General talk about software patterns

[Linda Rising <risingl AT tds.net>]

Sorry for multiple postings.

The Pattern Languages of Programs (PLoP™) conference is the premier 
event for pattern authors
and enthusiasts to gather, discuss, and learn more about patterns, 
programming, and software
development.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of both the first PLoP conference 
and the Gang of Four Design
Patterns book. And it will be held at its first home, Allerton Park near 
Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.
The conference is not traditional—the main event is a set of Writers’ 
Workshops where pattern
papers are reviewed by fellow authors, led by expert workshop leaders.

Authors and everyone will find lots of opportunities to learn about
patterns, pattern languages, pattern writing, and the quest for
human-centered software creation in the panolply of PLoP activities:
Writers’ Workshops, Focus Groups, BoF sessions, BootCamp, Games,
shared meals, late-night music and chit-chat, and a strange and
beautiful venue where all attendees stay, eat, work, and play.

Friendly and effective: although very little is like other conferences, the
standards are high, the intellectual stimulation is almost overwhelming, and
very few will go home without having moved to the next level.

Reinventing the past is hard to do and not what we plan. Programming,
software, and software development are changing fast. We plan to explore
where it could all go, how code will be made, what the nature of design will
be, how scale will infect everything, and what kinds of new software will
emerge.

Paper submissions may include short papers containing one or
more patterns, longer pattern languages or sequences, or works in-
progress by writers wishing to get in-depth shepherding by
an experienced author at the conference. Patterns and pattern
languages on other topics, essays on patterns, and visions for the
future are encouraged.

In addition, you may submit proposals for free-format discussion
groups or workshops bringing together people interested in a hot
topic related to patterns or proven practices—with
a duration about two hours. Non-conventional
formats are welcome.

PLoP14 submissions are peer reviewed and digitally archived at ACM. 
Papers discussed
at writers’ workshop at this conference qualify for submission to the 
journal “TPLoP—
Transactions on Pattern Languages of Programming,” published by 
Springer. See
Springer’s pages on TPLoP for details of this journal.