Welcome to Design Patterns. This course is an introduction to software design patterns. A pattern represents a best practice solution to a software problem in a specific context.
This course is designed for students with some degrees of (object-oriented) programming background. The objective of the course is to get students acquainted with techniques for designing reusable software as well as for organizing, produce and maintain modular systems. Moreover, this course guides students through anti-patterns, common pitfalls and mistakes that people make when they plan, create, and manage software projects.

Course Aims
• To provide students with in depth knowledge of combining design patterns and object-oriented programming
• To provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the underlying principles of several design patterns
• To allow students to develop practical solutions to real world problems based on design patterns
• To provide students with the basic capability to identify problematic software designs and code smells

At the end of the course, students will have comprehensive knowledge and critical understanding of:
• the underlying design principles single patterns are based on
• specific contexts in which design patterns can be applied
• the consequences of applying design patterns to a real system
• problematic software designs, code smells, and anti-patterns

At the end of the course, students will have acquired the skills to:
• analyze and identify the need of including design patterns in the code
• apply design patterns to the implementation of software

At the end of the course, students will have acquired the competencies to:
• analyze and identify problematic issues in the code
• apply design patterns to the implementation of software
• locate code smells and anti-patterns in code
• refactor their code