What is a design pattern?

Since you just purchased a book about design patterns, I guess that you have some idea of what design patterns are, but let’s just make sure that we are on the same page.

Abstract definition: A design pattern is a proven technique that can be used to solve a specific problem.

In this book, we will apply different patterns to solve different problems and leverage some open source tools to go further, faster! Abstract definitions make people sound intelligent and all, but there is no better way to learn than by experimenting with something, and design patterns are no different.

If that definition does not make sense to you yet, don’t worry. You should have enough information by the end of the book to correlate the multiple practical examples and explanations with that definition, making it clear enough.

I like to compare programming to playing with LEGO® because what you have to do is generally the same: put small pieces together...