OO Design patterns in simple language?

[linus72982]

Every tutorial I find on Object Oriented Design Patterns are full of industry terms and are dripping with theory with very few practical examples.

 

Can anyone point me to a tutorial that is easy to read and might even use actual PHP examples?  Also, should I be worried about good design for small projects like forums or login systems, etc?  I keep doing them with OO code but with procedural thought process (this goes to this and then it does this and goes back, etc,) and I just don't understand the abstract concepts behind good design.  The internet has let me down - am I really going to have to go take a college class on this to understand?

 

Thanks for any help.

 

-Adam

[thehippy]

Personally I had/have a real bit** of a time with application design and design patterns.  As such I've gathered a few books on the subject.

 

Martin Fowler, et al - Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture

This is a great primer and reference but its dry and full of industry jargon as you put it.  Part one of the book is all about the how of design patterns, breaking an application down or rather building one up with application design.  Its not very practical for PHP though, its full of UML and java examples, but still well worth it.

 

Kevin McArthur - Pro PHP - Patterns, Frameworks, Testing and More (Apress)

Just a really decent PHP reference, has a chunk at the beginning dedicated to OOP and design patterns. While it has PHP examples its not really expansive on the subject of design patterns, has just enough to tease you.

 

Jason Sweat - php|architect's Guide to PHP Design Patterns

Has a thorough review of design patterns commonly used in PHP with examples.  While very good at explaining each design pattern and its usage, I feel its not great at how one should 'put it all together,' [the first part of the Martin Fowler book as an example does this well] but an otherwise very good book.

 

Eric Freeman, et al - Head First Design Patterns [Obligatory O'Reilly Book]

No examples in a specific programming language, the examples are done with UML.  But the book is incredibly visual given the subject matter, lots of helper diagrams, pictures to help relate concepts.  Its very refreshing compared to most design pattern material.

 

P.S.  If you have access to a course you can take that covers design patterns, take it.  Worst that could happen is that you could catch up on sleep.

[linus72982]

Thanks for all the info.  Yeah, I might have to try to grab some of those books.  Taking a class isn't out of the realm of possibility as I'm in the Air Force and it's free to take college classes.  I wish there were an easy-to-understand internet tutorial about all of this - so much easier and cheaper than books

[ignace]

so much easier and cheaper than books

 

Also so much more inaccurate (or vital bits & pieces missing). Having a book from a respected author like Martin Fowler, Robert Martin, Kent Beck, Grady Booch, .. gives you the guarantee that the information you are reading is accurate, and you support the author to produce more quality books.

 

I read a lot while I'm travelling and having a book like xUnit Test Patterns (900 pages) in your hands isn't really comfy, so I bought myself a Kindle. Besides the advantage that you can still read in the sun and it's lightweight, the books are also only half the price which you can download wirelessly (Wi-Fi, 3G) from the Kindle Store built-in your Kindle.

[Philip]

I have Fowlers, McArthurs & Freeman's books... like thehippy said, Freeman's is easier to understand but Fowlers is much more in-depth. They are all good books IMO.

[448191]

There are a small number of design patterns and an introduction to Design Patterns on the main site that I wrote ages ago which I think are pretty concise and noob-proof.