Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 4: A Pattern Language for Distributed Computing [Hardcover]

I don't have much to add over T. Anderson's review, but wanted to weigh in with a 5-star vote as a practicing distributed-systems architect. In particular I'm irritated by the one-star review from the person who obviously didn't understand what he/she was buying.

This is as close as you're going to get to a one-stop "encyclopedia" of patterns relevant to distributed computing (and other areas as well). I own most of the architecture/design patterns books, but this is the one I'll go to first for ideas, study, and use as a reference.

As for content, the catalogue of patterns is more comprehensive than any other volume I'm aware of and it is well organized. Each chapter describes a group of patterns that address recurrent vertical and horizontal architectural problem spaces. Each group is briefly introduced and described in the context of that. These introductions are pithy, on-target, and along with the complete pattern descriptions almost constitute a good introduction to distributed computing in general.

Most patterns are described in two pages in a format that has been well-honed over time for usefulness and comprehensibility. You find out where and when each pattern is likely to be useful, what motivates it, how it works, pros and cons, and what other patterns might be used with it.

The cross-referencing between patterns both within this book and in other sources is extensive and one of its most valuable features. The authors provide you with 114 pattern descriptions cross-referenced with "over 150" from other sources. That's a pretty extensive language!

Lots of spelling errors and such, but nothing that should confuse anyone.

This book is NOT a true encyclopedia, and you will want or need some of the core volumes that cover the "over 150" patterns that are referenced but not described here. The most notable are:

Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and Deploying Messaging Solutions (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

Remoting Patterns: Foundations of Enterprise, Internet and Realtime Distributed Object Middleware (Wiley Software Patterns Series)

Most, if not all, of the material in Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 2: Patterns for Concurrent and Networked Objects is covered in Volume 4. If you don't have that book you might want it for deeper discussion of some of the patterns. On the other hand, the current volume contains important updates to a couple of patterns in the earlier volume.

If you're new to patterns, please avoid Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series), also known as the "GoF" (Gang of Four) book. It is a classic and the authors deserve their "props" for introducing design patterns to the broader development community, but it is the worst-written and most misleading book I've ever read on patterns. (In fairness to the authors, it was the "grand-daddy" of them all and perhaps they can be excused for not having the intervening 12 years of experience in pattern documentation to help them.)

I've heard good things about Head First Design Patterns (Head First) and Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition) from people who have read the GoF book, so you might try that. I haven't read either myself.

If you're familiar with patterns and want perhaps the most comprehensive and useful single pattern book to date, especially if you're involved with the architecture of distributed systems, buy this!

It is not for beginners or those looking for boilerplate code!

This is a great book. It pulls together 114 patterns and shows how to use them in the context of distributed software architectures. It also claims to reference 150 patterns in other publications.

The authors did a great job of creating a language composed of patterns for distributed software architectures.

The book does not go into the details of the pattern's implementations, so you should already be familiar with the patterns, or be prepared to spend some time researching. They do provide brief descriptions and a model for each pattern included in the language. If you need to research a pattern a little more, that shouldn't be a problem because they have included an excellent References section that contains sources for all the patterns original resources and they do a great job pointing to them throughout the text.

The book's best attribute is in how they show the relationships between the patterns. At the beginning of each section they include an introduction to a problem area that ties all the patterns in that section together.

They have broken the language up into the following sections:
From Mud To Structure
Distribution Infrastructure
Event Demultiplexing and Dispatching
Interface Partitioning
Component Partitioning
Application Control
Concurrency
Synchronization
Object Interaction
Adaptation and Extension
Modal Behavior
Resource Management
Database Access

Although the book is a pattern language for distributed software architectures, the patterns are definitely usable in other contexts.

I used the search on this page to check out the internals of the book before buying it.

Every Software Architect should own a copy of this book. It is a wealth of information. If you have a Software Architect working for you, you should make this mandatory reading in order for them to keep their job.

This book is an absolute must for system architects, system engineers, system testers, and developers.

I have been working DoD systems since 2000 and have studied and studied and studied trying to synch DoD's efforts to embrace SOA and distributed systems with commercial concepts, approaches, and practices. I have tried to specify system requirements from architecture views and contrived requirements trees. I have had GOF's book and POSA 1 since 2002 but, by themselves, they only make a certain level of sense. In addition, countless other books and methods only provide parts of the overall distributed system view. I have been very frustrated.

This book, while not the complete picture, provides a wire up of hundreds of different approaches. The authors provide a logical approach and path to defining distributed system architectures. The authors point the reader to dozens and dozens of other references to allow them to dig deeper. When they disagree or choose why they don't implement a pattern a certain way, they provide logical rationale to go with it and provide references for the other ways you could attack the problem.

Requirement developers/managers and system architects should sleep with this under their pillow. To specify system requirements using the right terminology that does not force an implementation is a primary objective. To evaluate a developer's design requires a comprehensive understanding of the forces at play in a distributed system. This book provides a roadmap. I am now much less frustrated. In fact, I am much more motivated.

Ah... now to read all the references...