AntiPatterns

This article is about a book. For the software engineering concept that is the subject of the book, see anti-pattern.

AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis^[1] is a book about anti-patterns: specific repeated practices in software architecture, software design and software project management that initially appear to be beneficial, but ultimately result in bad consequences that outweigh hoped-for advantages. This study covers several recurring problematic software-related patterns, the forces that inspire their repeated adoption, and proven-in-practice remedial actions, called refactored solutions. The authors are William Brown, Raphael Malveau, Skip McCormick, and Tom Mowbray; with Scott Thomas joining in on second and third books. Four of the five authors worked together at Mitre Corporation in the late 1990s.

AntiPatterns:
Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis

Author	The "Upstart Gang of Four": William Brown, Raphael Malveau, Skip McCormick, Tom Mowbray
Subject	Design patterns, software engineering, anti-patterns
Publisher	John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Publication date	1998
Publication place	United States
ISBN	978-0-471-19713-3

Sometimes referred to as an "Upstart Gang-Of-Four" the authors were frequently (and often unfavorably) compared to the original Design Patterns by Gang of Four. This began with a favorable review and 1998 runner-up Jolt Productivity Award given by Software Development magazine.^[2][3] The controversy around this book, and the concept of an anti-pattern has been said to stem from a somewhat common misunderstanding that the authors were somehow opposed to design patterns. However the authors explained within the book itself that they are big fans of design patterns; their objective was to build on the concept by providing constructive means for dealing with the frequent "patterns of failure" they had professionally dealt with.

Reviews

• J. Moore (1999-02-01). "AntiPatterns". ACM Computing Reviews. Association for Computing Machinery.
• Reviewed in C/C++ Users Journal July 1998 v16 n7 p63(2) by Marc Briand July 1998/AntiPatterns - Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis