Can patterns present a set of alternative solutions rather than one?
Perhaps ideally not — each solution should be be tied to the context in which it best applies. But sometimes this is too hard. Mentioning alternatives is better than not mentioning them since it sets up scaffolding for further refinement by discovering those forces that differentiate alternative solutions. Even when they are differentiated, there’s also the stylistic issue about whether to group a set of patterns sharing most context and forces in the same presentation. • Why bother writing patterns that just boil down to advice my grandmother would give me? Because some patterns are so good and useful that even your grandmother knows them. Writing them down makes the context, value and implications of the advice clearer than your grandmother probably did. • Must all patterns be so [low-level / high-level / general / specific / abstract / concrete] as [SOME PATTERN]? Of course not. • What is the theoretical basis of Patterns? No formal basis in the usual sense. Patterns can express de
