The whole premise of the GoF book is to offer patterns that are helpful in certain situations. They describe when a certain pattern will help and when it will n

The whole premise of the GoF book is to offer patterns that are helpful in certain situations. They describe when a certain pattern will help and when it will not in detail. They also take care to tell you that you should think carefully before using a pattern and consider all the alternatives to be sure you're using the right tool for the job (or maybe a pattern that isn't in the book would work too of course) To use the building architecture analogy FTFA, the "door" design pattern is good for some circumstances and the "window" pattern for others. This is the same thing. Not sure what proof you're after? It's a great collection of patterns that you can pick and choose from, not the be all end all, and totally worth reading even if you only get 1 idea for how to solve a problem from it