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Generation gap (pattern)
open-in-new
<p>Generation gap is a <a href="/facts/Design_pattern/bHvkoxsu">software design pattern</a> documented by <a href="/facts/John_Vlissides/61wnw84b">John Vlissides</a> that treats automatically generated code differently than code that was written by a <a href="/facts/Software_developer/WGTS1Jv9">developer</a>. Modifications should not be made to generated code, as they would be overwritten if the code generation process was ever re-run, such as during <a href="/facts/Compiler/WNfCDFJe">recompilation</a>. Vlissides proposed creating a <a href="/facts/Subclass_(computer_science)/a7R1xv8n">subclass</a> of the generated code which contains the desired modification. This might be considered an example of the <a href="/facts/Template_method_pattern/Wr2X8nLc">template method pattern</a>. </p>