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    "...but what really makes a program interesting is how it's different from other programs." I completely agree but for that you have to first get the same part right, maybe they just differ by some trivial aspect. If you relax a bit the need to name and identify patterns I'm convinced one sees patterns almost everyhwere. It's just that they do almost never come in their pure form but are always more or less adapted to the problem at hand. Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 11:55
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    Very good answer. Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 16:01
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    @Trilarion: Oh, I realize those parts of the code have to be written. They're a little like, say, the tires on your car. You pretty much need tires to drive at all--but most people still barely know the brand of tires on their car. This is asking that they learn special terminology for a tire with asymmetric diagonal grooves. Who knows--those might have saved my life once, but I still don't spend my life learning names for them. Commented Nov 14, 2016 at 22:04
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    @DavidRicherby: Okay, then let's use a "producer side" version of the analogy. Does it matter that John who designs tires for Goodyear uses one word for that type of groove, but Pierre who works for Michelin uses an entirely different word? Does it matter that one uses a word referring only to the groove, but the other a word referring to a complete tire with horizontal grooves on one side of the center and diagonal grooves on the other? Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 14:51
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    @immibis: I would say mostly yes, they've failed. I'd say there are fewer than half a dozen patterns most programmers recognize. Singleton is well known, but actually only rarely applicable (at best). The name "Factory" was in common use long before "patterns" came along (I remember its use in the late 1970's or very early 1980's). Patterns were supposed to form a vocabulary, but currently they're about like my vocabulary in Greek--enough to (possibly) get myself in trouble, but certainly not enough to order off a menu, much less hold a meaningful conversation. Commented Jan 10, 2018 at 1:17