Usage of this metaphor within the software engineering profession become commonplace after the publication of Design Patterns (1994) by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, and John Vlissides—now commonly known as the "Gang of Four"—coincident with the early years of the public Internet, marking the onset of complex software systems "eating the world"[2] and the corresponding need to codify the rapidly sprawling world of software development at the deepest possible level, while remaining flexible and adaptive.