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This book is a catalogue of design patterns in telecommunications software originating from TelePLoP and ChiliPLoP conferences. This is a valuable resource for any engineer working in the telecom or datacomms software. A basic understanding of design patterns and pattern languages is required to get the most out of the book although the material is presented in a readable style that allows the pattern concepts to be picked up as you go.

The telecoms and datacomms worlds leave the computer world standing when it comes to acronyms, abbreviations and other terminology, making them difficult to new comers. The book is careful to explain these clearly so that, for example, it is clear when IP means Internet Protocol (datacomms), Intelligent Peripheral (telecoms) or Intellectual Property.

As with any collection of patterns or pattern languages, you cannot just use it as a recipe book to produce software solutions - it takes time to learn the pattern languages and understand where they can be applied - and therefore it is not a book to be read cover to cover, but one to be dipped into from time to time, although it is necessary to spend some time initially becoming familiar with the book structure.

There are three sections to the material, the first two covering large collections and small collections respectively and deal with creating solutions from scratch. The final section is concerned with managing change and, given that most developers spend more time changing existing systems than creating new ones, is possibly the most useful section.