Pattern : CLEAR TARGET
AUDIENCE
- PROBLEM : Many people may read a particular pattern. How
do you ensure that a pattern is easily understood by its intended
audience?
- CONTEXT : You are writing a pattern or pattern language.
- FORCES :
- A pattern can be different things to different people.
- You can't satisfy all the people all of the time.
- Different people use different terminology.
- People with different backgrounds require different amounts of detail.
- SOLUTION : Clearly identify a primary target audience with whom you would like to communicate the solution. Keep this
audience in mind while writing the pattern. "Test" the pattern with (representative) members of the target audience.
- RATIONALE : A ClearTarget Audience focuses the pattern by providing criteria for including some information in the pattern
and omitting other information.
- RELATED PATTERNS : Once you have identified the target audience, choose Terminology Tailored to Audience to maximize the
bandwidth of communication to them.
- EXAMPLES : This pattern language identifies its target audience in the first paragraph of the Introduction.
