Patternism

Patternism

An obsession with patterns

This can quickly manifest itself as Sledgehammerism and weigh down otherwise light code especially when coupled with the use of inappropriate patterns which then effectively become anti-patterns for the use-case in hand.

What are patterns?

The most famous patterns are those described in what is widely known as the ‘GoF’ book [@gof1994]. The patterns that are most familiar are singleton, visitor, listener / observer, although these are by no means the only patterns available especially if you consider anti-patterns. All patterns tend to be repeatable and follow conventions that aid with understanding that a pattern has been applied.

What are anti-patterns?

Anti-patterns are patterns that have negative effects and are considered as undesirable. They are most often introduced by accident, and as such are harder to identify. They tend not to follow any convention due to their incidental appearance as opposed to intentionally applying them.