Object-Oriented Design & Patterns

I agree with the majority of points raised by 2-star reviewer wiredweird. I actually hated the book at first but grew to like it more as the semester wore on though it doesn't even rate in my top ten of favorite course textbooks. This textbook was required for a master's level course.The book purely uses Java to convey the OOD concepts and I did not know enough about Java before the semester started so I had to use supplemental materials (as mentioned previously, the Java "crash course" at the beginning of the book is woefully inadequate) for that aspect.There is an accompanying website with the book that provides answers to all of the odd-numbered exercises as well as all of the code presented in the book which is nice. However, that is one place I took issue though. The code in the book needs to be updated to reflect newer coding standards and things that have been deprecated in Java (sample code still uses StringTokenizer and other features that have been replaced by newer methods). The code is concise, however, and does appear to be well-written and compiles without error.There are just so many places where Horstmann is explaining the code line by line or some difficult concept but then just trails off leaving you wanting more.Maybe it's just me but the design patterns were confusing, especially where two patterns that are similar are mentioned but then what helps you determine exactly how they're different and when to use each isn't fully explained.It is definitely not a book for absolute OOD beginners, though it tries to be in some places. And, I would only recommend it to someone who has to have it for a college course with a professor who will be lecturing on the material and available to help you out if you have questions, not for any sort of self-directed study.

This is book is chosen by my university for a course in object oriented design.The book is well written, easy to understand. At the end of each chapter, the author provides very helpful exercises. If you do those, you will grasp concepts deeply and at the same time learn more Java tricks.The book also includes a chapter for people to crash Java which is helpful if you do not remember anything about Java before going into this book. However, some Java experience is required but not advanced, basic is ok.This book is chosen for a second course of Computer Science in college so I guess everyone with basic Java background can quickly get this book and learn easily.Tips: the author maintains his own website for the book which provides solutions to selected exercises. Do the exercises and you will learn the OOD as well as you wish.

I loved this book. It teaches you a lot of aspects of the Java programming language. Would buy it again.

I had to get this for one of my courses. It is made well, and was a pretty good read. Certainly not one of the worst books I've ever had to buy.

This is one of the best written computer science books I have used so far!! I'm so glad I purchased this one!!

This book came in good condition and is far cheaper than purchasing it through the bookstore. I'd highly recommend getting it here instead.

This was a textbook I retained from college. In college it didn't help me much because I don't think I had the appropriate comprehension of the topics that I have now. After several years of working as a Java developer I decided to pick this book up and start re-reading it because of all the technical books I own, this one is a manageable size.I'm very glad I have re-read this book as it makes a lot more sense now that I have real world experience than it did in school. It gives brief but well written descriptions of a wide array of OO designs and patterns. I don't think I would recommend this book to someone who doesn't have practical Java knowledge as the whole book is Java focused and might be more challenging for someone who has only C# domain experience for example.Overall I do think it's a valuable book and has descriptions of many nuances of OO design in the Java language (granted Java 5.0) that an average developer probably wouldn't pick up from any other source. I found the brief descriptions of design practices helpful because they reinforced what I was doing right and wrong in my current development projects.Although it is a good book, I don't think I would pay the current listed price ($65) for it. I'd say it's probably worth $20 and will continue to decline in price because it does rely heavily on the Java (version 5) language.

If you want to learn programming, go to a good teacher that has real experience of working on real projects. He will most likely use this book. There is no other book that will convert you into a real OO "thinker" in just one course. Perefection, and all nitty gritty details can come later when you start working for industry or just "google", for any syntax, or design. Google will not teach you how to think OO. That teacher with this book can!

Very good.

Not the good cover as the description was saying. Few defaults on the printing but overall what i was expecting from a book i paid 100$ less than the original price !

used for my university course somewhat useful

Shocked to receive a busted up paper envelope with nothing in it. The envelop was encased in a Canada Post wrapper saying the package was found open without its contents at one of its processing centres. What a disappointment. A little more attention to packaging would have gone a long way.