Url: http://weblogs.cerkit.com/mearls/archive/2004/1…

I just read this blog entry for Michael Earls and it got me wondering.  I am one of these neanderthals that has been coding since before I could drive.  I see the value of “Patterns” as a common language to help solve problems, but I am not a huge fan of “Everything is a Pattern” mentality that peeked sometime in the late nineties.  I was talking to Chris Sells one day about patterns and we came to the conclusion that patterns are great because they created a common language for stuff that we’ve been using for years.  The problem comes in when a developer tries to fit every problem into the GOF patterns.

At the end of the day, we all use patterns, even if we refuse to call them that.  Both extremes have their own problems:

• “patterms are everything” developers tend to waste time trying to fit their domain problems into the GOF patterns;
• “I don’t do patterns” developers tend to miss the point of reusing common solutions for common problems.

“I don’t think in patterns, but I certainly do them…”