Patterns are signs of weakness in programming languages.
When we identify and document one, that should not be the end of the story. Rather, we should have the long-term goal of trying to understand how to improve the language so that the pattern becomes invisible or unnecessary.
“Design patterns of 1972 [1]”
While I've heard of the Gang of Four [2] and their book, Design Patterns [3], I've never quite understood all the hoopla over it—the whole concept seemed pretty silly, or too obvious, to warrant a whole book on the subject. And it seems like I'm not the only one to think that as well, and I agree with the author, design patterns are silly.
[1] http://blog.plover.com/2006/09/11/
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four_(software)
[3] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201633612?ie=UTF8&tag=conmanlabor