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SFGate talks with the father of "patterns"
Merlin Mann | Feb 3 2006
To be a good builder, you need a feel for what surrounds you. Christopher Alexander knows. [SFGate.com] Berkeley's Christopher Alexander -- author of A Pattern Language -- talks with Chron art critic Kenneth Baker in a 2-part feature discussing his career and his 4-volume collection, The Nature of Order (official book site)
Alexander's writing on patterns in architecture later informed the thinking of Kent Beck, Ward Cunningham, the Gang of Four, and beyond, and is acknowledged as the basis for what became software development's Design Patterns. He also sounds like a really interesting guy to talk with. As my del.icio.us might suggest, I'm interested in starting a discussion soon about the possible productivity patterns that might be out there, and how we might use our wiki to collaborate on building them. Seems like a great way to abstract some of the things we've all learned into a tool-agnostic overview of "things that tend to work" -- and maybe just as importantly, identifying the antipatterns that seem to work but don't. I could have really used those myself over the past few years. More on this soon, but I'd definitely appreciate lots of help and input from you pattern smarties on this if it appeals to you. For now, feel free to drop comments here if you have high-level thoughts, good links, or suggestions for learning more about use of patterns outside architecture and software development. 11 Comments
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As I think about this...Submitted by Merlin on February 3, 2006 - 7:45am.
As I think about this stuff, it’s clear to me that there are best practices (“adopt tools mindfully”), tips (“keep paper nearby”), great ideas (“capture ubiquitously”), and sound advice (“value time in every way”) — so far I’m struggling to munge them into true patterns that can be expressed in something like this:
I could see a few dozen of those being a great repository for people who are curious about solving problems related to the “stuff” we talk about here. Best of all I’d love to hook these together similar to the way chromatic has done in the XP Miniguide. Like “this tool” supports “this pattern” in solving “these sorts of problems.” I could see that being really useful. If I can just figure out what the hell I'm doing. :) » POSTED IN:
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