Pattern Hatching: Design Patterns Applied

Author John Vlissides is a member of the so-called Gang of Four: writers of the bestselling and influential Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, a catalog of 23 design patterns. This more recent book delivers considerable insight on using and applying software design patterns--reusable designs for common programming problems--and compiles the author's further experience with patterns.

Pattern Hatching first defends the patterns movement by offering 10 myths about patterns, which provide a framework for thinking about the role of patterns in today's software. (While not a silver bullet, the author argues for the continued importance of patterns throughout software engineering.) The next section shows how to apply several patterns (drawn from the original 23) in a file system; the author uses and describes common patterns such as the Composite, Visitor, Proxy, and Singleton. To help illustrate how to use patterns and how they work together, the author also provides C++ source code for the designs in the book.

Part of the fun of reading Pattern Hatching is getting the author's insight on the origin of thinking about patterns, including several patterns that were actually left out of the original book, such as the Generation Gap pattern and the Multicast pattern.

For readers who are familiar with Design Patterns, Pattern Hatching is a lively behind-the-scenes look at one of the most important recent developments in software design. --Richard Dragan