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AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis

AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis

List Price: $44.99
Your Price: $30.59
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 0 stars
Summary: CONGRATULATIONS!
Review: "AntiPatterns" received the Jolt Award Productivity award from Software Development Magazine. These awards are given to products that "jolt" the industry with their significance and make the difficult task of creating corporate software faster, easier, and more efficient. Congratulations to all the authors!

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: This book could save your project's life!
Review:

"The "AntiPatterns" authors have clearlybeen there and done that when it comes to managing softwaredevelopment efforts. I resonated with one insight after another, having witnessed too many wayward projects myself. The experience in this book is palpable."
-- John Vlissides, IBM Research and author of "Design Patterns"

"I read the "AntiPatterns" manuscript in one sitting and was constantly surprised by its insight and amused by its presentation. Many of the AntiPatterns the authors describe could have been taken from my own experience...I highly recommend this book."
-- Al Stevens, Dr. Dobb's Journal

"This book allows managers, architects and developers to learn from the painful mistakes of others. I found it informative, entertaining, and often convicting. The high level AntiPatterns on software architecture are a particularly valuable contribution to software engineering. Highly recommended!"
-- Kyle Brown, author of "The Smalltalk Design Patterns Companion"

Are you headed into the software development mine field? Follow someone if you can, but if you're on your own--better get the map!

"AntiPatterns" is the map. This book helps you navigate through today's dangerous software development projects.
Just look at the statistics:
** Nearly one-third of all software projects are canceled.
** Two-thirds of all software projects encounter cost overruns in excess of 200%.
**Over 80% of all software projects are deemed failures.

While patterns help you to identify and implement procedures, designs, and codes that work, AntiPatterns do the exact opposite; they let you zero-in on the development detonators, architectural trip-wires, and personality booby-traps that can spell doom for your project.

Written by an all-star team of object-oriented systems developers, "AntiPatterns" identifies 40 of the most common AntiPatterns in the areas of software development, architecture, and project management. The authors then show you how to detect and defuse AntiPatterns as well as supply refactored solutions for each AntiPatterns presented.

About the authors: William J. Brown, Process Director for Concept Five Technologies, is an independent consultant with extensive experience in large-scale software development project management. Raphael C. Malveau is Chief Scientist at Eidea Labs, and specializes in building CORBA applications using design patterns. Hays W. "Skip" McCormick, III is a lead engineer at Mitre Corporation, focusing on object-oriented systems development and legacy systems integration. Thomas J. Mowbray is the architect of one of the first CORBA-based applications systems. He is the Principal Scientist at Blueprint Technologies Corporation and an architecture columnist for "Object Magazine".

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A noble but failed effort
Review: A noble effort, but this book fails to sufficiently build upon existing literature. Steve McConnell's _Code Complete_ and _Rapid Development_ do a better job covering similar material. The gang of four's patterns book was far more readable. This book attempts to collect, summarize, and name information from many sources, but the value of the collection is far less than its constituent elements.

The book wastes pages. Antipatterns appear on pages 73-267: pages 3-72 are spent on multiple summaries, templates, and fluffy and repetitive rationalizations for antipatterns. I bought the book: stop selling past the sale.

The writing is verbose and repetitive. The authors use jargon and undefined acronyms (so many acronyms appear within the text that an acronym glossary is included at the end of the book). Some readers may enjoy such style, but I prefer English. Another author could have done twice as much with half the pages.

The goal is a good one: create a common taxonomy for common mistakes. Wait for a better book to achieve this goal.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Communicates complex ideas simply and captivatingly!
Review: After reading the reviews here on Amazon, I simply had to find out what it was about AntiPatterns that so polarized people.

I'm glad I did. This book has to be the absolute best PATTERNS book I have ever read.

As a software systems consultant in the real world, I loved Design Patterns, but I'm finding that I USE AntiPatterns practically weekly while explaining complex ideas to clients.

It is highly enjoyable to read, steeped with useful insight, and wonderfully illustrated. I hope these guys write more.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Humorous Telling of a Tragic Tale
Review: AntiPatterns is a book that needed to be written. It deals with patterns in (legacy) software that are destructive, and how to try to modify that software to improve it. (I include all poorly engineered software in the category of "legacy," regardless of whether that software is now in the developmental stage.)

The lack of serious engineering in much modern software is tragic, and a topic which is not politically correct. But for all programmers who are not "code prostitutes," it is a subject which will impinge on your future happiness and satisfaction on the job.

Although generally helpful, I would like to see the subject matter improved to catalog the most common design and algorithm foul-ups, and specific corrections. (Combine antipatterns with 0-0 design patterns.) Short checklists of the most efficient or powerful algorithms (to date) for solving certain problems, would be eye-opening for most programmers, as the most efficient algorithms for many jobs are never encountered until graduate level CS studies (and so the average programmer doesn't know that they exist).

Hopefully, there will be many more books written on this subject.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Knowing when to apply patterns is critical.
Review: AntiPatterns tries to help the practitioner identify when and how to apply a pattern by recognizing the symptoms of a bad pattern (AntiPattern). The refactored pattern deals with both the symptoms and the root cause. We use many recognized and successful patterns from the patterns community who have been very supportive in getting this book 'out the door'. We attempt to make the whole process fun and easy to use. This is just the start of AntiPatterns and we wish to get people energized in using them and developing new ones.

Rating: 0 stars
Summary: Why we wrote AntiPatterns
Review: AntiPatterns was written for developers, but contains useful information for architects/managers too. This is a survival handbook for software people that enables you to clearly see when you, your peers, or your project are making big mistakes. And big mistakes are plentiful in today's software projects. We also show you how to get out of trouble, through dozens of refactoring solutions (i.e. patterns) that correspond to each of the troublesome AntiPatterns. This is a serious book that contains many tragically funny cartoons and stories, including DILBERT. The book details the classic mistakes from software design, programming, and projects. As well as the classic remedies, design patterns, and refactoring patterns. Contains generous citations and URLs for further research.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AntiPatterns: Worth it just for the shear fun of it.
Review: AntiPatterns: Worth it just for the shear fun of it.

I have never enjoyed reading about the foibles of software development and software project management than reading the AntiPatterns book.

Not only does this book tell you about a number of AntiPatterns, but you also get Patterns or refactored solutions to deal with the AntiPatterns.

I just skimmed the introductory chapters, so I could get to the meat of the book: the AntiPatterns. As you read through them, you will be nodding your head. Quite a number of them are just plain common sense. However, if you have not "Been there, done that", you will truly appreciate them.

I also like the fact they have AntiPatterns at all levels of Software Development. From the Blob: a CLASS that does it ALL, to the CORNCOB: the individual who says: "We must use CORBA". This book will be useful for all participants from the developer to the Project Manager.

I congratulate the authors on an informativ! e and entertaining book!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Reading AntiPatterns got me promoted!
Review: As I read AntiPatterns, I noticed a couple AntiPatterns at work. When I pointed them out to my supervisor, along with the refactored solution recommended in AntiPatterns, he was so impressed that I got a special bonus and a raise. You could say that AntiPatterns paid for itself many times over! Thanks!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: This is NOT a book on architectural patterns
Review: BE WARNED:

- This book is on process and *NOT* architecture.
- It is for managers and not for developers.
- It concentrates primarily on project management issues.
- The book is filled with personal opinion.
- It is spotted with questionable "anicdotal" evidence.
- It will not save a project in crisis--but maybe the next project.
- Less than half of the book is even worth reading.

Anyone looking for a companion to the GoF Design Patterns book will be *sorely* disappointed in AntiPatterns. This is not a "bad apples" version of architecture patterns. Instead, it devotes itself to describing symptoms resulting from failed or missing processes. As far as being a process book, it's barely average. It has some good insights and might help a manager spot emerging problems, but much of the advise is too generalized to be of much applied use.

You can tell that this book was written by four seperate people. One of them did an outstanding job (making about 1/4 of the book 5 stars). He describes solutions with detail and clarity. One does a decent job. Two of them are clearly jargon blowhards who have trouble completing a thought. Their chapters offer no detailed advice on what action to take but rather generalize and summarize on vague remedies. For instance, "put more money into architecture" is one fortune cookie they offer.

I wish they had a critical eye preview the book and point out all of their holes -- both in supportive argument and in solution description. Often times a paragraph introduces a concept, and the author neither explains it nor offers any futher reading.

The book is spotted with questionable "evidence" supporting their opinions. Here is my favorite quote of the book, "Meeting productivity gains are must more dramatic,... and we have seen productivity gains over 100,000:1." They have seen fifty years of work performed in an hour! Talk about overselling a process improvement!

And don't get me started on their misuse of the term "refactor."


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