Top:Society and Culture:Intentional Communities:Seven Generations Farm:Our Pattern Language:Definition

A pattern language is a concept created by noted writer and architect Christopher Alexander in the late 1970s. In brief, the elements of a pattern language

"...are entities called patterns. Each pattern describes a problem which occurs over and over again in our environment, and then describes the core of the solution to that problem, in such a way that you can use this solution a million times over, without ever doing it the same way twice."
(Quoted from A Pattern Language, by Alexander, et al, Oxford University Press, 1977.)

In geekier terms, this is an object-oriented approach to reality, as opposed to merely object-oriented programming. It is a thoughtful, although somewhat time-consuming, approach to any-scale problem solving. You end up with top-down design and bottom-up implementation.

In less geeky terms, this is a bits-and-pieces approach to reality. For any given problem, state the problem broadly and explain (again, broadly) what needs to be done to implement the solution. This is your first, and largest, pattern. Then divide the solution into slightly less broad individual problems and explain (again, slightly less broadly) what needs to be done to implement them. These are smaller patterns that are required in order to complete the larger pattern. Continue doing this, creating smaller and smaller patterns, until the patterns are all of very finite size and scope. As you go through this process, you will see that many of your patterns can be used in more than one place in your pattern language, even though the individual implementations of these patterns differ.

For more information about pattern languages, see The Timeless Way of Building (Alexander) and A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Alexander, et al).

Created July 27, 1997.
Updated March 17, 2003 at 14:37.

Home - What's New - Welcome - Feedback - Subscribe

 © 1995-2004 by Michael Heggen. All rights reserved, except as noted.