I agree, that head first book is fantabulous. Very well written and easy to read for a techie book. It makes the usage of design patterns incredibly easy to understand. But like all things simply understanding the theory doesn't always equal being able to practice it... that only comes with using them. On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 9:51 AM, Eric Butera <eric.butera@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 9:20 AM, tedd <tedd.sperling@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > At 8:50 PM -0600 2/24/08, Larry Garfield wrote: > > >Design patterns are just that: A formalization of various common > patterns that > > >come up over and over in programming. Ever get the feeling "wow, I > know I've > > >written something kinda like this at least three times now?" That > means it's > > >probably a design pattern of some kind. > > > > > >Studying design patterns helps you recognize a give problem as being > similar > > >to another, so the solution is probably similar. It also can alert > you to > > >common pitfalls and common ways around them. > > > > I've read at least a couple of books on the subject and for something > > that's designed to make programming easier, I find it difficult to > > implement. > > > > I'm more like -- "I've written something like this before -- I'm > > going to find my code and alter it" -- type of guy. > > > > I'm sure it's my failing, but I program trees and not forest. From my > > perspective, you plant enough trees, the forest will take care of > > itself. Besides, every forest I've designed ends up a lot different > > than when I started. So I focus on trees -- it's simpler for me. > > > > I think it's good to develop a methodology so that you can reuse past > > code, but the "design patterns' I've read about seem too abstract for > > me. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > tedd > > -- > > ------- > > http://sperling.com http://ancientstones.com http://earthstones.com > > > > -- > > > > > > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > > > > To each their own I guess. Just out of curiosity, are you primarily > writing entire web applications or one off scripts? > > I used to say "you don't need all that" but over time I just can't say > it much anymore. It seems easy to just dive in and throw something > out the door, but then new features need to be added. One of my > favorite programming books, Design Patterns Explained, says "Change > happens! Deal with it." Using patterns helped me do just that with > minimal crying because the underlying architecture could be easily > modified. > > Also maybe look at Head First Design Patterns if you are interested in > ever understanding them. Most of the books I've read say something > along the lines of it should be obvious when to use these patterns > when you read their book. This might be true for some/most people but > I couldn't get my head wrapped around them till I read Head First. > Seeing their examples with the fun writing just made things click for > me. > > After reading that not only could I use them, but I started spotting > them in peoples code. Another benefit of knowing patterns is having a > common language for explaining solutions to problems between > developers. Saying I'm using the decorator pattern makes much more > sense then saying I'm wrapping this thing with another thing that > makes it do something else so I can swap out behaviors because they > work together, etc. > > ...but that is just the world I like to live in. :) > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >
