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Forms, Logic, Patterns, Stories. The free flowing movement from aesthetics, to logic, to observation of patterns, to stories. The place where the three rivers of science, art, and philosophy meet and mingle for a while, and become indistinguishable.

Form. What is it. What does it have to do with the practical task of constructing working software? A book length account of Form as it influences software development, there is no better place to begin than Richard P Gabrielle's "Patterns of Software"

http://www.dreamsongs.com/NewFiles/PatternsOfSoftware.pdf

This book is simultaneously:

• An appreciation of the work of architect Christopher Alexander
• A meditation on what is good design in software
• A personal story of highs and lows (where the highs are high, and the lows are very low) in the rough and tumbles software industry.
• Something more than the sum of the above parts -- simply the most beautifully written book to emerge from the software world I have ever seen.

Another gateway to Form, this time beginning in biology rather than software development or architecture, can be found in the writings of Stan Salthe, a developmental biologist and natural philosopher.

http://www.nbi.dk/~natphil/salthe/

-- MishtuBanerjee - 28 Aug 2004
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