How many patterns are there?
Some people think there are relatively few undiscovered patterns that nearly everyone ought to know about. Some people think that there are a great many more domain-specific patterns that need to be written. Both may be right. Try writing some more patterns so we can find out. • Won’t the existence of lots of patterns lead to problems in finding, classifying, indexing, using, and maintaining them? Maybe. • Can I use patterns within [SOME PARTICULAR OO ANALYSIS AND DESIGN METHOD]? Probably so. Although if you do, you might no longer be following much of the method beyond its notation. • Is the use of patterns necessarily iterative? In principle, you could be very lucky and have a problem for which there is already a complete set of patterns, and in which each application of a pattern flows into the next, leading to a final product without ever backtracking. But people are never this lucky. • Is there a recommended development process associated with the use of patterns? Probably so, but
