COMP40070

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module, a student should be able to: appreciate the benefits of design patterns, apply design patterns in their own programs, analyse the relationships between various design patterns, understand the application of design patterns in an industrial context, synthesize knowledge of design patterns with previous industrial experience

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Combination of lectures and hands-on practical work.

Learning Requirements:

Students joining this module must have a minimum 2.1 honours degree in Computer Science (or a cognate discipline), and have a subsequent two years or more experience in the software industry as a software engineer/developer. Students on the Masters in Advanced Software Engineering have already been assessed and can take this module; all other interested students must contact the Module Coordinator who will determine if they have a suitable background for this module.

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy  

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

There is no required text for this module, and it is probably possible to study this module using only the notes (which will be published on the web) and various web resources. The Gamma et al is the most relevant for this module; the others listed below would also be of use.

Erich Gamma et al, Design Patterns:Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software, Addison-Wesley, 1995.
This is the bible of the patterns movement and is still one of the best books about on design patterns. Most of the patterns we look at in this module are covered in this book.

Eric Freeman et al, Head First Design Patterns, O’Reilly, 2004
An easy-to-read books that explains the Gamma et al patterns in a very digestible format. The “Heads First” idiosyncratic style isn’t for everyone though.

Josh Kerievsky, Refactoring to Patterns, Addison-Wesley, 2005.
This text looks in detail at the topic of refactoring a program to introduce design patterns. We’ll spend some time on this topic.

A.N. Other, Java Patterns Revealed!, etc. some publisher, some year.
This a catch-all for the plethora of “Java+Patterns” books on the market. Those I’ve encountered make a contribution and are certainly worth reading, though none stands out in my opinion.