This tutorial is based around GOF Pursuit, a game based loosely on 'Trivial Pursuit'. This game is effective in helping practitioners learn the patterns in the "Design Patterns" book by the so-called 'Gang of Four' (Gamma, Helms, Johnson and Vlissides). This tutorial will be a hands-on-workshop to help participants learn and re-learn patterns, to teach participants how to organize GOF Pursuit games and to be fun at the same time.

This tutorial will enhance participants' design abilities by evaluating their knowledge of design patterns and by consolidating that knowledge, especially of the more complex patterns. Participants will use the techniques of the GOF Pursuit game to learn design patterns in breadth and depth.

Attendee Background: This tutorial targets anyone who is using design patterns, who wishes to refine or improve their knowledge of design patterns, or who plans to introduce them to their workplace or teach them to others. It is assumed that the attendee is familiar with OO concepts, and has encountered the design patterns from Gamma et. al.

Dr. James Noble is a Research Fellow in OO design at the Microsoft Research Institute, at Macquarie University, Sydney. He has presented and published papers on design patterns in three continents, and has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He established the Sydney Patterns Group, and with Charles Weir, is writing a book of patterns for the Software Patterns Series.

Charles Weir has more than fifteen years' experience of working on Software Development projects, providing on-site mentoring to many companies in Europe. Charles has presented sessions on patterns for clients and at conferences, has chapters on Patters in volumes 3 and 4 of the "Pattern Languages of Programming" series.