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Christopher Alexander has died

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Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#51

Post by agumonkey »

actually_a_dog wrote: post #37
lukasb wrote: post #5

Saw him speak at Berkeley around the time his book on the Eshin project was released. Talked in very strong terms about the importance of working in a holistic, caring way. A SWE in the audience spoke up, saying basically "look, we want to follow that approach, but it's hard, we have a lot of stakeholders to satisfy in order for a project to happen." Alexander was unyielding. "Once you've worked with love, you won't…

I wouldn't call it love per se , but it certainly does take a special kind of empathy to put yourself in the shoes of someone using your software, and to use that perspective to make a great product.

I think it's a long term obvious win. If you care larger, you avoid painting yourself in corners. See what really needs to be done, do just that and enjoy the harmony.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#52

Post by Isomorpheus »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #19

He had really interesting computational ideas about harmony. From The Nature of Order (2002) “As architects, builders, and artists, we are called upon constantly—every moment of the working day—to make judgments about relative harmony. We are constantly trying to make decisions about what is better and what is worse…” Following this, he published a paper on “harmony-seeking computation” as an approach to optimize “wh…

Fascinating. Saw a paper pop up on one of my Semantic Scholar feeds just the other day with the title "Symmetry and simplicity spontaneously emerge from the algorithmic nature of evolution". Here's the link https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.07.28.454038v2

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#53

Post by kbelder »

skeeter2020 wrote: post #47
actually_a_dog wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call it love per se , but it certainly does take a special kind of empathy to put yourself in the shoes of someone using your software, and to use that perspective to make a great product.

I have several junior developers on my team who came from the customer success / support side of the business who grew themselves into developer roles. They typically have not only the strongest desire to learn & improve, but also the most empathy and understanding of our impact on customers & their livelihood.

Yes! If you can get somebody on your team that has worked their way up from, for example, a customer service contact center, they'll be immensely valuable. Just their insight on what customers love and hate about your product is probably worth their hire.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#54

Post by toyg »

wnesensohn wrote: post #43

I'm glad I stumbled upon his books when researching design patterns early on in my career. His writing in 'The Timeless Way of Building' left a big impression on me, precisely because it didn't reduce building to a sequence of mechanical steps which are to be followed exactly, but allowed, even called for, gaining a deeper understanding for quality. It's hard to express, but he did a stellar job at it. It's somewhat…

> the design patterns movement which, I don't know when, must have taken a series of wrong turns

Such is always the case, as soon as anything becomes a "school of thought". From Christianity to patterns and agile, someone will evangelise a set of concepts that s/he strongly believes in, and they will be reinterpreted or exploited by others for their own purposes. For design patterns, it was the whole "Enterprise Java" sector who went overboard and became doctrinaire.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#55

Post by flancian »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #42
getpost wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before APL, There was Notes on the Synthesis of Form in 1964. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_Synthesis_of_Form

Most people know "A Pattern Language" because of the design patterns, but it's _this_ book that every software engineer (and everyone in the space of designing solutions) should read.

I agree it's a great place to start; it is much shorter, and contains stronger (or more obvious anyway) links with mathematics, graph theory.

We did a Christopher Alexander reading club some months ago and took some notes as a group using hypothes.is, it worked very nicely and anyone interested is welcome to join in:

https://anagora.org/go/notes-on-the-synthesis-of-form/hypoth...

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#56

Post by Bud »

exolymph wrote: post #3

Massive PDF of A Pattern Language: https://arl.human.cornell.edu/linked%20docs/Alexander_A_Patt... But I recommend owning and reading it in print. Great book to dip in and out of at whim.

I treasure my copies of all of Alexander's books, but most especially A Pattern Language. It's beautifully printed and bound and it's a joy to come back to again and again. I'm not an architect or urban planner; it's just that the ideas are so compelling and beautiful.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#57

Post by discreteevent »

getpost wrote: post #17
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was where the concept of Design Patterns came from. In the early days of Design Patterns (GoF, et al ), he was often quoted. I purchased a couple of his books: A Pattern Language [0], and The Timeless Way of Building [1]. These books were very readable. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Pattern_Language [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Timeless_Way_of_Building

Before APL, There was Notes on the Synthesis of Form in 1964. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notes_on_the_Synthesis_of_Form

From the introduction:

> Indeed, since the book was published, a whole academic field has grown up around the idea of "design methods"-and I have been hailed as one of the leading exponents of these so-called design methods. I am very sorry that this has happened, and want to state, publicly, that I reject the whole idea of design methods as a subject of study, since I think it is absurd to separate the study of designing from the practice of design. In fact, people who study design methods without also practicing design are almost always frustrated designers who have no sap in them, who have lost, or never had, the urge to shape things. Such a person will never be able to say anything sensible about "how" to shape things either. Poincare once said: "Sociologists discuss sociological methods; physi- cists discuss physics." I love this statement. Study of method by itself is always barren.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#58

Post by loganwedwards »

Notes on the Synthesis of Form provided intriguing insight into the theory and cultural impacts of design. As others have mentioned, he provided examples using architecture and biology. Quite fascinating albeit dry at times. Highly recommended. Thanks to the others for other reading suggestions.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#59

Post by lalopalota »

habith wrote: post #48
Bieberfan2003 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thankfully, this PDF is nowhere near complete. Check it out from your local library.

Why thankfully? What if you cannot access your local library for a myriad of reasons?

Why a myriad of reasons? What if you can't access your library for one reason?

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#60

Post by caslon »

Bieberfan2003 wrote: post #31
exolymph wrote: post #3

Massive PDF of A Pattern Language: https://arl.human.cornell.edu/linked%20docs/Alexander_A_Patt... But I recommend owning and reading it in print. Great book to dip in and out of at whim.

Thankfully, this PDF is nowhere near complete. Check it out from your local library.

He's dead. There's no longer justification for "thankfully."
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