[P2P-F] [P2P-URBANISM WA] relation between patterns in different fields?

Tue May 10 10:49:08 CEST 2011

Michel,

Yes, "design patterns" is Alexander's pattern language applied to software.
 (This writer mistakenly applies it more generically to patterns as in
pattern books, which was only one aspect of Alexander's (and the software
engineers') thinking - and not the most crucial aspect, which was the
network logic.

Interestingly, the book author applies design patterns post facto to the
development of computer networks - looks very interesting.

By the way, Google "design patterns" and you get 3 million hits.  Google
"pattern language" and you get 400,000 hits - about an 8 to 1 ratio.  The
architects did something wrong...  (Hint: open source!)

Here is the correct history, listed accurately in the Wikipedia entry for
Design Patterns:

History

Patterns originated as an architectural
concept<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_(architecture)>
 by Christopher
Alexander<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander>
(1977/79).
In 1987, Kent Beck <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Beck> and Ward
Cunningham <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham> began
experimenting with the idea of applying patterns to
programming<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming> and
presented their results at the OOPSLA
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OOPSLA> conference
that year.[2]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pattern_(computer_science)#cite_note-Smith1987-1>
[3]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_pattern_(computer_science)#cite_note-Beck1987-2>
In
the following years, Beck, Cunningham and others followed up on this work.

p.s. One of the spinoffs was a little device Ward developed to work on the
patterns collaboratively over the Internet - a little thing called Wiki.
 You've heard of it?!

Cheers, m

On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 8:23 AM, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>wrote:

> any relation with Alexander's work?
>
> see:
>
> Patterns in Network Architecture From P2P Foundation
> Jump to: navigation<http://p2pfoundation.net/Patterns_in_Network_Architecture#mw-head>,
> search<http://p2pfoundation.net/Patterns_in_Network_Architecture#p-search>
>
> ** Book: Patterns in Network Architecture: A Return to Fundamentals, by
> John Day, ISBN-10: 0132252422, ISBN-13: 9780132252423, Prentice Hall, 2007.
> *
>
> URL = http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0132252422
>
>
>  [edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Patterns_in_Network_Architecture?title=Patterns_in_Network_Architecture&action=edit&section=1>
> ] Review
>
> Jon Crowcroft:
>
> "It isn't every day (pun intended) that one of the true Old Guard writes
> and publishes a book, and it behooves us to take notice. In this case, the
> author's expertise and his subject matter are of particular timeliness,
> because of the worldwide resurgence of activities with regard to
> next-generation network architectures, that is, a replacement, or upgrade to
> the Internet (dare one say "Internet 2.0"?).
>
> John Day is a well-known scholar of historical cartography, and this book,
> in a way, is a roadmap of network architecture. The roadmap starts back in
> 1970, tracing from the roots of connectionless packet-switched dynamically
> routed systems such as Cyclades, and the ARPANET, through to recent
> discussions on multihoming, multicast, and mobility, with a view along the
> way of naming, addressing, protocol stack design, protocol design, and
> concepts of layering.
>
> That description makes the book sound fairly standard in terms of structure
> and content, but it isn't. The book includes many discursive elements whose
> intent is to provide a collection of patterns. Design patterns originated in
> the building trade as a way for crafts people to pass on successful methods
> of construction (in the sense of affordable and noncollapsing) to
> less-inventive people (or people who want to spend their inventive efforts
> in different areas). Software engineers picked up on this idea, applying the
> techniques in both the microscopic world: patterns allow you to decide what
> algorithm is applicable in solving a problem in the small; and the
> macroscopic world: architectural patterns allow you to decide on an approach
> to breaking down a large system into the right kind of components.
>
> Essentially, this book does the same thing, at the protocol stack level,
> and at the system level, with a collection of historical and contemporary
> examples to support the arguments.
>
> The book makes interesting reading, especially as it represents a fair
> balance in reporting the early ideas that came not just from the United
> States, and restates the importance of the Opens Systems Interconnection
> (OSI) model (not the ISO protocols) in understanding layering and
> beads-on-a-string, as well as reasserting the use of the model in clarifying
> the perennially confusing concepts of names, addresses, and routes.
>
> The book begins with a discussion of seven principles that emerged through
> the early history of networking (I won't spoil the book for readers by
> listing them here), and ends in the tenth and final chapter, entitled
> "Backing Out of a Blind Alley," with an appeal to fundamentals. Essentially,
> the author points out that researchers (especially academics) are strongly
> motivated to keep moving on with claims of ever-newer tricks, but rarely to
> consolidate these tricks into a set of principles that stand for a long time
> (because then they would have to completely change the topic of their
> research). Thus uncovering a foundational theory of networking would put a
> whole generation of networkers out of work (or funding at least).
>
> The book is peppered (saltily) with fine quotes and fascinating asides from
> philosophy (for this reader, especially, the Chinese diversions were most
> novel and illuminating). Illustrative of the range is that one finds
> Wittgenstein and Dave Clark, Confucius, and Dr. Seuss—Frege's useful
> reminder that "The sign '=' should be read as 'is easily confused with'"
> would make an excellent IETF T-shirt.
> I found the book extremely readable and enjoyable, and although I might
> argue with some of the opinions in the book, I think that this is just more
> evidence that I should recommend the book to anyone interested in knowing
> why we are where we are in networking, and being better informed about where
> we should go next."
>
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-- 
Michael Mehaffy
Visiting Faculty, ASU
NEW ADDRESS to July 1, '11:
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