Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture Volume 3: Patterns for Resource Management

Foreword by Frank Buschmann

I never thought this would happen: a new volume of the POSA series is published and nobody from the original ‘Party of Five’ is on the author list. Yet I am very proud that I was wrong! I am proud because this book shows that a new generation of smart software engineers has grown up and is actively contributing their experience to the patterns community. I am proud because the book demonstrates that the pattern idea is still thriving. And I am proud, of course, because our original POSA vision from 1996 is still inspiring patterns authors to build on our material and enhance, mature, and evolve it.

The topic chosen for this POSA volume is key for the success of almost every software system: resource management. This may appear obvious, but only a decade ago many developers thought resource management was of concern only in the embedded systems domain. In the desktop and enterprise spheres only a few developers paid attention to the topic. Why care about resources like memory, for example—if you run out of it, you can simply upgrade your machine. I must admit that in the earlier days of my career I had a similar perspective: resources were just ‘there’ and unlimited. How wrong I was! Fortunately I shot myself in the foot and quickly learned my lesson.

Today few developers ignore the importance of resource management. With the advent of component-based systems, application servers, and the growing complexity and size of the applications running on our ...