Design patterns

Although it’s not actually a .NET issue, I decided to blog about it anyway!

I’ve been looking at design patterns quite a lot recently. I have always been a “bung it all in the code-behind” kind of programmer, which is an easy way to program, but messy. You end up with spaghetti code that’s hard to maintain and impossible to test automatically (not that I ever tried mind you!).

I decided to learn some new skills, and discipline myself to programming the Big Boys’ Way. I dutifully went to Amazon and spent far too much on books, and sat down to read them all. Most were fairly tough going and dull. I was beginning to think it wasn’t worth the effort, until I came across Head First Design Patterns, which was a breath of fresh air. Apart from the slightly wacky style, the explanations were very good.

My only gripe with the book is that it’s very Java-oriented. Given that design patterns are language-agnostic, this is totally unnecessary. Most of the time it didn’t spoil the book, but in a couple of places it really annoyed me. However, it’s still the best design patterns book I’ve read by a long way.

I hope to blog more about this subject. Watch this space (unless you’ve got anything better to do of course!)

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