I suppose the point of using the 'new buzzwords' is to allow the programming community to share ideas using a common language without resorting to (programming) language specific terms, and to recognise the similarity of unrelated problems. I've noticed some real problems caused by design patterns: 1) the belief that if code doesn't fit one of the patterns exactly it must be bad code. 2) that the design patterns books describe how the pattern *must* be implemented. 3) my personal pet-hate is when a programmer calls a method "AcceptXyz" and a class an "XyzVisitor" when writing code that fits the Visitor pattern. I still think the method name should still describe what the method actually does, and not be named according to a pattern it fits. The best design pattern book I've read is called "Refactoring to Patterns". This book actually goes into a lot of detail of how to remove inappropriate use of patterns in code when refactoring as well as the other way round. Programming is an artform. Traditional artists may use the rule-of-thirds and golden ratios and colour wheels etc., but these just allow the artist to look at a subject and have a good feeling about what framing might look best etc. I've said too much! -oddTim

There's a site called RentACoder - an 'auction' site where the lowest bidding coder does the work. There's also Google Answers, where people can set a price for a question to be answered - some of them are very complicated questions requiring a 100-page document to be produced. I can't remember if any of the questions required a full application to be written. - oddTim