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I don't know. I have such mixed feelings about this; it's free... but, I don't actually think it's... good? I mean, it's well written, and it has examples that

I don't know. I have such mixed feelings about this; it's free... but, I don't actually think it's... good? I mean, it's well written, and it has examples that try to tie it into practical examples, and thats good, but there are just lots of little technical details that I find are slightly off. For example, a considerable amount of time is devote to showing that the 'observer' pattern isn't a bad idea. ...but, although its not always a bad idea, there are a number of people (see [1]) who have comprehensively covered why it is troublesome. On the prototype pattern: > With all of these options, I honestly can’t say I’ve found a case where I felt the Prototype design pattern was the best answer. Maybe your experience will be different, but for now let’s put that away and talk about something else: prototypes as a language paradigm. ...what? Then why did you bring it up at all? Each of the chapters is really long, covering what is really quite basic material mixed in with some kind of questionable content and some examples... but no actual working code to show how to use the examples. I like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_design_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_design_pattern ...I'd like this too, if it was just... I don't know. Slightly more technically sharp and less rambling? Surely you could cut down the discussion slightly, show a practical example of where each pattern is actually useful that actually compiles, and just drop any patterns that... aren't useful, and you'd have an excellent book. [1] - https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/148043/files/DeprecatingObserversTR2010.pdf https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/148043/files/DeprecatingO...

aidos 9y ago
Maybe it depends on your experience / field? I don't do C++ or games programming generally so for me it was amazing. I'd actually go so far as to say it's one of my favourite technical books of all time. The style is great and I went away with lots to think about. So for anyone that's thinking of giving it a miss based on my parents comment - I'd recommend you read it yourself (it's free) to make your own judgement.
zimzim 9y ago
>On the prototype pattern: >... >..what? Then why did you bring it up at all? From the intro: "Prototyping — slapping together code that’s just barely functional enough to answer a design question — is a perfectly legitimate programming practice. There is a very large caveat, though. If you write throwaway code, you must ensure you’re able to throw it away." Prototyping — coding without architecture in mind? I dont find it relevant to his book.
- aidos 9y ago
  The GP is referring to the section on prototypes (objects that can be cloned to make new instances).
ghusbands 9y ago
It's a reasonable introduction to many concepts and design patterns that are useful in many areas of programming, including games. Even if it's not the best treatment of each, the quality, style and pace keeps it useful and engaging. If it's not for you, that's fine, but if your comment becomes the top one, I think it could dissuade a lot of people who could benefit from giving it a read.
- danielbarla 9y ago
  I agree with this assessment. One of the issues I had with the GoF patterns book (from the perspective of one's first book on patterns), is that it's heavy reading for the target audience (i.e. people clearly not exposed to patterns before). If you're in that situation, you'll struggle to stick with the book and appreciate it. For everyone else, it's probably preaching to the choir. This book on the other hand - while perhaps lacking on implementation details - does a wonderful job of introducing a variety of patterns and their usefulness as abstractions.
philsnow 9y ago
I bought the paper book a long time ago and read it in an afternoon. Most of the ideas are pretty straightforward, not many of them are specifically game-oriented. Overall I came away thinking there wasn't much depth. edit: I really enjoyed the writing style and illustrations. If anything, I meant the above to be encouragement to the author (should he happen to read my comment) to flesh it out more (perhaps by interviewing industry veterans, and converting their wisdom into this very easy to digest format).
animal531 9y ago
The first random chapter I clicked on (the Update Method) is using doubles for movement. Computers may have become a lot more powerful, but that's not a reason for throwing out sloppy code.

aidos 9y ago

Maybe it depends on your experience / field? I don't do C++ or games programming generally so for me it was amazing. I'd actually go so far as to say it's one of my favourite technical books of all time. The style is great and I went away with lots to think about. So for anyone that's thinking of giving it a miss based on my parents comment - I'd recommend you read it yourself (it's free) to make your own judgement.

zimzim 9y ago

>On the prototype pattern: >... >..what? Then why did you bring it up at all? From the intro: "Prototyping — slapping together code that’s just barely functional enough to answer a design question — is a perfectly legitimate programming practice. There is a very large caveat, though. If you write throwaway code, you must ensure you’re able to throw it away." Prototyping — coding without architecture in mind? I dont find it relevant to his book.

aidos 9y ago
The GP is referring to the section on prototypes (objects that can be cloned to make new instances).

ghusbands 9y ago

It's a reasonable introduction to many concepts and design patterns that are useful in many areas of programming, including games. Even if it's not the best treatment of each, the quality, style and pace keeps it useful and engaging. If it's not for you, that's fine, but if your comment becomes the top one, I think it could dissuade a lot of people who could benefit from giving it a read.

danielbarla 9y ago
I agree with this assessment. One of the issues I had with the GoF patterns book (from the perspective of one's first book on patterns), is that it's heavy reading for the target audience (i.e. people clearly not exposed to patterns before). If you're in that situation, you'll struggle to stick with the book and appreciate it. For everyone else, it's probably preaching to the choir. This book on the other hand - while perhaps lacking on implementation details - does a wonderful job of introducing a variety of patterns and their usefulness as abstractions.

philsnow 9y ago

I bought the paper book a long time ago and read it in an afternoon. Most of the ideas are pretty straightforward, not many of them are specifically game-oriented. Overall I came away thinking there wasn't much depth. edit: I really enjoyed the writing style and illustrations. If anything, I meant the above to be encouragement to the author (should he happen to read my comment) to flesh it out more (perhaps by interviewing industry veterans, and converting their wisdom into this very easy to digest format).

animal531 9y ago

The first random chapter I clicked on (the Update Method) is using doubles for movement. Computers may have become a lot more powerful, but that's not a reason for throwing out sloppy code.