This book is an application book, rather than a theoretical one. It is written for software practitioners who want to gain a better understanding of the patterns described in the seminal design patterns book by Gamma et al. The book's intent is to give developers the confidence and know-how to apply the original 23 patterns identified in the Gamma book, with all code examples provided in C#. There are a large number of programmers and designers who have "grown up" in the Microsoft environment. Traditionally, this environment has not placed an emphasis on structured approaches to software engineering (such as patterns), but there is a growing sentiment toward applying proven approaches to application development (such as design patterns) in this environment. For this reason, the timing for this new book from patterns expert Steve Metsker is superb.