I am as unknowledgeable about Pattern Languages as one could be. What should I read first?
~ federated wiki pages about patterns and pattern languages ~
We recognize patterns in our work and patterns in the work of others we aspire to employ. We'll start with a list but expect this to grow into a system called a pattern language.
We have numerous samples of pattern languages cast into the federated wiki form, usually from other sources or as mockups of future work.
Alexander defines a 'pattern' as a three-part construct. First comes the 'context' - the conditions under which this pattern holds. Next is a 'system of forces'. In many ways, it is natural to think of this as the 'problem' or 'goal'. The third part is the 'solution' - a configuration that balances the system of forces or solves the problems presented.
The wiki was founded to write and share patterns. Here we bundle all pages with pattern in the title. We also look at pages referring to the closely related memes, idioms and metaphors. See Recent Changes
"We might then imagine Deleuze’s philosophy as built up in a way such as this: there are different conceptual ‘bits,’ each initially introduced in relation to a particular problem, then reintroduced into new contexts, seen from new perspectives. The coherence among the various bits shifts from one work to the next as new concepts are added, fresh problems addressed; it is not given by ‘logical consistency’ among propositions, but rather by the ‘series’ or ‘plateaus’ into which the conceptual pieces enter or settle along the web of their interrelations … The bits thus don’t work together like parts in a well-formed organism or a purposeful mechanism or a well-formed narrative—the whole is not given, and things are always starting up again in the middle, falling together in another looser way. As one thus passes from one zone or ‘plateau’ to another and back again, one thus has nothing of the sense of a well-planned itinerary; on the contrary, one is taken on a sort of conceptual trip for which there preexists no map—a voyage for which one must leave one’s usual discourse behind and never be quite sure where one will land."
This is everyone's favorite pattern. We've struggled to get this content released under an open license. For now we will claim that I'm just quoting the work in this academic setting. I pulled up the nearest neighbors but no more than that.
In the practice of writing articles it's easy to overlook the importance of the flows between them ... Doina Petrescu writes in "Walkscapes: Walking as an Aesthetic Practice" on mapping and indeterminacy.
This is a message originally sent by Ward Cunningham to the Patterns List in January 1994. I can't find it archived online anywhere. Steve Berczuk sent me an OCR'ed version he had, which I just cut and pasted in. -- Doug Lea