https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98LdFA-_zfA
- Discusses connection of architecture with software
- Explains evolution of thought from A Pattern Language to Nature of Order and why Nature of Order supersedes (and includes) A Pattern Language type of work.
All my life I have spent trying to create living structure in the world
NB: [Ed - Rufus] think that Alexander gets simplified in software world to something like:
- Be agile (i.e. iterate and don't set blueprints up front)
- Use patterns (i.e. pre-existing templates for solutions to standard problems you encounter)
But the heart of Alexander (IMO) was in the Nature of Order:
- The generative algorithms for building living structures (crudely: identify centers and strengthen them)
- Using at each iteration the objective criterion of whether this change increases the deep feeling of wholeness and aliveness (absolutely critical is that this is an objective criterion - something that is highly provocative to our post-modern sensibilities)
- Finally, and critical to actually doing this, this kind of approach necessarily comes into conflict with many of the processes and systems of the modern world e.g. planning requires you to specific your design up front which is fundamentally in conflict with a generative approach.