Dave Gardner
- dave@mpdconsulting.co.uk
- 07921 465358
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Holub on Patterns
Allen Holub
I bought this book having enjoyed Allen’s Javaworld articles on OOP 1,2, and it covers much of the ground covered in the articles. This book, for me, was a revalation. As most of us do, I came from a procedural background, and I had never really given it up. I was using OO constructs to program in a procedural way. This wasn’t all bad, but looking back at old code, it is easy to see how it becomes difficult to maintain. This book definitely helps to think in an OO way, and that’s half the battle.
The first section, although largely based on the Javaworld articles, contains a neat introduction to objects. The book then moves on to two seperate examples, which can be hard going in places (there is a lot of code included in the text). Finally, Allen dedicates a couple of pages to each pattern. Although the examples in the book are written in Java, I found it easy as a PHP developer to understand the ideas behind the code. The book is supported by materials on Allen’s website.3
Allen’s style is certainly direct. To quote a couple of Amazon reviews: “Holub doesn’t spare the punches”, “this book is opinionated; and this is no bad thing.”. Indeed it is no bad thing; and I for one, am a fan.
