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GoF Patterns: Helping Losers Lose Less

…don’t dismiss patterns because of the GoF - much of the patterns community derides that work as well. Think of the GoF as helping losers lose less.

- Richard Gabriel, comp.lang.lisp, 2001

via Reddit

Got a recommendation for another patterns book besides GoF that’s readable and reasonably authoritative? I haven’t read GoF myself, though it’s on my BookMooch wishlist (www.bookmooch.com), and I’m not a fan of the Head First book series, which eliminates that patterns book.

If you are working in Java or something similiar, I think you should still read the GoF. If for nothing else to at least have the vocabulary when your coworkers start tossing around pattern names. Just keep in mind that its all about the ideas and motivation behind the patterns, and not the actual implementation they provide.

Recommendations for reading along side the GoF book:

Anything by Christopher Alexander, particularly _Oregon Experiment_ or _Timeless Way of Building_, followed by _A Pattern Language_.

Richard Gabriel - Patterns of Software (PDF here)

Peter Norvig on patterns in dynamic languages.