Reviews for Design Patterns in Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby)

1. Design Patterns without Java (long overdue)!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2009

   Firstly, I'd never used Ruby before I read this book but I am reasonably experienced in Python and Perl. Having picked up this book from the work library and browsed it, I was quickly hooked. Most books on design patterns that I'd come across were aimed at Java (yuck!) programmers, this was the first I'd found that described design patterns for a dynamic language. The author seems to have found an unmet need in the programming books market with this one. Any Perl or Python programmer who understands the basics of OO should have no problem with the content here, the examples are very clear and the explanations are excellent. Using this book and Google searches the patterns described can easily be translated into either Perl or Python. My only quibble, and it's a very minor one, is that although UML is used throughout, there is no brief overview of it. As he writes so well, maybe he could have even made UML seem interesting! Anyway, I really think this book is well worth the price, I've now got my copy and have even begun to dabble in some Ruby.

2. Surpassed all expectations

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2009

   I picked this up on a whim and expected a standard regurgitation of the GOF in Ruby. What I found was one of the most grown-up programming books I have read in years. Highly recommended for Ruby programmers, and those wanting to understand why they should consider being Ruby programmers.

3. Amazing Depth and Clarity

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, July 12th, 2008

   This book has three goals. To introduce Design Patterns, introduce Ruby and explain how the latter simplifies the former. That it manages to do so in 330 pages, without over-simplifying or stresing one goal at the expense of another, is an amazing achievement. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Design Patterns, regardless of their current language.

4. This is a brilliantly written book!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2008

   It manages to fully accomplish two distinct things : a) give the reader a great, working understanding of design patterns and b) introduce and showcase the Ruby programming language. Unlike the GoF design pattern book this one is written in a concise and pragmatic fashion, offering relevant, real-world examples of how and when to apply design patterns and also provides a unique perspective on how certain patterns are but a product of the constraints of current frameworks and languages . On this merit alone I would recommend this book to programmers and designers as a thesis on design patterns, regardless of their choice of programming language.
   
   At the same time, this book is an excellent introduction to Ruby, especially for people like me who have strong OO background but no experience in dynamic languages like Ruby. The author manages to seamlessly tie-in familiar design patterns with their Ruby implementation, explaining the traditional OO way of implementing them, as well as the 'Ruby way'. This is done in a progressive way, introducing new features of the language with each pattern. By the time I finished reading this book I felt very comfortable with coding real-life applications in Ruby.
   
   Overall, one of the best technical books to have ever adorned my bookshelf.

5. Best programming book I have ever read

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2008

   I bought this book seeking to understand more about Design Patterns and general Ruby programming, having only dabbled in ruby through Ruby on Rails. This book is very easy to read, the examples are simple enough to be easily followed when not at a computer but also sophisticated and useful to really play around with and learn from the code.
   
   The style of the writing is very easy to follow and the author explains the concepts well with real world examples. I really liked how he looked at a variety of uses of the design patterns he presents.
   
   I cannot recommend this book enough, it is simply the most well written and informative programming book i have ever read.