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Head First Design Patterns (Head First) By Elisabeth FreemanEric FreemanBert BatesKathy Sierra ( O'Reilly Media, Inc. )
Release Date: 2004-10-25
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List Price: $44.95
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Product Description
You're not alone.
At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone struggles with the same software design problems you have. You know you don't want to reinvent the wheel (or worse, a flat tire), so you look to Design Patterns--the lessons learned by those who've faced the same problems. With Design Patterns, you get to take advantage of the best practices and experience of others, so that you can spend your time on...something else. Something more challenging. Something more complex. Something more fun.
You want to learn about the patterns that matter--why to use them, when to use them, how to use them (and when NOT to use them). But you don't just want to see how patterns look in a book, you want to know how they look "in the wild". In their native environment. In other words, in real world applications. You also want to learn how patterns are used in the Java API, and how to exploit Java's built-in pattern support in your own code.
You want to learn the real OO design principles and why everything your boss told you about inheritance might be wrong (and what to do instead). You want to learn how those principles will help the next time you're up a creek without a design pattern.
Most importantly, you want to learn the "secret language" of Design Patterns so that you can hold your own with your co-worker (and impress cocktail party guests) when he casually mentions his stunningly clever use of Command, Facade, Proxy, and Factory in between sips of a martini. You'll easily counter with your deep understanding of why Singleton isn't as simple as it sounds, how the Factory is so often misunderstood, or on the real relationship between Decorator, Facade and Adapter.
With Head First Design Patterns, you'll avoid the embarrassment of thinking Decorator is something from the "Trading Spaces" show. Best of all, in a way that won't put you to sleep! We think your time is too important (and too short) to spend it struggling with academic texts.
If you've read a Head First book, you know what to expect--a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First Design Patterns will load patterns into your brain in a way that sticks. In a way that lets you put them to work immediately. In a way that makes you better at solving software design problems, and better at speaking the language of patterns with others on your team.
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 This is how learning should be ( tod1d )
First, a little background: I have been programming since 1998 and my primary programming language is C#. My main area of development is ASP.NET websites.
For years I have been trying to get my head around software design patterns, but I kept running into road blocks. I tried learning about them from a combination of websites and books, but none of them seemed to communicate the practical reasons for learning design patterns. I decided to give up on learning them.
Several years went by and the gnawing question about the usefulness of software design patterns resurfaced in my head. I came across Head First Design Patterns, saw the great reviews and decided to take a chance. I am sure glad I did.
Not only is this easily the best design patterns book I have read, this may be one of the best books, teaching a complicated technology topic, I have ever read. This book was created with me in mind. The book is educational, entertaining, and does a good job of showing the practical side of the topic. The examples are all in Java, but I was able to easily translate them into C#.
If you want to learn object oriented design patterns, buy this book. I will definitely be checking out other Head First titles.
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 Readable and Understandable ( binkyboy )
This is a book that I recommend to all of the software developers I work with, it is so much more than the gang of 4, it is actually readable. The unique format used to address the topics helps with retention and understandability. The only complaint that I would have about the book, and the reason I gave it 4 stars, is that the examples used are impractical and sometimes silly. The authors also could have alluded more to the usages of algorithms and efficiency of code.
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If GoF makes you sleepy ... buy this!
Head First did a fantastic job on replacing the GoF classic...
Nicely written, good examples, ...
Original comparison between the patterns.
Must have!
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Great starter book to design patterns
This book is very exciting and cleverly designed. It teaches with great examples and emphesize every detail with humorous content which helps you to memorize. I really believe in this way of learning methodology instead of heavy books which I have covered most of the serious patterns in one week on my vacation. Now I'm back home and I'll code some examples about all of them.
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First glance may resembles a comic book, but ... ( tanisha147 )
At first glance this book resembles a comic book, and this may persuade you to put away the book. I recommend that you go through the first chapter and make your decision.
In reality as SW Engineers while designing a system we consider a set of requirements required to meet current deadline. We also attempt to think through several permutations and combinations of these requirements that may be required in future. Often, we fall short in conceiving all that is need to meet future requirements.
This book walks through such scenarios and at times points out how to design software while mitigating such changes to minimal in future releases.
At times some examples present a simplistic approach. Also I would have liked to see some performance analysis while comparing one approach with other.
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