Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
5
Preface to CD
As we were writing Design Patterns, we knew the patterns we weredescribing had
value because they had proven themselves in manydifferent contexts. Our hope was
that other software engineers wouldbenefit from these patterns as much as we had.
Now, three years after its debut, we find ourselves both grateful andthrilled
by how the book has been received. Lots of people use it.Many tell us the patterns
have helped them design and build bettersystems. Many others have been inspired
to write their own patterns,and the pool of patterns is growing. And many have
commented on whatmight be improved about the book and what they would like to
see inthe future.
A recurring comment in all the feedback has been how well-suited thebook is to
hypertext. There are numerous cross-references, andchasing references is
something a computer can do very well. Sincemuch of the software development
process takes place on computers, itwould be natural to have a book like ours
as an on-line resource.Observations like these got us excited about the potential
of thismedium. So when Mike Hendrickson approached us about turning the bookinto
a CD-ROM, we jumped at the chance.
Two years and several megabytes of e-mail later, we're delighted thatyou can
finally obtain this edition, the Design Patterns CD,and put its unique capabilities
to work. Now you can access a patternfrom 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
bookhandy without lugging an extra two pounds of paper.
Hypertext is a relatively new publishing venue, one we arelearning to use just
like everyone else. If you have ideas on howto improve this edition, please send
them todesign-patterns-cd@cs.uiuc.edu.If you have questions or suggestions
concerning the patternsthemselves, send them to
thegang-of-4-patterns@cs.uiuc.edumailing list. (To subscribe, send e-mail to
gang-of-4-patterns@cs.uiuc.eduwith the subject "subscribe".) This list has quite
a few readers, and many of them can answer questions as well as we can—andusually
a lot faster! Also, be sure to check out thePatterns Home Page
athttp://hillside.net/patterns/.There you'll find other books and mailing lists
on patterns, notto mention conference information and patterns published on-line.
This CD entailed considerable design and implementation work. We areindebted to
Mike Hendrickson and the team at Addison-Wesley for theiron-going encouragement
and support. Jeff Helgesen, Jason Jones, andDaniel Savarese garner many thanks
