Analysis Patterns : Reusable Object Models

Martin Fowler cheats by actually being able to write. He has a very lucid prose style making this a very readable book (a strength that also manifests itself in his book UML Distilled) even though it deals with complex subjects.

The book deals with using patterns to address particular business areas. However, it has a great deal to offer anybody interested in analysis or modelling (whether they are working in the OO world or not) and provides one of the best explanations I have read of the purpose and objectives of modelling.

Each problem area is presented very clearly and a number of different solutions are presented at different levels of abstraction (and hence complexity) with lots of useful insight into the factors that would determine the appropriate model.

Analysis Patterns is a book that bears reading and re-reading. I frequently refer it as an excellent source of interesting ideas on ways of approaching complex modelling and analysis issues. I have never managed to take one of the patterns and apply it as is; however, the ideas and concepts expressed in the book influence many of my models (even when the business problem I am tackling initially appears to be entirely unrelated to any of the patterns).

Frankly, this is a book I wish I had written.

As two readings of Design Patternslt;/i> took my OO knowledge from infancy to adolecence, Analysis Patternslt;/i> will take you from adolecence to adulthood. Fowlers work does not put together patterns from the Design Patternslt;/i> book, but takes its time to decompose actual application domain concepts to applicable object models. It will then be up to you to use your knowledge from Design Patternslt;/i> to create mechanisms that support properly modeled business concepts as Analysis Patternslt;/i> describes.

If you like OO modeling and design, but are wondering how better to apply your modeling concepts, Fowlers book is something you will definitely benefit from. However, make a pot of coffee per chapter-this book is very dense with concepts.

Fowler ends Analysis Patternslt;/i> with some more easily read chapters on application design on a larger scale. Youve heard of "n-tier," his discussion of the concepts of "n-tier" at the end of the book are possibly worth reading first.

After reading this book-and understanding its motivations-you will never again be tempted to take "innocent" shortcuts in your application design. You will not be motivated to use "Strings" for "measurements" or "doubles" for "distances." You will look upon your peers object designs either with a new understanding that they know that going the distance with their object model is worth it-and you wont demand they dumb down their design ever again-and youll likewise gain intuition about where a simplistic business domain model is going to fail.