Patterns in Java: A Catalog of Reusable Design Patterns Illustrated with UML [With Contains Over 50 Design Patterns in Java...]

I haven't seen the first edition of this book. The examples are rather good and the diagrams are in UML. Compare it to diagrams in [GOF95] which are written in some wierd ancient notation. Although the exampled are in Java this book is good for C++ devs. This books is the fastest way to understand design patterns.

I read the first edition, and this is a huge improvement-new examples really show how to apply these patterns to everyday situations. The vendor-neutral solutions make this a great book for anyone working with Java.

Here's what I did to evaluate design pattern books: Read GofF and then sat in a B & N bookstore with every design pattern book they had. This was the one I found to be the most useful. Some caveats: First of all, if you're not at least an intermediate java programmer, you probably will have a hard time reading this book. Buy Volume 2 first (kind of strange but it's actually not as advanced) which is less about design patterns and more about fundamental design principles. Second, even if you are an intermediate to advanced Java programmer, it can be difficult to understand. But then, the subject matter is by nature abstract. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything more useful, including GoF. It's written for C++/Smalltalk and sometimes the multiple inheritance allowed by those languages makes it difficult to translate the pattern to Java. I have found this book to be the one I end up getting the most out of when I'm doing Java design work. It makes a great reference.

Have been looking for a java centred patterns book for some time and this fits the bill. Very useful examples and I particularly liked the way that examlples of a pattern's use in the jdk are highlighted.

Several books on Java cover SOME design patterns, but this is the first book that covers all of the originals GoF design patterns and adds many that have been introduced since. I've been looking for a book like this since I was introduced to design patterns 6 months ago. I'm very pleased with it.