<pre>
Author/s : Martin Fowler, et al
Publisher : Addison Wesley
Category : Design Patterns, UML, and Refactoring
Review by : David O'Meara
Rating : 9 horseshoes </pre>
It's a
patterns book, it's by Martin Fowler, and it's good. But how good is it?
It is actually two books in one. This is discussed in the book, but the second half is a list of patterns including the information required to make them useful. Reasonably standard, except that the patterns are presented in a language neutral manner that gives
Java developers a view into the .Net world and vice versa.
The best part is still the first section. There is a general discussion on enterprise applications including common problems and ways to solve them depending on the way it shows up in your application. Not all of it will be new to everyone, but I'd challenge anyone not to learn anything. Even if you don't agree with all the solutions posed, it has very concise coverage of the problems.
There appeared to be the assumption of a respectable level of experience in the reader, so the book may not be useful to programmers with less than 3-5 years under their belts. This isn't necessarily a down side, but it should be considered if you're considering purchasing the book.
Now a small complaint. Although the first section was great, it discussed the patterns from the section in too much detail. There were some patterns I wasn't familiar with and some that I knew by different names, and it made some sections confusing.
Still well worth a place on the shelf.
More info at Amazon.com More info at Amazon.co.uk