Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)
Average Customer Rating:
Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 005.1 EAN: 9780321127426 ISBN: 0321127420 Label: Addison-Wesley Professional Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Professional Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 560 Publication Date: 2002-11-15 Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional Studio: Addison-Wesley Professional
Customer Rating: Summary: Basic Architecture Comment: This book is not for beginners. The patterns match many constructs I've built over the years. It is pretty comprehensive and a foundation for the newer patterns of SOA and WOA. A good addition to any architect's library. Customer Rating: Summary: An Underrated Subject and Book Comment: Motivation
I didn't look at this book for a long time simply because of the word "enterprise." I felt the word was too overloaded to be useful. I've heard too many managers, recruiters, and other programmers use this word to mean too many different things. Fowler defines enterprise application as "the display, manipulation, and storage of large amounts of often complex data and the support or automation of business process with that data." By that definition every system I've ever worked on has been an enterprise application.
Cons
A dense, tough read. I almost wish I was at a whiteboard or kept a notepad while reading.
Pros
Fowler gives a fantastic presentation of how to design software using databases, distributed components, etc. This is given through good narratives and anecdotes of Fowler's own experiences, and also through the patterns distilled from these.
The best thing I can say about this book is I would put it fourth in the list of books-I'd-like-anybody-I'm-working-with-to-have-read, right after to Design Patterns, Refactoring, and Extreme Programming Explained.
Summary
As with most patterns books, not everything in here is an amazing revelation, but the common approach, terminology, and ways of categorizing problems and solutions make it very valuable.
Programmers who utilize design patterns and refactoring, and who work on software systems involving distributed components and/or databases should take a look at this book.
Customer Rating: Summary: Misses out on the important patterns Comment: This book is a complete beginner's handbook for enterprise patterns.
1) The "Mapping to Relational Database Patterns" section discusses patterns that are completely intuitive. I recall logically coming to this conclusions when I started programming in Visual Basic in 99. Nothing new in this section.
2) The "Concurrency" section is criminal in nature and assumes that the application runs on high-cost server. Process-per-session? Thread-per-request? Come on!! Has the author missed out on the Reactor, Proactor and Active Object patterns (he does reference ACE but only as a reference). These patterns have been recognized as not scalable in the late 90s.
3)The distribution patterns are clearly incomplete and desire a lot of details.
If you're just starting out,as a System Architect :-), you'll find this useful. Otherwise, use MSDN or ACE for enterprise patterns. Customer Rating: Summary: Must have reference for all developers Comment: Even if you don't do "Enterprise Application" development, this book is a must have in your library. If you have been developing for more than a couple of years and you haven't seen 1/2 of the patterns in this book, then you are probably doing something wrong and this book could greatly help you.
Even if you do know 1/2 or more of the patterns in this book it is a great reference to the details of these patterns. Unless you are a Sophomore Software Engineering Student I'd recommend this book over the GoF book. Gof is a must have too, but if you can only have one. Get this one! Customer Rating: Summary: Must read Comment: This is a must read book if you are a developer, architect or in anyway related to technology.
Noted software engineering expert, Martin Fowler, turns his attention to enterprise application development. He helps professionals understand the complex--yet critical--aspects of architecture. Enables the reader to make proper choices when faced with a difficult design decision.
