Proven Practice

Patterns are intended to capture those ideas that we can make use of going forward. The ideas that have manifested themselves over and over again in our systems. The things that we can find 3 occurrences of (RuleOfThree).

Sometimes there are specialized techniques that are used in specialized contexts that finding multiple occurrences is impossible. Yet, they are ideas that are significant and worth remembering. Especially in systems that have ongoing maintenance. In those systems, there will frequently be a steady stream of new people who must learn about the load bearing walls within the system.

This leads to a second dimension of establishing the foundation for a pattern. The traditional view (esp. among people with object shaped heads (no insult intended)) is the RuleOfThree. The second dimension is that something is a pattern if it has been useful for a longish period of time in a successful system that has evolved over time.

Caveats: Useful implies that it wasn't removed in the next release. I'm inclined to say 7-15 years for the longish period of time. Successful could be modified with a commercially before it.

-- BobHanmer

EditText of this page (last edited April 21, 2002)
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