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Patterns as an Anti-Pattern?


By Andrew Binstock
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January 15, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 3)
For reasons that elude me, the arrival of the book “Design Patterns” in 1995 created enormous interest in the programming industry. The book, now known affectionately as the Gang of Four (or GoF) book due to its having four authors, posited a notion that did not seem radical, but which impressed a lot of people—namely, that there were recurring types of programming problems that could be addressed using a systematic sequence of steps.

That sequence of remedial activities was spelled out by the GoF, and these recipes—or patterns—became the object of considerable study. Exponents, such as former SD Times columnist Allen Holub, went on to say that all 23 GoF patterns should be learned, memorized and used by developers. The goal was that at various points in programs you could refer to the pattern and later developers would know from the name what the code did and how. So, for example, if you described a class as a Fa?ade, everyone would know that class was a front-end to some other subsystem.

I like this vision. In pure programming terms, the closest equivalent is collections. When I say that something is implemented as a hash table, you nod knowingly and you don’t need to check out the details of how data items are stored. Unfortunately, the patterns presented by the GoF never obtained the universal implementation that was required for this vision to succeed. Moreover, it turns out the patterns had numerous aspects that are questionable or not terribly helpful. Yet the static perception of their enduring value continues on.

First, let’s clarify that what we are talking about are not really design patterns. They are better described as implementation patterns. They are code-level solutions that help you implement a specific action. They are not the domain of architects and designers, but rather recipes for coders who implement designs. GoF patterns are much closer to the concept of refactoring and coding shortcuts than they are to techniques an architect would use in designing a project.




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