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The term originates in Computer Science , apparently inspired by the Gang Of Four 's '' Design Patterns '' book, which laid out examples of good programming practice.
The authors termed these good methods " Design Patterns ", by analogy with the term As Used In Architecture .
"Anti-patterns", as described in the book by Brown, Malveau, McCormick and Mowbray, are a natural counterpart, though not mentioned in the original ''Design Patterns'' book.
Part of good Programming Practice is the avoidance of anti-patterns.

The concept is readily applied to Engineering in general, and also applies outside engineering, in any human endeavour. Although the term is not commonly used outside engineering, the concept is quite universal.


SOME RECOGNISED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ANTI-PATTERNS

:For a more comprehensive, alphabetical list, see .


Project Management anti-patterns


  • Abstraction Inversion : Not exposing functionality required by users, so that they re-implement it using higher level functions

  • ) without specifying its viewpoint

  • Big Ball Of Mud : A system with no recognisable structure


  • Gas Factory : An unnecessarily complex design

  • Input Kludge : Failing to specify and implement handling of possibly invalid input

  • Interface Bloat : Making an interface so powerful that it is too hard to implement

  • Magic Pushbutton : Implementing the results of user actions in terms of an inappropriate (insufficiently abstract) interface


  • Stovepipe System : A barely maintainable assemblage of ill-related components

  • Race Hazard : Failing to see the consequence of different orders of events

    • Object-oriented design anti-patterns

  • BaseBean : Inheriting functionality from a utility class rather than delegating to it

  • ) class that fails the " Empty Subclass Test " by behaving differently from a class derived from it without modifications

  • God Object : Concentrating too many functions in a single part of the design (class)

  • Object Cesspool : Reusing objects whose state does not conform to the (possibly implicit) contract for re-use

  • Poltergeist s: Objects whose sole purpose is to pass information to another object

  • Yo-yo Problem : A structure (e.g. of inheritance) that is hard to understand due to excessive fragmentation



Programming anti-patterns

  • Accidental Complexity : Introducing unnecessary complexity into a solution

  • Action At A Distance : Unexpected interaction between widely separated parts of a system

  • Accumulate And Fire : Setting parameters for subroutines in a collection of global variables

  • Blind Faith : Lack of checking of (a) the correctness of a bug fix or (b) the result of a subroutine

  • Boat Anchor : Retaining a part of a system that no longer has any use

  • while waiting for something to happen, usually by repeated checking instead of proper messaging

  • Caching Failure : Forgetting to reset an error flag when an error has been corrected

  • Checking Type Instead Of Interface : Checking that an object has a specific type when only a certain contract is required

  • Code Momentum : Over-constraining part of a system by repeatedly assuming things about it in other parts

  • Coding By Exception : Adding new code to handle each special case as it is recognised

  • Cryptic Code : Using abbreviatures in variables or functions instead of complete (self-descriptive) names

  • Double-checked Locking : Checking, before locking, if this is necessary in a way which may fail with e.g. modern hardware or compilers.

  • Hard Code : Embedding assumptions about the environment of a system at many points in its implementation

  • Lava Flow : Retaining undesirable (redundant or low-quality) code because removing it is too expensive or has unpredictable consequences

  • Magic Numbers : Including unexplained numbers in algorithms

  • Procedural Code (when another paradigm is more appropriate)

  • Spaghetti Code : Systems whose structure is barely comprehensible, especially because of misuse of code structures



Methodological anti-patterns



Configuration Management anti-patterns



SOME ORGANISATIONAL ANTI-PATTERNS

  • Analysis Paralysis : Devoting disproportionate effort to the analysis phase of a project

  • Cash Cow : A profitable legacy product that often leads to complacency about new products

  • Continuous Obsolescence : Devoting disproportionate effort to porting a system to new environments

  • Cost Migration : Transfer of project expenses to a vulnerable department or business partner

  • Creeping Featurism : Adding new features to the detriment of the quality of a system

  • Design By Committee : The result of having many contributors to a design, but no unifying vision

  • Escalation Of Commitment : Failing to revoke a decision when it proves wrong

  • I Told You So : When the ignored warning of an expert proves justified

  • Management By Numbers : Paying excessive attention to quantitative management criteria, when these are inessential or cost too much to acquire

  • Management By Perkele : Army-style management with no tolerance of dissidence

  • Mushroom Management : Keeping employees uninformed and abused

  • Scope Creep : Allowing the scope of a project to grow without proper control

  • Vendor Lock-in : Making a system excessively dependent on an externally supplied component

  • Warm Body : A person whose contribution to a project is in doubt, especially if taken on in panic

  • Single Head Of Knowledge : SHOK applies when a single individual in the entire organization controls vital domain know-how or information on system internals.

  • Knight In Shining Armor : KISA happens when an individual who can do no wrong shows up on the scene and tries to fix everything without communicating what changes he/she has/will make and why.



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