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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.
This video of him from 1996 is amazing with hindsight. A must watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98LdFA-_zfA RIP Christopher Alexander
> There is a central quality which is the root criterion of life and spirit in a man, a town, a building, or a wilderness. This quality is objective and precise, but it cannot be named. [...] It is not only simpler beauty of form and color. Man can make that without making nature. It is not only fitness to purpose. Man can make that too, without making nature. And it is not only the spiritual quality of beautiful mus…
> The awareness of impermanence, or transience of things, and both a transient gentle sadness (or wistfulness) at their passing as well as a longer, deeper gentle sadness about this state being the reality of life.
What a sad day. Never met him personally. But from what I heard this man’s influence has reached from architecture all the way to Wikipedia and Tesla. Unthinkable how different our world today would be if it hadn’t been for his work. May he rest in peace. And may his ideas continue to live, and mingle, and add color to our world.
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
However.
In the scope of Alexander's work GoF patterns are of equal complexity, as if giving names to typical architectural items like "door" or "room".
Alexander's work is on a higher level - discussing how to perceive the complex totality the combination and co-existence of such design features create. GoF book names door a door. Alexander's book discusses how to design houses and communities. Completely different scale.
In software engineering terms I think the closest book that is the best analogue to The Timeless Way of Building in terms of discussing higher level patterns, and how to combine them, is perhaps the classical Structure and Interpretation of Computer programs that since it uses such an elegant language, it can skip the tedium and start with expressing of higher level patterns, and in the end how to combine them into a whole complex system.
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…
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
Minsky, vernacular architecture, graphs, old houses, how to design complex systems...