Customer Reviews

Event-Based Programming: Taking Events to the Limit

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been programming event/message based systems for 25 years and never found a good book on this technique/methodology like this one. Ted does a great job at laying the foundation with a bit of theory (but not maths! So don't be afraid!) and then diving into practice. The text is clear, the diagrams are really good. He also reviews the different types of diagrams: UML state machine, sequence, activity, communication, component wiring diagrams as well as lollipop, SDL, catalysis and espresso diagrams. I was really interested in the chapter on Signal Wiring diagrams, even with my hardware engineering background I didn't know of their use in software engineering. He then quickly reviews a few patterns related to the subject and then dedicates a full chapter on functional roles in a more practical down to the code approach. He finishes the book with 3 case studies that will help understanding the ins and outs of event based programming.
Although the example code is supplied in two Microsoft languages (C# and VB Visual Basic) and being a Java person myself, the code is easy to understand and helps a lot.
I highly recommend this book and hope that a lot of developers will take on "Event-Based Programming". I do thank the author for the tremendous effort to put together such a good book, with a good balance between theory and practice.

In one word: "Bravo!"

This is the second book I have read from this author and as before I found the book very helpful. The book deals with designing applications more the way electrical engineers have been working all along, design each component as independent as possible(decoupled) and at the end hook them up in a way that it gives you the output you want. The book will be specially very helpful to the developers who desing and develop enterprise applications.

I have over 100 books about many aspects on computer science and software development. I've acquired this book years ago; in that moment it had transformed the way I wrote code. Never read nothing better about couple and cohesion.

Before the rising of parallel frameworks (.net) the methodology Ted Faison brings in this book made me write quicker and so readble algorithms with threads, etc. Still contemporary I mean...

I poetically would say it is fair read this one!

I must say, I wish I had this book 2 years ago. It is a great book and well written, but the book suffers from time, and the rest of the world of messaging and event based programing advancing quickly with the addition of Service based Architecture, Enterprise Service Bus Systems, and Complex Event processing.

My view point may be specific, as I am an Computer Architect by profession, and have Managed Message Based Systems from multiple vendors, and currently working with Complex Event programming, using one of the best tools in the Market today.

What the book does give is excellent historical view on Event Based Development. The examples are also pretty good. My background is java, but as an old VB programmer, the vb.net and C# examples where not difficult for me to translate and understand.

Even with the book being geared toward .NET platform it gives a decent view of the whole world of Enterprise messaging including JMS Implementations, and Tibco based solutions.

Where the book falls short for me, is that the whole methodology of Event Based Programming has changed with the introduction of Complex Event programming, which includes the introduction to Rules Based Systems, the programming model has changed. I suppose in 2006 this was much more timely, but now things have progressed. Also some approaches to testing these types of solutions would be very helpful.

In the books defense, the book has the best chapter in the patterns of Event Based Programming with the Chapter Labeled, Event Based Interaction Patterns. Unfortunately, for me this chapters follows the worst 2 chapter of the mechanics of Event Firing and Signal Wiring Diagrams. I am not interested in using Semaphores as my means synchronizing or message coordination, or Wire Diagrams for circuits.

Overall, I think it is truly time for a new book on Complex Event Programming written with today's methodologies in mind. I would volunteer :).

This book describes a new way of software system architecture to minimize coupling and increase testability; from the smallest to the largest systems. In an EB system, each part can be developed almost like a separate project, with events hooking everything together at runtime.