Working on the "Thinking in Patterns" Book

A working/learning session

Hosted and Coached by Bruce Eckel

Price: $300
If you also attend the "Objects & Patterns" seminar the week before this, then you get a $300 discount on that seminar, instead of paying $300 for this one.

Click Here for Crested Butte Location and Lodging Information

When I had to cancel a seminar because of the current economic situation and its effect on training, I wanted to offer an alternative, and with my back to the wall had a wild little brainstorm. Why not get together and discuss patterns in the context of actually working on the patterns book? This might end up being more stimulating than the actual course, but you will still get an experience with patterns. Because it is a complete experiment (and yes, I'll benefit because you'll be helping me get work done on the book), I'll charge a minimum amount for it, $300. However, if you also attend the "Objects & Patterns" seminar the week before this, then you get a $300 discount on that seminar, instead of paying $300 for this one.

You will be immersed in design patterns, and the first iteration of this working session was a lot of fun.

In the first version of this workshop we researched, discussed and implemented patterns that weren't already covered in the book. This involved going through design patterns literature and hunting for appropriate patterns, discussing the possibilities, and then working in pairs on coding an implementation of that particular pattern, along with suitable prose. This worked amazingly well and was a great experience for all of us.

In this version of the workshop I want to explore something at a higher level: the evolution of designs from the initial design through the application and refactoring of different patterns. In particular, I'm interested in exploring examples that evolve from starting patterns into different patterns (similar to the last chapter in the book). This is the reason I'm giving economic incentive to people to come to the Objects & Patterns seminar the week before, because it will be tremendously valuable to have had that experience before having this one, which is more advanced (of course, if you've already had Objects & Patterns you're more than welcome).

When doing seminars in Crested Butte, we generally take an afternoon break and go on a hike. This worked very well in the last version of the seminar for relaxation and discussion.

If you are interested, please send in a registration form so that we will know that you're coming.

Process

Please note this is the second draft design of the working session and is subject to change. Also, if you don't feel comfortable in some aspect of this work we can find something for you to do that more closely fits your talents.

The first part of the day, we will break up into pair teams.

1. Each team will take a book (see list below) and begin scanning through it with highlighter and bookmarks in hand, looking for likely patterns to including in a catalog (even the patterns we don't implement from this list may end up in an appendix).

2. Each team will create a brief summary of the candidate patterns it has discovered.

3. All discovered patterns will be combined into a single document.

4. As a group, we will discuss each of the patterns and choose those that should be developed into an example for the book.

Each day you will be placed into a new pair team (this gives you a chance to work with and know more people).

1. Your team will choose an example to develop, and then spend the rest of the morning developing the example and the accompanying prose (if yours is quick, you can do another one).

2. After the afternoon break, we will present the examples to each other in a group situation for review.

In the afternoons I typically lead a hike. There are also opportunities in the evenings for further discussions and interactions. We generally host a barbeque on Sunday and Thursday evenings.

Bruce's Book List

I have all these books and will be bringing them to the working session, so you don't need to buy any of them.

Please note, I'm not necessarily endorsing any of these books or claiming this is an exhaustive list; these are just the books that have accumulated on my shelf that I think may yield some useful ideas.

• Analysis Patterns - Reusable Object Models
  Martin Fowler, Addison Wesley 1997

• Applying UML Patterns - The Complete Video Course
  Craig Larman, Prentice Hall 1998

• Design Patterns - Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
  Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides, Addison Wesley 1995

• Design Patterns and Contracts
  Jean-Marc Jezequel, Michael Train, Christine Mingins, Addison Wesley 2000

• Design Patterns for Object Oriented Software Development
  Wolfgang Pree, Addison Wesley 1995

• Designing Object Systems - Object Oriented Modelling with Syntropy
  Steve Cook and John Daniels, Prentice Hall 1994

• Extreme Programming Explained
  Kent Beck, Addison Wesley 2000

• Extreme Programming Installed
  Ron Jeffries, Ann Anderson, Chet Hendrickson, Addison Wesley 2001

• Fundamentals of Object-Oriented Design in UML
  Meilir Page-Jones, Dorset House Publishing 2000

• Metapattern - Content and Time in Information Models
  Pieter Wisse, Addison Wesley 2001

• Object Modeling and User Interface Design - Designing Interactive Systems
  Mark Van Harmelen, Addison Wesley 2001

• Object Oriented Software Construction, 2nd edition
  Bertrand Meyer, Prentice Hall 1997

• Object Oriented Software Engineering - A Use Case Driven Approach
  Ivar Jacobson, et al Magnus Christerson, Patrik Jonsson, Gunnar Overgaard, Addison Wesley 1992

• Objects Unencapsulated - Java, Eiffel, and C++??
  Ian Joyner, Prentice Hall 1999

• The Pattern Almanac 2000
  Linda Rising, Addison Wesley 2000

• Pattern Hatching - Design Patterns Applied
  John Vlissades, Addison Wesley 1998

• Pattern Languages of Program Design I
  edited by Coplien, Schmidt, Addison Wesley 1995

• Pattern Languages of Program Design II
  edited by Vlissides, Coplien, Kerth, Addison Wesley 1996

• Pattern Languages of Program Design III
  edited by Martin, Riehle, Buschman, Addison Wesley 1998

• Pattern Languages of Program Design IV
  edited by Harrison, Foote, Rhonert, Addison Wesley 2000

• A System of Patterns
  Bushman, Meunier, Rohnertr, Sommerlad, Stal, John Wiley & Sons 1996

• The Pragmatic Programmer
  Andrew Hunt and David Thomas, Addison Wesley 2000

• Refactoring - Improving the Design of Existing Code
  Martin Fowler, et al Beck, Brant, Opdyke and Roberts, Addison Wesley 1999

• Software Fundamentals, Collected Papers by David L. Parnas
  edited by Daniel Hoffman and David Weiss, Addison Wesley 2001

• Taligent's Guide to Designing Programs
  Taligent, 1994

• Effective C++, 2nd edition
  Scott Meyers, Addison Wesley 1998

• More Effective C++
  Scott Meyers, Addison Wesley 1996

• Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot - Rules for C & C++ Programming
  Allen Holub McGraw Hill 1995

• Large Scale C++ Software Design
  John Lakos, Addison Wesley 1996