Pattern Languages of Program Design 2 (v. 2) (Paperback)

~ (Author), James O. Coplien (Author), Norman L. Kerth (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The second volume in the Pattern Languages of Program Design series offers plenty of hands-on design patterns, including examples drawn from C++ to illustrate pattern use in the real world. The book starts out with some useful programming tips (called idioms) in C++ and Smalltalk for managing memory efficiently and writing faster programs. Subsequent sections look at design patterns (perhaps the most immediately useful kind), including the Command Processor for executing commands, and the Observer Pattern for building efficient components. There's some extensive research on the Proxy pattern, which presents many extensions for a variety of network and distributed solutions. A variety of special-purpose patterns come next, offering expertise on how to organize multimedia applications and design backup redundancy into software. Further chapters in this book cover patterns and how they apply to the software-engineering process. A particular highlight is Frank Buschmann's treatment of reflection, which allows for highly customizable objects and an evaluation of a variety of patterns for managing software projects.

Some of the most accessible and intriguing material are the discussions on patterns for use in the classroom, how to create effective demonstration software, and how to set up a Web site for archiving essays. The book closes with papers on concurrency and distributed systems, featuring several tried-and-true patterns for minimizing the difficulties inherent in large-scale systems and reactive systems (which must process events from users or other inputs in real-time). In all, this second compendium of pattern research has a good mix of the accessible and the arcane and is a worthwhile choice for your library. --Richard Dragan

Product Description

With contributions from the biggest names in the pattern community, this book encodes design expertise that too often remains locked in the minds of expert designers. The topics covered in this new volume span a broad range of disciplines including client/server programming, software design, financial services, object-oriented design, human interface design, and more.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (June 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201895277
• ISBN-13: 978-0201895278
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,183 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rich for ideas, poor for effective solutions, December 29, 1999

By	Christophe Addinquy (Paris, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The article gathered here are essentially alexandrian like papers, where general ideas and goals appears clearly, but expressed in a very textual way. So, there is not a lot of stuff on effective design patterns. Hopefully there is some (and even good ones), but it's not obvious that it justify the book size. If you are rather new to patterns (you've just read the "Design pattern" and / or "Pattern oriented software architecture"), consider first the third volume. If you like it, then consider to buy this one. If you REALLY REALLY like it, then consider to buy the first volume

9 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pattern articles capture expertise!, October 7, 1997

By	[e-mail] (Raleigh, North Carolina) - See all my reviews

I was at the PLoP conference where the articles in this book were written (mine is number 24). It's a writers' workshop where each paper is metaphorically ripped in shreds and then reassembled, better than before. We worked hard to make these patterns right. Did our work pay off? You better believe it. I've read this book and the first in the series both cover to cover, and the best of this book is equal to the best of the first one. The average quality is higher.

Buy it just for Crossing Chasms, a comprehensive look at all the headaches you get when you try to marry relational databases to object systems. Or buy it just for Demo Prep, which will tell you how to achieve your goals with software demos - happy customers, happy programmers.

Or maybe you need to read my article, Patterns for Classroom Education, which tells you how (and why) to design a course to teach computer programming - or any technical skill.