"Dean Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > This is not a long book and is written in a chatty style that makes it an > easy read. The examples are short, clear and to the point, although i > did get the impression that the author didn't really like Java but was a > Smalltalk fan. This doesn't detract from the book but it does make you look > twice at the few Smalltalk code samples if you come from a main stream > language. The Smalltalk examples could have been implemented in something > more common such as Java or C++ and been just as effective but more > accessible to the mass market.
Well, it's no surprise that Beck's a Smalltalk fan, he's written one of the best books about the language that there is (sorry to bang on about it, but Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns really is a very good book). Personally I didn't find the Smalltalk stuff intrusive, but (inspired by other books that continually hark back to Smalltalk) taken the time go go and learn the syntax, there's almost nothing to it really, I strongly recommend everyone do the same. Like Lisp, Smalltalk is a mindwarping language, and I mean that in a good way. > In order to get the most out of the book the author recommends working > along through the examples on a computer, i agree with this, i retain > more if I'm active rather than passive and this book is written in a style > that suits and encourages this approach. Something that annoyed > me however was the lack of concrete, full code. Although the examples are > complete and show the changes being made and discussed you are expected to > know enough about the language being used to put the classes together and > run them on your own. Again, I didn't find this annoying, and if you do the code from the book is available for download at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/testdrivendevelopment/files/ > A good example of this is the Java code, it is never given as an actual > class but rather presented as a selection of methods. It would have been > nice to have a boxout with the code as it looked at that stage every few > chapters. The same can be said of the test suite code. This is not a show > stopper but coupled with the complete lack of JUnit coverage (JUnit is used > in some screen-shots and would have made it simpler to follow along) and > the use of two main languages it raises the entry bar, something that could > have been avoided by the inclusion of a small third appendix and a small > number of more detailed code samples. Again, I didn't find this to be a problem; to be honest the *details* of the implementation were secondary to the underlying thinking and exposition and I found Beck's choice of code to show at each step to be exemplary. Punctuating the book with lumps of 'the whole code as it stands' would break the flow. And getting into that flow seemed to be one of the most important skills that Beck was trying to teach. > Summary > An interesting book that presents a useful approach, some good idea's and > many pithy quotes but not a classic. I have to disagree. I think this book will stand head and shoulders above other books on the same subject as a tightly focussed, highly effective teaching tool. Definitely a future classic to my way of thinking. -- Piers
