One way to make coding more efficient and elegant is to take advantage of Java's design patterns. Designed as a workbook, this guide focuses on the practical in 23 patterns first identified in the volume Design Patterns in this series and builds skills for Java developers and programmers. Practitioners, consultants and instructors Metsker and Wake describe each pattern and provide real Java programs and UML diagrams for each, along with exercises. They cover interface patterns (Adapter, Facade, Composite and Bridge), responsibility patterns (Singleton, Observer, Mediator, Proxy, Chain of Responsibility, and Flyweight), construction patterns (Builder, Factory Methods, Abstract Factory, Prototype and Memento), operation patterns (Template, State, Strategy, Command, and Interpreter) and extension patterns (Decorator, Iterator, and Visitor). Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)