When I first got my claws onto this tome in 2006, I was not too amused…a book about interfaces. WTF? However, recent projects made me value the beauty of this coding concept more and more…can the book stack up?
Ken Pugh’s book is divided into three parts, which each contain a few chapters. The first part is called “All about interfaces” – and the Nomen est Omen rule really holds here. After being introduced into the concept of interfaces, the book looks at the different kinds of interfaces available.
Each interface type is illustrated with ‘real-world’ examples and a pro/contra list – choosing the right one is easy with this book. Of course, a look at interface programming techniques and their benefits/drawbacks.
The second part of the book is rather short, and looks at the development process required when working with interfaces.
‘Working’ systems are presented in part 3 of the book. I never cared much for working examples, and thus just skimmed this part of the book.
Last but not least, an appendix looks at ‘document’ formats for communicating across interfaces. Custom document formats are covered along XML breeds – nothing omitted here…
As usual for O’Reilly, Ken Pugh did an excellent job. The book is easy to read even for a person who’s not a native speaker; graphics illustrate key concepts. Even though many of the code samples are in Java, I had no problems understanding them(being a C/VB man).
In the end, everyone who has a faible for books about software design should definitely give this 20$ book a chance. It provides a very detailed look at all things interface – once you have seen all that interfaces can do for you, you’ll wonder about how you managed to go without them before…
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