John Vlissides of GoF fame has passed away after a lengthy illness. As a researcher at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, NY, John worked on domain-driven development, OO design and visualization tools.

In addition to co-authoring the ground breaking book Design Patterns, John authored Pattern Hatching: Design Patterns Applied. He co-authored Design Patterns: Elements of Resuable Object-Oriented Software and Object-Oriented Application Frameworks.

The editors at TheServerSide would like to offer their condolences to John's family, friends and colleagues. They should know that there are very few people in this community that have not been touched by his work and we will remember him for his significant contributions to our world.

In his wiki page everyone is encouraged to "honor his memory by sharing stories of how he has helped, supported or inspired you."

I have never met the man myself but I always thought of him as the idol of true engineer.

I had the good fortune of having lunch with John a few years ago and found him to be an engaging, pleasant and facinating man. I learned a lot from the his papers and books over the years and I know he will be missed by his friends, his family his co-workers and the entire industry.

Farewell John.

Chuck McCorvey

Having some free time I re-red Pattern Hatching only last week, and to see this news is shocking.

GoF are always like heroes to me. The came somehow and solve an issue or open another vision in my problems. My eng.mgmt. professor once told me the root of the word "engineer" is a latin word ingeniosus meaning "skilled". Vlissides, as far as i know from IBMR, is a visioner, trail blazer and a truly engineer. RIP

While still in high school (and a few months of casual C++), I bought the GoF book because the comments on Amazon said I should.

I barely knew how to design a class, forget groking the whole polymorphic thing. I put the book on a shelf, not picking it up until my first year in College. Reading and comprehending it for the first time was a mind-altering experience. It is one of the few non-religious books that becomes more meaningful each time it is read.

Despite having studied C++ at university and used it for a couple of years, it wasn't until reading Design Patterns that I finally 'got' OO. Pattern Hatching provides an engaging insight into the mind of a clear-thinking proponent of good design.

The field of computing doesn't often produce leaders who are almost universally respected for their contributions. Mr Vlissides was one of the few to achieve such status.

It is very sad to hear about the news. I have been fortunate to read and re-read the patterns in GoF book.

My condolences to his friends, and family. I've read GoF design patterns about 5 times already, and make a point of re-reading it about once a year. It was and is a career altering book for me.

When I first read GoF design patterns book it totally changed my way of thinking about software development and design. I 've read almost every article John has published and I couldn't stop myself from putting a word here about this great man who changed to the better the way many people develop software systems.

to all who knew him and cared for him.

I never had the chance to meet him personally. Maybe in my early developer days (back in the mid 90s) I might have seen him on an OMG Event in Vienna, but there are no more records at OMG about such events.

I have fortunately met Erich Gamma 2 or 3 times so far and once in 2000 I was even allowed to whitness him revealing what soon after became Eclipse (presented in Erfurt at NetObjectDays)

May he rest in peace.
Some of his influences will remain forever as far as I can tell. Even if some of the patterns might change names or be followed by new ones...

My condolences to his friends, and family. I've read GoF design patterns about 5 times already, and make a point of re-reading it about once a year. It was and is a career altering book for me.

Deepest condolences again

Ravi

My heart felt codolences to his family,friends and his admirers.
We lost one of the revolutionist.

Regards,
Sanjay

It is GOF who lead me know the design pattern.
It is the design pattern just translate me from a code typer to a programmer.
Thank you ,the real hero.
We will remember u forever.