Pattern : INTENT CATALOG
- CONTEXT : You are writing a pattern to which you would like other pattern writers to refer.
- PROBLEM : How do you make it easy to cross-reference patterns in a meaningful way?
- FORCES :
- Coming up with
concise summaries of problems and/or solutions is hard
work; not everyone can do a good job of it.
- People will not
provide references if it is too much effort.
- People who don't
understand your pattern completely may make up
inappropriate summaries of it.
- Patterns get too
big if everything must be included.
- Patterns are hard
to understand if relevant information is not included or
referenced.
- SOLUTION : Provide a catalog of pattern intents that can be used as Pattern Thumbnails when other patterns need to refer to
this pattern. The intents in the catalog should provide a 1-2 sentence "thumbnail" of what this pattern does. Where the pattern can be
used to achieve more than one intent, each intent should be in the catalog.
- RATIONALE : A good way to encourage something to happen is to make it the path of least resistance. Providing the intent
catalog makes cross referencing less work than duplicating the information.
