UDC 681.3.06 The Culture of Patterns James O. Coplien Vloebergh Professor of Computer Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, PO Box 4557, Wheaton, IL 60189-4557 USA
[email protected] Abstract. The pattern community came about from a consciously crafted culture, a culture that has persisted, grown, and arguably thrived for a decade. The culture was built on a small number of explicit principles. The culture became embodied in its activities conferences called PLoPs that centered on a social activity for reviewing technical worksand in a body of literature that has wielded broad influence on software design. Embedded within the larger culture of software development, the pattern culture has enjoyed broad influence on software development worldwide. The culture hasnt been without its problems: conflict with academic culture, accusations of cultism, and compromises with other cultures. However, its culturally rich principles still live on both in the original organs of the pattern community and in the activities of many other software communities worldwide. 1. Introduction One doesnt read many papers on culture in the software literature. You might ask why anyone in software would think that culture is important enough that an article about culture would appear in such a journal, and you might even ask yourself: just what is culture, anyhow? The software pattern community has long taken culture as a primary concern and focus. Astute observers of the pattern community note a cultural tone to the conferences and literature of the discipline, but probably view it as a distant and puzzling phenomenon. Casual users of the pattern form may not even be aware of the cultural focus or, if they are, may discount it as a distraction.