Patterns as Topics in Computer Science Courses

I strongly believe that writing patterns is an excellent way to describe well-known, proven software engineering principles and programming concepts. I also believe that reading, discussing and applying patterns are great ways to learn about these elements, and that these efforts should begin in a student’s very first undergraduate computer science course – SC1. However, I do not believe that instructors need to discuss patterns at the same level of detail in a first-year course as they would in a graduate course. If you consider patterns as trees in a forest of principles and concepts, there is no need to make the forest so dense that students are afraid to enter and make discoveries. Some controlled cultivation and growth is required to make it easy for students to navigate.