Wiki Exit

WikiWikiWeb was founded to create a readable text on Patterns. This is has accomplished. There really aren't very many more patterns to talk about. Now the focus has wandered - without a clear WikiPurpose?, it's harder to explain why ThreadMode is bad... indeed, if we're not sure of the purpose, maybe ThreadMode isn't bad.

There are attempts to bring a purpose back to Wiki, but there is another option - close the book, it's done.

If you think that Wiki was supposed to be about patterns, and that (approximately) all that could be said about patterns has been said, then perform the WikiExit procedure:

First, FixYourWiki. Any pages that you, personally, have left a ThreadMess should be cleaned up, to ensure you leave Wiki no worse than you found it.
Secondly, band together with like-minded WikiZens to refactor every page on patterns into a readable, flowing document. This will ensure that not only has everything about patterns already been said, also but that the information is reachable, readable.
Finally, once all the patterns content is neat and tidy, we can declare TargetReached and leave Wiki, full of fond memories but knowing that it has to end sometime.

Nope. This wiki is not (solely) about patterns. Or even about documenting all patterns. If you read WikiWikiWeb you'll see that this wiki's avowed mission is to be home to an InformalHistoryOfProgrammingIdeas. Since history is constantly being made this is an on-going and never-ending task.

Even if this wiki were solely about patterns then we still would be nowhere near TargetReached because patterns are not a fixed set of platonic objects that must simply be recorded. Instead they're about recording experience in a useful format. And since programmers keep insisting on learning new things and discovering new patterns there's always going to be something more to say.-- AdewaleOshineye

And how much of the new content on Wiki today was about programming ideas? (hint: none)

It's not possible to write down everything worth writing down on the subject of software. But we have to know when to stop.

: Uninteresting. Do you think that unless something new is discovered every day that no progress can be made? I was just involved in a relational vs functional debate a few days ago, a debate which (imho) turned up useful thought. And regardless, stating that any content not specifically about programming is unuseful is like stating that any time spent at work not typing is wasted. It is by a certain measure, but the value of that measure is dubious.

"Everything that can be invented has been invented" -- apocryphal, attributed to an 1890s official of the United States Patent Office.

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