| Alexander's works are wonderfully inspiring to read. I'm sure they can inspire many diverse interpretations useful for creating digital artifacts. To the curious, note that what the patterns are is not explained in 'A Pattern Language' but instead in the companion book 'Timeless way of Building'. It's quite a philosophical exposition. It talks about evoking 'The quality without a name', that every human has the capacity to feel, but not necessary to name or dissect. Here's a quote for the curious from 'Timeless way of Building' that I think captures somewhat what the post wishes more software designers thought about in relation to patterns: (page 236-237, speaking about the specialisation of professions in which people's pattern languages gets lost through disconnection) "... Of course, even now a town still gets its shape from pattern languages of a sort. The architects and planners and bankers have pattern languages which tell them to build gigantic steel and concrete buildings. The users have a few shattered patterns left in their vocabulary: a sheet of plastic to make a kitchen counter; huge plate glass windows for the living room; wall-to-wall carpet in the bathroom -- and they enthusiastically piece these patches together, whenever they have a free weekend. But these remnants of our former languages are dead and empty. They are based mainly on the by-products of industry. People use plate glass windows, formica counters, wall-to-wall carpet, because industry makes them available, not because these patterns contain anything essential about life, or how to live it. The time when a pattern language was a song, in which people could sing the whole of life, is gone. The pattern languages in society are dead. They are ashes and fragments in the people's hands" |