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

I absolutely use design patterns. At this point I take MVC for granted as a design pattern. My primary reason for using them is that I am humble enough to know that I am likely not the first person to encounter a particular problem. I rarely start a piece of code knowing which pattern I am going to use; I constantly watch the code to see if it naturally develops into an existing pattern.

I am also very fond of Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture. When a problem or task presents itself, I flip to related section (it's mostly a reference book) and read a few overviews of the patterns. Once I have a better idea of the general problem and the existing solutions, I begin to see the long term path my code will likely take via the experience of others. I end up making much better decisions.

Design patterns definitely play a big role in all of my "for the future" ideas.

Answer 2

I try to, yes. They do indeed help maintainability and readability of your code. However, there are people who do abuse them, usually (from what I've seen) by forcing a system into a pattern that doesn't exist.

Answer 3

Yes, I use a lot of well known design patterns, but I also end up building some software that I later find out uses a 'named' design pattern. Most elegant, reusable designs could be called a 'pattern'. It's a lot like dance moves. We all know the waltz, and the 2-step, but not everyone has a name for the 'bump and scoot' although most of us do it.