patterns/src/intro.md

# Introduction

## Participation

If you are interested in contributing to this book, check out the
[contribution guidelines](https://github.com/rust-unofficial/patterns/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).

## Design patterns

In software development, we often come across problems that share similarities
regardless of the environment they appear in. Although the implementation
details are crucial to solve the task at hand, we may abstract from these
particularities to find the common practices that are generically applicable.

Design patterns are a collection of reusable and tested solutions to recurring
problems in engineering. They make our software more modular, maintainable, and
extensible. Moreover, these patterns provide a common language for developers,
making them an excellent tool for effective communication when problem-solving
in teams.

## Design patterns in Rust

Rust is not object-oriented, and the combination of all its characteristics,
such as functional elements, a strong type system, and the borrow checker, makes
it unique. Because of this, Rust design patterns vary with respect to other
traditional object-oriented programming languages. That's why we decided to
write this book. We hope you enjoy reading it! The book is divided in three main
chapters:

- [Idioms](./idioms/index.md): guidelines to follow when coding. They are the
  social norms of the community. You should break them only if you have a good
  reason for it.
- [Design patterns](./patterns/index.md): methods to solve common problems when
  coding.
- [Anti-patterns](./anti_patterns/index.md): methods to solve common problems
  when coding. However, while design patterns give us benefits, anti-patterns
  create more problems.