Pretty patterns revisited

While reading a post by James Hobart of Classic System Solutions titled Implementing Visual Design Patterns or “VDPs”, my interest in design patterns was rekindled, so I began poking around and reading once again.

Hobarts article had the benefit of giving history, current usage and a brief example of implementation which put it above most other similar articles. Granted, he has more to gain as his article was a trailer for his retail product “GuiGuide”. A good article non the less.

I bounced some e-mails back and forth with my Father who has seen similar things used to analyse social discourse over the years and he found some interestin greferances and shared reflections with me:

I have a suspicion that pattern things is an academic kind of exploration of an aspect of something called SYSTEMS THINKING THINGS which used to be called systems theory (among many other labels) until it was discovered that there is, really, not a system theory. In science as we know it and use it and do it, a theory has to be testable by the systematic aggregation of data, or its not a theory.

I suspect that thinking about systems is helpful to countless people who earn a living in criticism, technology, science, and math; and that thinking about patterns helps them to think about systems ideas. I believe that to recognize that there is a difference between something that is a system and something that is not a system, is a good idea. The same for patterns.

Good things to think about– now and then. For most of us, not directly helpful except to recognize that there is probably a better way to do whatever we are doing.

—

–h

Some of the links we looked at are here:

• Victor Lombardis 2 page PDF intro. A good place to start
• IA Wiki’s Patter Page
• Ericksons page
• http://hillside.net/patterns/
• A set ofinteraction design patterns
• And of course, Tidwell’s new effort
• Which is the new version of Tidwell’s earlier work