CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2012/ch2b 2w59 bc

Decorator Directory

General Resources

Description of the Pattern

Wikipedia<ref name="wikipedia">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decorator_pattern</ref> and dofactory<ref name="dofactory">http://www.dofactory.com/Patterns/PatternDecorator.aspx</ref> provide solid explanations of the Decorator Pattern. dofactory<ref name="dofactory"/> is much more concise than Wikipedia<ref name="wikipedia"/>. It is a good resource for quickly viewing the definition and participants of the pattern. Wikipedia<ref name="wikipedia"/>, on the other hand, is much more verbose, but goes into the motivation for the pattern and talks use of the patterns in several languages at a high level.

If you understand Java (or a Java like language), javapapers<ref name="javapapers">http://javapapers.com/design-patterns/decorator-pattern/</ref> is a good page that gives a basic overview of the pattern through the presentation of a concrete example. There are other Java resources and resources for other languages that are similar below.

UML

Wikipedia<ref name="wikipedia"/> and dofactory<ref name="dofactory"/> both provide UML diagrams of the Decorator Pattern concept. For UML diagrams of concrete examples, javapapers<ref name="javapapers"/> provides an Ice Cream example and Head First Design Patterns<ref name="head_first">https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Foreilly.com%2Fcatalog%2Fhfdesignpat%2Fchapter%2Fch03.pdf</ref> provides a couple as well, but it is a very long read. Many of the language specific resources listed later in this article also provide UML diagrams for their concrete examples/implementations.

Directory

• Wikipedia - Decorator Pattern
  • Pro: Provides background, motivation and a good overview of the pattern, as well as some high level examples.
  • Con: Wikipedia can be fairly difficult to follow sometimes and this article is not much of an exception (also, Wikipedia's credibility is debated).
• dofactory - Decorator Design Pattern
  • Pro: Provides a quick definition, list of participants and abstract UML diagram.
  • Con: Not much of an explanation - just good for referencing.
• javapapers - Decorator Design Pattern (Java)
  • Pro: Provides a short overview of the pattern as well as a good concrete example with UML and Java code.
  • Con: The concrete example is a good start, but it may not be real-world enough to provide a complete understand.
• Head First Design Patterns
  • Pro: Is a excerpt from a commercial textbook, so the source is extremely credible and provides an in depth explanation of the design pattern complete with UML and a concrete example.
  • Con: The textbook does not appear too professional and provides a lot of background that isn't really necessary for understanding the pattern. This is very long read.

References

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