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Christopher Alexander has died

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Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#91

Post by dr_dshiv »

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…

“Harmony” was also the metric used for the first multi-layer neural network by Smolensky (1983). Then Hinton called it (free) “energy”—same metric with a sign reversal. Then, with Rummelhart, they compromised and called it “goodness of fit.” Same as Harmony. So, neural nets still optimize for Harmony, by another name. I find that wonderful, somehow.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#92

Post by kitd »

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.

I believe every developer needs to spend regular time in a customer-facing support role (if possible). They will learn much more clearly how difficult (or less likely easy) their product is to use.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#93

Post by amouat »

wonder_er wrote: post #81

I had no idea Christopher Alexander was a software development luminary. I knew him via _A Pattern Language_, and I'm way more into architecture and physical space design than I am software. Now I'm mega interested to absorb his thoughts on software. I expect I'll be much better for it. He's on my "recommended reading" list, I had _no_ idea he was so enmeshed in software: https://josh.works/recommended-reading#a-patt…

Have a look at Patterns of Software by Richard Gabriel https://www.dreamsongs.com/Files/PatternsOfSoftware.pdf

It's not so much that Alexander has thoughts on software but that others realised they could draw clear analogues.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#95

Post by blenderdt »

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…

This is the reason I changed how I approached software projects. Alexander made me rethink how software should be built: with love for the user, but also with love for other developers.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#97

Post by siegecraft »

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…

I wasn't aware of this paper before now and am excited to read it.

The 15 properties of life were, I believe, his attempt to find the universal rules underlying the design patterns he described in A Pattern Language. I've long thought that most of those properties could be described algorithmically and was curious what sort of system they would converge to. I suppose nature is one easy answer, but it's not a very useful one.

For those who are interested, there's a nice summary of the properties and analysis of how they relate to each other at http://web.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~iba/papers/PURPLSOC14_Properties.... and a more architecturally-focused take at https://www.archdaily.com/626429/unified-architectural-theor....

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#99

Post by pjmorris »

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.

Fascinating book, full of interesting ideas. I bought my copy in the 1980's. I had a roommate then who I reconnected with lately. He remembered the book and asked about it. I dropped in on him a couple weeks ago and left my copy on loan so he could spend some time with it.

Re: Christopher Alexander has died

#100

Post by Pamar »

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…

Is it this ?

https://patterns.architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-173014

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