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'Design Patterns' Receives ACM SIGPLAN Award

Posted by timothy on from the good-idea-guys dept.

bth writes "ACM's Special Interest Group on Programming Languages (SIGPLAN) recently awarded the 2005 Programming Languages Achievement Award to Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides (known as the 'Gang of Four') for their creation of 'Design Patterns' (the computer science book and the subfield at the intersection of programming languages and software engineering). The annual award recognizes an individual (or individuals) who has (have) made a significant and lasting contribution to the field of programming languages."

3 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. terminology, methods, what? by Rubel · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've worked with a couple of folks who swore by this book, but I never really heard much from them about why. Is it about good algorithms? Or larger design issues (such as)?

    Or is it more about just giving programmers a common vocabulary with which to discuss the way they bulid software?

    Is it good reading for an amatuer programmer, or more as an advanced topic?

  2. Re:Oh dear... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course it isn't Computer Science, it is Software Engineering. The book helps you design software systems. Can Karnaugh maps do that?

    I find it useful with what I work on. If you don't then, maybe the book just isn't for your line of work.

    Design patterns are a tool, not a silver bullet. Get what you can out of them but don't be surprised when doesn't solve all the problems in the world.

  3. An observation... by bunyip · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Some is good, more is better, and too much is just about right."

    - This mantra is good for money, horsepower, disk space, but not design patterns...

    When somebody starts telling me that they used 5 different patterns in their program and they're proud of it - then I know the code is crap. Most of the pattern zealots I've seen write bloated, inefficient code. Sometimes I think they scour the literature looking for some extra patterns to put in.

    That said, these patterns do exist and programmers keep reinventing them. The key is knowing when to call it a pattern and go to the trouble of formalizing it versus just writing code. Alternatively, find a language that makes most of these go away.