Good book on design patterns and advanced programming that is not the Head First

Question

Maybe I'm little morose, but I do not feel comfortable with that book. Anytime I ask someone for a good book on this subject they recommend me Head First.

Is there another "excellent book" that is not the Head First ? More straightforward and less fun.

Thanks in advance.

Although I like the book, I agree. Sometimes it's nice to just get information and move at your own pace. HF kinda forces you to think about stuff at their pace. — Esteban Araya, Apr 21 '11 at 15:01
Try the SO C++ book list http://stackoverflow.com/questions/388242/the-definitive-c-book-guide-and-list — Mark B, Apr 21 '11 at 15:04
Why don't you like HF? is it simply because of example code in Java? — Tien Do, Apr 24 '11 at 06:31
Design Patterns in .NET: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Patterns-NET-Core-Object-Oriented/dp/1484261798 — Dmitri Nesteruk, Mar 30 '22 at 19:58

score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 21 '11 at 14:59

9

There's the classic Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, aka the "Gang of Four" (GoF) book.

The Head First book is great for an introduction to the topic and makes it more approachable and less dry than the GoF book.

answered Apr 21 '11 at 14:59

Ahmad Mageed

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This definitely meets the "more straightforward and less fun" requirement :) – Matt Greer Apr 21 '11 at 15:01
The GoF book may be dry, but it's the best book on the subject matter. Let's face it design patterns aren't exactly the most exciting subject matter on the planet to begin with. – Justin Apr 21 '11 at 19:00

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:02

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This is a great one: Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture

answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:02

Brandon Moretz

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***THE*** book to read when wanting to build larger applications. – jgauffin Apr 21 '11 at 17:52

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:26

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I found the The Design Patterns Smalltalk Companion to be 'the better' GoF book. It is not as dry as the GoF book (but close) and the patterns are much, much better motivated and explained.

That the example code is in Smalltalk, is IMHO an advantage (even if you don't know the language) but obviously this depends upon personal preferences.

If you want a C# and .Net specific version of Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, take a look at Architecting Applications for the Enterprise.

You can also find some bits and pieces about patterns in 'Clean Code', a book some people seem to really like (I personally think it's atrocious).

answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:26

Alexander Battisti

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Upvoted. I haven't been able to appreciate Clean Code yet, feeling a bit unorganized. What is the reason that you find it atrocious? – Tim Sep 29 '17 at 12:32
IIRC it had the feel of randomly copying and pasting sections from previous (and better) books such as e.g. Code Complete, Refactoring, before mentioned Design Patterns books (maybe Rapid Development as well? don't remember) without discussing the pros and cons of various approaches. – Alexander Battisti Oct 06 '17 at 15:09

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:04

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More practical/language orientated additions to GOF book:

cpp
csharp

answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:04

Ekkehard.Horner

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Good book on design patterns and advanced programming that is not the Head First

4 Answers4