Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Preface to CD
As we were writing Design Patterns, we knew the patterns we were describing had
value because they had proven themselves in many different contexts. Our hope was
that other software engineers would benefit from these patterns as much as we had.
Now, three years after its debut, we find ourselves both grateful and thrilled by
how the book has been received. Lots of people use it. Many tell us the patterns
have helped them design and build better systems. Many others have been inspired to
write their own patterns, and the pool of patterns is growing. And many have
commented on what might be improved about the book and what they would like to see
in the future.
A recurring comment in all the feedback has been how well-suited the book is to
hypertext. There are numerous cross-references, and chasing references is something
a computer can do very well. Since much of the software development process takes
place on computers, it would be natural to have a book like ours as an on-line
resource. Observations like these got us excited about the potential of this medium.
So when Mike Hendrickson approached us about turning the book into a CD-ROM, we
jumped at the chance.
Two years and several megabytes of e-mail later, we're delighted that you can
finally obtain this edition, the Design Patterns CD, and put its unique capabilities
to work. Now you can access a pattern from your computer even when someone has
borrowed your book. You can search the text for key words and phrases. It's also
considerably easier to incorporate parts of it in your own on-line documentation.
And if you travel with a notebook computer, you can keep the book handy without
lugging an extra two pounds of paper.
Hypertext is a relatively new publishing venue, one we are learning to use just like
everyone else. If you have ideas on how to improve this edition, please send them to
design-patterns-cd@cs.uiuc.edu. If you have questions or suggestions concerning the
patterns themselves, send them to the
gang-of-4-patterns@cs.uiuc.edu mailing list.
(To subscribe, send e-mail to
gang-of-4-patterns@cs.uiuc.edu with the subject
"subscribe".) This list has quite a few readers, and many of them can answer
questions as well as we can – and usually a lot faster! Also, be sure to check out
the Patterns Home Page at
http://hillside.net/patterns/. There you'll find other
books and mailing lists on patterns, not to mention conference information and
patterns published on-line.
This CD entailed considerable design and implementation work. We are indebted to
Mike Hendrickson and the team at Addison-Wesley for their on-going encouragement and
support. Jeff Helgesen, Jason Jones, and Daniel Savarese garner many thanks for
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