Refactoring to Patterns

Chapter 3. Patterns

This chapter looks at what a pattern is; what it means to be patterns happy; the importance of understanding that patterns can be implemented in many ways; considerations for refactoring to, towards, or away from patterns; whether or not patterns make code more complex; what it means to have “pattern knowledge”; and when it may make sense to do up-front design with patterns.

What Is a Pattern?

Christopher Alexander, an architect, professor, and social commentator, inspired the software patterns movement with two literary masterpieces, A Timeless Way of Building [Alexander, TWB] and A Pattern Language [Alexander, PL]. Beginning in the late 1980s, software practitioners with years of experience began studying Alexander’s ...