Leo Lim

As practitioners in the Software Industry, we are used to adapting to new technologies and emerging trends. New practices, methodologies, tools, architecture, technology stacks, programming languages, operating systems, etc. are just some portions of the ever-changing landscape that we need to keep up with. None, however, are as disruptive as AI potentially is, whether as a tool that we leverage, or as part of solutions and products that we create. The industry is moving towards leveraging AI to enhance software development activities. The reason for the move is because of the technology’s strong potential for generating content. Software code, in particular, is really just content and lends itself well to being written by a generative application of AI. In addition, there are some common issues or situations in code that can be addressed through repeatable, reusable templates. These templates are what are known as software design patterns. AI excels at identifying and creating patterns. With the recent advancements in AI and its ability to write code for us, are these software design patterns even necessary then? Is there value in continuing to leverage them, learning them, or even improving their implementation? These are some of the questions that we will try to answer as we explore the use of design patterns in this day and age of AI.