[self-interest] partial conclusions about design patterns
David Ungar
David.Ungar at Eng.Sun.COM
Wed Dec 6 02:38:50 UTC 2000
Dear Albertina,
Thanks for your apology; it was very sweet.
I have mixed feelings about patterns in computer science.
I sympathize with the Beta folks over the loss of the word to them.
But the main problem I have is that I find GOF too superficial.
I believe that values hold the essence of what is important.
I find good values in Kent Beck's Smalltalk Best Practise Patterns book,
but do not find them as much in GOF.
I also read several years of PLOP proceedings and was not overwhelmed with
the feeling that here was something critically important.
Maybe a good tool for education or communication.
To me, whether or not something is presented as a pattern is far less
important then its quality
(in the Zen of Motorcycle Maintenance sense).
So I love Knuth's books even though there is not one "pattern" in them.
And I love Kent's book.
And I suspect if I read Alexander, I would love his books, too.
But because of their *quality*, not their form.
I would rather teach people many different programming languages than
teach them
a bunch 'o patterns.
Just my 2 cent's worth,
Hugs right back at you,
- Dave
--
David Ungar
Sun Microsystems Laboratories
(650) 336-2618
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