Have Software Design Patterns Become Obsolete?

Software design patterns have become a controversial topic, and I do not understand why. The last time I had an argument with someone, he insisted that we do not need design patterns. He stated the following:

“Modern programming languages are sophisticated and eliminate the need for design patterns. We use frameworks and higher-level abstractions that render these best practices obsolete and unnecessary.”

In my opinion, that’s like saying we don’t need to learn basic mathematics since we use computers anyway. 

His reasoning is based on the incorrect assumption that all possible recurring software engineering problems have been solved and are readily available as language constructs or library functions.

Moreover, he misses a crucial point: by understanding software design patterns, we learn skills that are essential for developing anything more complex than a “Hello World” app. They teach us clean coding principles and promote responsible thinking, acknowledging that the code we write today will be read and modified by others tomorrow.

Don’t listen to the naysayers. Learning design patterns is a good investment of your time that will differentiate you from the crowds who can’t complete any coding task while both ChatGPT and Stack Overflow are down. 😉