Professional ASP.NET Design Patterns

Chapter 1. The Pattern for Successful Applications

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• An introduction to the Gang of Four Design Patterns

• An overview of some common design principles and the SOLID design principles

• A description of Fowlers Enterprise Patterns

John Lennon once wrote, "There are no problems, only solutions." Now, Mr. Lennon never, to my mind, did much in the way of ASP.NET programming; however, what he said is extremely relevant in the realm of software development and probably humanity, but that's a whole other book. Our job as software developers involves solving problems — problems that other developers have had to solve countless times before albeit in various guises. Throughout the lifetime of object-oriented programming, a number of patterns, principles, and best practices have been discovered, named, and catalogued. With knowledge of these patterns and a common solution vocabulary, we can begin to break down complex problems, encapsulate what varies, and develop applications in a uniformed way with tried and trusted solutions.

This book is all about introducing you to design patterns, principles, and best practices that you can apply to your ASP.NET applications. By their very nature, patterns and principles are language agnostic, so the knowledge gained in this book can be applied to win forms, WPF and Silverlight applications, as well as other first-class object-oriented languages.

This chapter will cover what design patterns are, where they come from, and why it's important ...