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Presenting a pattern
- Consider using a known form before using your own presentation form.
- If you are using your own form, make sure that your readers will understand it and don't get lost.
- Experimentation with form is encouraged, but should be done wisely and with much reflection.
- You can both use a bullet by bullet style or a more discursive one. Several participants of the discussion, though, admired the discursive nature of Christoper Alexander's presentation of patterns.
Proving it's a pattern
- A pattern description should contain at least three known uses, preferably from different unrelated projects. This is considered important, since otherwise a pattern cannot be distinguished from a clever design which has yet to be proved to be a recurring pattern. Consider Jerry Weinberg: "Once is an event; twice is a coincidence; three times is a pattern."
Discussing related patterns
- Discuss similar patterns and distinguish your pattern from them. Try to show that your pattern(s) are not just a minor variation.
- Discuss related patterns which make sense to be used in the context of your pattern application (just like the Related Patterns section in the Design Patterns book).
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