I'd also recommend The Timeless Way of Building, which provides the overview of Alexander's method (of which A Pattern Language is just one piece). I once wrot

I'd also recommend The Timeless Way of Building, which provides the overview of Alexander's method (of which A Pattern Language is just one piece). I once wrote a review of The Timeless Way from a programmer's perspective: http://advogato.org/person/mbrubeck/diary/106.html http://advogato.org/person/mbrubeck/diary/106.html (The Oregon Experiment, which I mention in that link, might also be of interest to programmers inside huge organizations.)