Defining and Selecting Design Patterns Considering Explicit Semantics and Corresponding Elements

Extensibility and maintainability of software becomes more an issue as the complexity of the software development process rises. Design patterns in the sense of [3] aid in reducing the problem of architectural decay. However, new publications steadily increase the number of documented patterns. This makes the automated and toolsupported processing of design patterns more important as well as supporting the learning process for the understanding of concrete patterns. Here, the definition of pattern templates receives prominent relevance. This paper supports the definition of pattern templates by distinguishing several types of corresponding pattern and source code elements. Considering semantic elements and corresponding annotations allows for explicitly declaring the sense/intention and the meaning of pattern and program parts. This leads to the possibility of toolsupported selection of applicable patterns and assists in their application and detection.