Do you use design patterns?

Question

What\'s the penetration of design patterns in the real world? Do you use them in your day to day job - discussing how and where to apply them with your coworkers - or do the

Answer 1

In my opinion, the question: "Do you use design pattern?", alone is a little flawed because the answer is universally YES.

Let me explain, we, programmers and designers, all use design patterns... we just don't always realise it. I know this sounds cliché, but you don't go to patterns, patterns come to you. You design stuff, it might look like an existing pattern, you name it that way so everyone understand what you are talking about and the rationale behind your design decision is stronger, knowing it has been discussed ad nauseum before.

I personally use patterns as a communication tool. That's it. They are not design solutions, they are not best practices, they are not tools in a toolbox.

Don't get me wrong, if you are a beginner, books on patterns will show you how a solution is best solved "using" their patterns rather than another flawed design. You will probably learn from the exercise. However, you have to realise that this doesn't mean that every situation needs a corresponding pattern to solve it. Every situation has a quirk here and there that will require you to think about alternatives and take a difficult decision with no perfect answer. That's design.

Anti-pattern however are on a totally different class. You actually want to actively avoid anti-patterns. That's why the name anti-pattern is so controversial.

To get back to your original question:
"Do I use design patterns?", Yes!
"Do I actively lean toward design patterns?", No.

Answer 2

Yes we do, it usually happens when we start designing something and then someone notices that it resembles an existing pattern. We then take a look at it and see how it would help us achieve our goal.

We also use patterns that are not documented but that emerge from designing a lot.

Mind you, we don't use them a lot.

Answer 3

There are many design patterns beyond the simple that are used in "real world". Good example Stackoverflow uses the Model View Controller Pattern. I have used Class Factories multiple times in projects for my employer, and I have seen many already written projects using them as well.

I am not saying every design pattern is being used but many are.

Answer 4

Yes, design patterns or abstractly patterns are part of my life, where I look, I begin to see them. Therefore, I am surrounded by them. But, as you know, little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Therefore, I strongly recommend you to read GoF book.

One of the main problems about design patterns, most developers just do not get the idea, or do not believe in them. And most of the time they argue about the variables, loops, or switches. But, I strongly believe that if you do not speak the pattern language, your software will not go far and you will find yourselves in a maintenance nightmare.

As you know, anti-pattern is also dangerous thing and it happens when you have little expertise on design patterns. And refactoring anti-patterns is much more harder. As a recommended book about this problem please read "AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis".

Answer 5

MVC is very well known so yes we use design patterns quite a lot. Now if your asking about the Gang of Four patterns, there are several that I use because other maintainers will know the design and what we are working towards in the code. There are several though that remain fairly obscure for what we do, so if I use one I don't get the full benefits of using a pattern.

Are they important, yes because it gives you a method of talking about software design in a quick efficient and generally accepted way. Can you do better custom solutions, well yes (sorta)?

The original GoF patterns were pulled from production code, so they catalogued what was already being used in the wild. They aren't purely or even mostly an academic thing.

Answer 6

I try to use patterns if they are applicable. I think it's kind of sad seeing developers implement design patterns in code just for the sake of it. For the right task though, design patterns can be very useful and powerful.