Patterns and Anti-Patterns

Abstract

There is an old saying that you shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel, and honestly, in essence it is a very good saying. But with all such sayings, a modicum of common sense is required for its application. If everyone down through history took the saying literally, your car would have wheels made out of the trunk of a tree (which the Mythbusters proved you could do in their “Good Wood” episode), since that clearly could have been one of the first wheel-like machines that was used. If everyone down through history had said “that’s good enough,” driving to Wally World in the family truckster would be a far less comfortable experience.

I like rhyme because it is memorable; I like form because having to work to a pattern gives me original ideas. —Anne Stevenson