Tcpg Brief History

[ ChicagoPatternsGroup ]

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Founding Members

BradAppleton, MichaelBeedle, JimCoplien (Cope), RobertMartin

This was the original group that started sending emails back and forth to get the group started. Another important organizing member is BobHanmer, who often runs some of the writer's workshops.

The formation of the ChicagoPatternsGroup was inspired by an article from RalphJohnson to patterns@cs.uiuc.edu on 11/25/1996 where he encouraged people to meet locally and discuss patterns in a reader's or writer's format. Here is Ralph's article, posted to patterns@cs.uiuc.edu on 11/26/1996:

For the past few years, a group of us have been meeting regularly and reading papers and books on patterns and OO design. Our meetings are run sort of like a writers workshop. We prefer to read unpublished papers so we can send the author comments and feel that there is a good chance that they will make a difference. But we're the ones that get the most out of the meetings, because we always get ideas from what we read.

There is a group in NYC that does something similar. They tend to focus more on using patterns, where we are often looking at the patterns from a pattern author's point of view. Their meetings follow a "reading group" style rather than the writer's workshop format. However, they too have gotten a lot of ideas from what they've read.

I'd like to encourage you to form a local patterns group. There is lots of stuff to read. Every group needs someone to start it up, but then they often can take off on their own. If you are interested in writing patterns, this gives you a place to try out your ideas, as well as a way to learn from other people.

If you want to start a group, post a message here to attract people. Also, make a web page and send me the URL. I'll put it on the page of patterns groups. Or, if you already have a group, please give me contact info.

-- Ralph