Design Patterns in Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series) | 
|  | | | Title: | Design Patterns in Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series) | | Author: | Russ Olsen | | Publisher: | Addison-Wesley Professional | | Type: | Book / Hardcover | | Publication Date: | 20 December, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0321490452 / 9780321490452 | | List Price: | $49.99 | | You Save: | $10.00 | | Amazon Price: | $39.99 | |
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Product Description
Praise for Design Patterns in Ruby "Design Patterns in Ruby documents smart ways to resolve many problems that Ruby developers commonly encounter. Russ Olsen has done a great job of selecting classic patterns and augmenting these with newer patterns that have special relevance for Ruby. He clearly explains each idea, making a wealth of experience available to Ruby developers for their own daily work." —Steve Metsker, Managing Consultant with Dominion Digital, Inc. "This book provides a great demonstration of the key 'Gang of Four' design patterns without resorting to overly technical explanations. Written in a precise, yet almost informal style, this book covers enough ground that even those without prior exposure to design patterns will soon feel confident applying them using Ruby. Olsen has done a great job to make a book about a classically 'dry' subject into such an engaging and even occasionally humorous read." —Peter Cooper "This book renewed my interest in understanding patterns after a decade of good intentions. Russ picked the most useful patterns for Ruby and introduced them in a straightforward and logical manner, going beyond the GoF's patterns. This book has improved my use of Ruby, and encouraged me to blow off the dust covering the GoF book." —Mike Stok "Design Patterns in Ruby is a great way for programmers from statically typed objectoriented languages to learn how design patterns appear in a more dynamic, flexible language like Ruby." —Rob Sanheim, Ruby Ninja, Relevance Most design pattern books are based on C++ and Java. But Ruby is different—and the language's unique qualities make design patterns easier to implement and use. In this book, Russ Olsen demonstrates how to combine Ruby's power and elegance with patterns, and write more sophisticated, effective software with far fewer lines of code. After reviewing the history, concepts, and goals of design patterns, Olsen offers a quick tour of the Ruby language—enough to allow any experienced software developer to immediately utilize patterns with Ruby. The book especially calls attention to Ruby features that simplify the use of patterns, including dynamic typing, code closures, and "mixins" for easier code reuse. Fourteen of the classic "Gang of Four" patterns are considered from the Ruby point of view, explaining what problems each pattern solves, discussing whether traditional implementations make sense in the Ruby environment, and introducing Ruby-specific improvements. You'll discover opportunities to implement patterns in just one or two lines of code, instead of the endlessly repeated boilerplate that conventional languages often require. Design Patterns in Ruby also identifies innovative new patterns that have emerged from the Ruby community. These include ways to create custom objects with metaprogramming, as well as the ambitious Rails-based "Convention Over Configuration" pattern, designed to help integrate entire applications and frameworks. Engaging, practical, and accessible, Design Patterns in Ruby will help you build better software while making your Ruby programming experience more rewarding.
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Customer Reviews:
• Advanced Ruby Programming Styles And Idioms 31 July, 2008
This is a marvelous book, ideal if you're an experienced object-oriented programmer who wants to learn to use Ruby with the idioms particular to it, and not remain frozen in the techniques of traditional, statically typed object-oriented languages. Ruby is a dynamically typed language with many unique features, and this book was invaluable in my learning to use it as such. There are 16 design patterns covered, 3 of which are particular to the Ruby development environment. With each pattern is presented first the traditional approach using Ruby as a straightforward OO language, followed by the Ruby approach which takes advantage of the idioms and techniques particular to the Ruby language. With each pattern is introduced a new Ruby idiom, making the book a tutorial in advanced Ruby programming techniques.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A3P4GSY5SATJE9
• Design Patterns Make Sense With This Book In Ruby 27 July, 2008
I never really understood the need for Design Patterns. After reading several blogs, and listening to other programmers, I thought that Design Patterns might even somehow be harmful to my programming education. I felt that just by learning what they were, I'd somehow pollute my thinking to the point where I wouldn't be able to program without seeing a pattern in there somewhere. When I heard of the book Design Patterns in Ruby, I flinched. What good could possibly come from introducing Design Patterns into Ruby, I asked myself? Fortunately, my initial prejudices were unfounded. Design Patterns in Ruby is not some secret plot to turn all of the Ruby programmers into mindless drones; it is a very thorough introduction to Ruby, Design Patterns, and Object Oriented Programming concepts. Design Patterns in Ruby helped me to finally look critically at Design Patterns, and see them as something not to be feared, but as something that could be useful, even in my Ruby programming.
Design Patterns in Ruby is written with the idea that while the reader might be a good programmer, they may have somehow missed what Design Patterns are, or the reader might not know much about Ruby. The first two chapters rectify this by introducing the reader to what exactly these Design Patterns are. The author explains precisely which of the 14 of the original 23 "Gang of Four" patterns are covered in the book, and reasons why the 14 patterns were chosen. Chapter 2 is a quick introduction to Ruby, just to ensure everyone is on the same page. The author, in a single chapter, clearly explained concepts that other books I have read couldn't clearly convey, even after several chapters. Any doubts that I had of the author's abilities in explaining Design Patterns in a way that I would understand were completely gone by these chapters.
The actual Design Patterns in Design Patterns in Ruby have a similar format throughout the rest of the book. First, a small anecdote begins the chapter, explaining either a real-life situation where the patterns would be handy, or tying the pattern to one of the other patterns in the book. The meat of the chapter describes how one would implement the pattern, usually starting with a direct port from another language like C++ or Java, and gradually working it into something more Ruby-like by the end of the section. After the pattern is worked into a more Ruby-like format, the author then describes how to really abuse the pattern. Lastly, the author points out where this pattern is used in the Ruby, Rails, or other Ruby code, followed by a quick summary. This format works quite well, especially for programmers just starting in both Ruby and Design Patterns, while advanced programmers will learn better and more effective ways for implementing (or abusing) the patterns. Providing where the pattern is used in the code is also an excellent learning tool for the reader, and gives a baseline for the reader on where to look for more examples. The format also makes the book engaging. I found myself wanting to read the book, which is an experience I can't say I shared with the original Gang of Four Design Patterns book.
In addition to 14 of the Gang of Four patterns, the author talks about three Ruby-specific patterns. The first is the Domain Specific Language (DSL) pattern. Rather than defaulting to discussing Active Record (arguably the most famous DSL in Ruby), the author actually creates a DSL called "PackRat" which is a language for managing backups. The second pattern is Metaprogramming, which is ubiquitous in Ruby. The last pattern in the book is Configuration Over Configuration, the mantra of Rails. Each of these patterns compliments the other patterns in the book, and add to the original patterns discussed earlier in the book.
Design Patterns in Ruby is an exceptional book. It distills the best of the "Gang of Four" patterns that are of significance to Ruby Programmers, while adding several patterns that show up throughout Ruby and Ruby on Rails code. The author's style and the book's format make for an easy and informative reading experience. I can heartily recommend this book for all Ruby developers, both beginners and experts, and can especially recommend this book for those like myself who didn't think the original Design Patterns was anything to give attention. Design Patterns in Ruby has earned a permanent place on my shelf.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ABCMKQDE4UZAO
• Best Design Book I've Read Yet 26 July, 2008
By far the most accessible design book I have read. The author not only explains the pattern and the reasons for its use, he then goes on to show a traditional implementation of the pattern followed by a Ruby-specific implementation. By far the best design patterns book I have read yet.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2J8I9D1Z62LAF
• Engaging And Educational 11 June, 2008
I am a Java developer whose Ruby experience is limited to firing up the interactive Ruby shell for a Hello World, or reading the first chapters of Programming Ruby before drifting away and vowing to learn Ruby "when I have more time". I work with the author, and purchased this book solely on the strength of his training courses and lectures. Russ Olsen in book-format is just as effective a teacher as he is in person.
The book is a hybrid reference/Ruby-introduction book which provides the best of both worlds -- I was able to read it cover-to-cover without losing interest, something I could never quite accomplish with the original GoF Design Patterns text. Each chapter also functions as a modular unit, with concise introductions and conclusions that will be great on a day when I pull it off my shelf for use as a reference book. The Design Patterns provide a nice playpen for the sections on Ruby coding practices and features, and the coding sections give a better context for the Patterns.
Each Pattern is discussed in theory and in real-world code, and the author is very clear about the benefits and pitfalls of employing them. In addition, the book provides a solid, likable profile of the Ruby language without the evangelizing common in other books. Code examples are concise and useful, and the writing style is humorously engaging without falling into the trap where engineers-turned-authors suddenly believe they are stand-up comedians and sprinkle every paragraph with a multitude of grating jokes. There were a few mistakes in the text, but all of them were already captured and corrected on the book's web site.
In my library of tech books, the best books, the ones I constantly revisit, are not the ones that show me how to do something -- they are the ones that place what I do in a wider context and show me the possibilities of what CAN be done. Although I do not currently use Ruby in my day-to-day work, I can see this book becoming invaluable when that day comes.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A36JNXPMG0RMK8
• Excellent Introduction To Ruby For Existing Programmers 05 August, 2008
If you're already a programmer, this book an excellent way to learn Ruby. It shows how to apply a variety of common and largely language-independent programming structures ("design patterns") in "the Ruby way". Along the way, you get a great introduction to what makes Ruby unique, and the idioms commonly used in the Ruby community. I especially liked that the author often showed multiple implementations of each pattern, each implementation being more elegant and Ruby-esque than the last, and included a discussion of when each might (and might not!) be appropriate. I also appreciated the helpful discussion of the ways you might shoot yourself in the foot with each pattern in Ruby, as well as the pointers to where you could find the pattern used in Ruby "in the wild" (in various software freely available on the Internet).
- Reviewed by customer ID: A166W57V8KLKWU
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