Links:

• Light on two sides of every room (APL159)

From the book:

One of the most important identifiers of a pattern is its name. In Timeless Way of Building, Alexander wrote “The search for a name is a fundamental part of the process of inventing or discovering a pattern. So long as a pattern has a weak name, it means that it is not a clear concept, and you cannot tell me to make ‘one’.”

Design patterns similarly apply names to common coding techniques, making it easier to communicate intentions. Knowing the patterns helps us to understand existing designs more quickly. Unfortunately, the GoF pattern names are not as colorful as Alexander’s. A name like “wrapper” could mean anything. We thus also rely on the intent to clearly identify each pattern.