Pattlets

The use of root constraints reduces the number of patterns to a manageable order of magnitude. Nevertheless, elaborating on all patterns in the grid takes a significant amount of effort. Developing all patterns in isolation and then publishing “the ultimate patterns guide” would counteract many benefits realized by the patterns communities. Patterns need to evolve as the collective understanding of them evolves. Patterns are not created by a single author, but are harvested from actual use in the software development community. Recognizing the evolutionary nature of patterns, the authors of this guide have published the subset of patterns included here to obtain feedback and start building a community.

Deferring patterns until later, however, leaves holes in the pattern graph, which could result in related patterns suddenly becoming disconnected. To preserve the integrity of the relationships inside the pattern graph, this guide includes the patterns that were not included in the first release as pattlets. Pattlets are actual patterns that have not yet been documented in detail. A pattlet describes a solution to a problem, but does not contain a detailed description of the context, problem, or forces that may impact the solution.

The concept of pattlets is also useful for referencing prior pattern works. The patterns community has been discovering and documenting software patterns for over a decade. It would be foolish to try to replicate these efforts. It would also be foolish, however, to require readers to purchase several other books as context for these patterns. Therefore, this guide includes a pattlet whenever it references a pattern that is described in an existing book about patterns. The pattlet includes the reference to the original work for those readers who would like to look at the complete pattern in more detail.

For a detailed list of all pattlets, see Appendix A.