Topic: i'm asking here since there's no 'general programming' forum

[ygfperson]

how often do you (as in the professional programmers of this board) use these:
-design patterns
-uml
-use cases
-anything else that fits the above three?

[Dumah]

how often do you (as in the professional programmers of this board) use these:
-design patterns

I use object factories and singletons quite heavilly. I also use functors quite a bit, and the visitor pattern occasionally.

-uml

No

-use cases

No

[webwhy]

Design patterns are used all the time in my work.  Especially Strategy, Factory, Singleton and Command.  Those are the ones that are easiest for me to fully understand and recognize in a given problem.

MVC is also important though third party framework code usually implements the pattern.

UML is used heavily.

[Jake]

Even though I haven't worked in the field yet, I think that all three are extremely important if you want to be a software engineer. UML and use cases are all parts of the life cycle of software. Use cases are parts of the functional requirements which must be well documented if you want to have a successful software end product.

As for design patterns: I took a class where we learned design paterns and the prof said that a few years back employers were hiring people because of exposure to design patterns in that same class - sure, that might not be the case now since they've become more popular, but I bet most software engineers use them at one point in time.

[Perspective]

Well, Im in school and working in industry so I pseudo-qualify to answer your question.

-design patterns
Yes. You use them whether you realize it or not, so you might as well learn them so you can do it right the first time

-uml
Yes, but I havn't found it to be a necessity. I use it during code reviews to illustrate and justify design decissions/suggestions.

-use cases
Never used 'em. Though like I said above, I could see this being a valuable tool.