When discussing the role of component and pattern-oriented approaches in web design and content modeling, it's really useful to look at how the ideas (and vocabulary) made their way from the world of architecture (Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language, etc) to software dev.
The gang of four book ("Design Patterns", published in '07) was a huge influence on the software development world but Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham were writing about the idea of building software from reusable patterns in the 80s.
One of their earliest papers on the topic (c2.com/doc/oopsla87.h…) doesn't just spell out the *technical* aspects of the concept, but their motivations for introducing the pattern-centric approach to managing complexity.
They start by explaining Christopher Alexander's conviction that the people who will live, work, and socialize in a building should design it, because they have the clearest understanding of what they'll need.
To Alexander, architectural patterns weren't just a way to standardize things, an efficiency tool for his own work, or a tool for teaching and understanding other architects. They were a way of boiling complexity down to the important choices *a structure's users* could make.
Beck and Cunningham applied that reasoning to software: "Computer users should write their own programs. The idea sounds foolish when one considers the size and complexity… and the years of training for the design professions. Yet Alexander offers a convincing scenario."
In a post from just two years ago (facebook.com/notes/kent-bec…) Beck expands on the idea when describing life lessons he's learned: "Patterns isolate the repeating parts of problems and solutions so the unique aspects come into clearer focus."
The ideal of LEGO-esque systems is usually overhyped, but I think the principle is still critical: when planning or evaluating component and pattern systems, one of the most critical questions is, "What does this abstract away, and what things does it let us focus on?"
(My kingdom for an edit button. Design Patterns was published in 97, not 07...)
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