Reading this book together with the GoF book is the best way to study the patterns. Refactoring is the XP practice that reverses code entropy. Refactoring by Martin Fowler is THE book on how to do it well. A Manager s Guide . Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas get it.
Programming is an art.
Programmers are craftsman. Practicality is coin of the realm, if you re going to be any good. Fred Brooks didn t come up with lots of new ideas when he wrote The Mythical Man Month . But he said what many other people were too scared to say or simply forgot. Software development is hard and nobody pounds home the reasons better than Brooks.