Patterns Worth Knowing

Christopher Alexander wrote about livable cities before the Gang of Four applied his thinking to software. The message was the same: good design solves problems people actually have, not problems that look interesting on a whiteboard. The Pattern Instinct Alexander’s 1977 book, A Pattern Language, revealed how timeless design principles create spaces where people thrive. The same thinking has made software systems more maintainable, more adaptable, and easier to reason about. Even if you don’t know the pattern names, you’ve almost certainly worked with them. ...

March 15, 2025 · 3 min · Chris Grobauskas