It's really more like the Interpreter pattern (another one of the original GoF patterns)[0]. Instead of doing something directly, you create a description of i

It's really more like the Interpreter pattern (another one of the original GoF patterns)[0]. Instead of doing something directly, you create a description of it, and then provide an interpreter to do the work elsewhere in the program. That leaves you free to serialize/optimize/test/etc. the description prior to or instead of actually executing the work. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_pattern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpreter_pattern