Boost @rebeccawb@discuss.systems: I’ve been aware of software patterns community for 30+ years. Initially, I was an outsider: I worked at…
I’ve been aware of software patterns community for 30+ years. Initially, I was an outsider: I worked at Tek Labs when Ward Cunningham and Kent Beck first noodled around with the idea of writing patterns for software. At first, they didn’t seem to be making much progress. (I was busy writing about responsibility-driven design at the time). I reviewed the Design Patterns book for Addison-Wesley before it was published. The authors didn’t take much if any of my advice (One recommendation I made was that they produce yearly updates and capture experiences using the patterns). But after the GOF book was published, the idea of patterns for software took off… and a vibrant community was formed.
I joined that patterns community late (12 years after its inception) as an eager first-time pattern author in 2006 (thanks James Noble for co-writing Problem Frame Patterns). Gradually, I got drawn into the writing culture, where communicating clearly was supported by careful shepherding, constructive critique, and a kind community. And gradually, I became an insider without being aware that I was becoming a patterns "elder".
Now… a few dozen patterns and several essays later I find that I’m revisiting earlier ideas I had (patterns need regular periodic updates and field reports!) with my co-author Lise Hvatum. Lise recently retired from a long career at Schlumberger. We met at PLoP and connected. We’re both engineers at heart. We’ve been challenging ourselves to think more deeply about patterns (how they are presented, who reads them, how pattern development could be improved, how our community of writers and pattern enthusiasts functions) and how to improve patterns longer term impact.
The Value of Pattern Collections (https://wirfs-brock.com/rebecca/papers/valueofpatterncollections/)
I welcome any thoughts you have about pattern collections reconsidered as products. Let’s keep the conversation going.