RWXRWXRWX: Pattern languages and keywords to debug computational practices

RWXRWXRWX is a 30 minute dive into pattern languages as debugging tools. The 1977 book 'A Pattern Language', by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein, describes a language consisting of 253 patterns related to architecture and urban planning. Each pattern describes a common design problem and provides a general and abstract solution to it, adaptable to specific needs and contexts. The book is written as a hypertext, linking different patterns to each other, together forming a language. The book has had quite some impact on the world of computation. It inspired the creation of the wiki for instance, as well as agile software development and multiple pattern languages for software development. Are pattern languages useful debugging tools for designers, artists and engineers aiming at building or working with environmentally and socially sustainable computational infrastructure?

Image Credits: Image from A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein (1977)