Joy of Patterns: Using Patterns for Enterprise Development, The

Chapter 2. An Introduction to Patterns

The pattern is, in short, at the same time a thing, which happens in the world and the rule which tells us how to create that thing, and when we must create it. It is both a process and a thing; both a description of a thing which is alive, and a description of the process that will generate that thing.

—Alexander, 79