I’m always really skeptical of people who get promoted as being experts in their field. The issue as I see it is that most of the real experts don’t have time to promote themselves or really give anything back to the ‘community’ beyond their actual products. There are a lot of these people out there and we will never know their names.
So when I see, hear, and read about people like Martin Fowler, Don Box and others I always have a tiny nagging bit of skepticism about what they are promoting. Sure, these are really smart people. But being smart does not automatically make you right. Even Einstein made a mistake no and then.
Their mistakes are not the problem. It’s our habit to be like sheep and blindly follow what they proclaim. So when I read this: Anemic Domain Model - Anti-Pattern? I found little to be worried about. There are probably millions of working applications in the wild that use what Mr. Fowler refers to as “Anemic Domain Model”. Guess what – they work. However, because Bishop Fowler has named ADM an Anti-Pattern we the faithful must now shun it.
Why? It works. But because one guy who has published a few books and hyped himself to hell and back says so I need to completely change the way I do things? That makes no sense. Further the alternative doesn’t really improve things for me.
Don’t be sheep. Pay attention to what smart people have to say, but think for yourself and find your own answers. Your answers might be a lot better.