring is quite "fuzzy"... There are some good points on the book:
- The catalog is quite interesting.
- Some patterns are nicely developed and fun to read
- Being familiar with the catalog allows to find easily antipatterns in everyday work
- The final appendix is a very nice compilation that offers a good view to the catalog Anyway, the point is: don't buy this book. You can get the same in the web for free, saving money and time
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