…The virtual side of static pattern engineering is going to take further form in a new project codenamed ‘FluxPoints’. A fluxpoint will be a virtual and active representation of a static pattern (or an aggregation of static patterns) on the Internet…

[From a previous post]

Formerly called the ‘endpoints’ project, after further development of the idea I have renamed it to the FluxPoints project. The endpoints idea started as a thought experiment: provide a way for an individual or group to secure an authorative identifier for a static pattern (or aggregation of static patterns) [1] and:

• represent the evolving structure on the world wide web in multiple rendered formats depending on consumer [data]
• provide a common set of framework operations against the static pattern [behaviors]

I can modestly say this initial concept was nothing more than morphing together a few existing ideas that have developed over the last two decades. The endpoints idea was intended to take the web service endpoint concept and apply it toward static patterns at the service layer with all types of interesting convolutions of the usual infrastructure surrounding web services [2].

This first phase of thinking, which encompasses ‘releasing’ or publishing a static pattern, is still going to be part of the process (with some as yet undisclosed modifications to the way it is represented) — this notion of allowing a pattern’s representation to become static is enforced by the criteria that it:

• has an authorative and established identifier that gives it an identity
• has a physical location that hosts it [3]
• has a structure and set of behaviors that define it, otherwise it is neither active nor static

This last criterion, which defines whether the pattern [virtual] representation (not necessarily the underlying pattern itself) is static also defines whether it can be active introduces the notion of active pattern. In consciousness (the cognitive domain), a static pattern becomes active when cognition is actively operating with that pattern to produce transformations in the pattern itself or other patterns. If the sole purpose of the endpoints project was simply to reflect the products of consciousness as virtual representations, then endpoints would be a proper name; however, the purpose of static pattern engineering is to operate on and transform these patterns — in the transition states they are active patterns. With the tremendous potential of a global network, if the endpoint were designed to release the pattern in a way that allowed it to be activated by bidirectional information flow according to its orientation and exposure then there would be many opportunities for the pattern to become an active pattern (not just for consumer but for creator and aggregators). Thus, we are most interested in the flux through the endpoint — and the sole purpose of the endpoint is to serve as a FluxPoint.

I have most likely become somewhat vague in the -how- this last part will be achieved. This is for several reasons – first and foremost is because I wanted to announce the initial ideas (endpoints) but not necessarily reveal the whole progression since then. Nonetheless, I can assure you that this project will be an interesting experiment that I hope will generate very positive results, not just for the field itself but also for the people that use it. [Insert typical grandiose vision statements here]

[1] analogous to a domain name in concept but not at all in syntax

[2] for instance, web services are usually unique type definitions that usually delegate to a well-known data source while an endpoint represents a unique manifestation using a standard type definition with variable data sources (often other endpoints)

[3] in the first implementation, this will be a hosting location I will provide; however, the infrastructure will be designed from the bottom up that this location can vary for each endpoint

First, I’ve made a decision about publication of the first volume I am working on for static pattern engineering.  I have decided to publish it using Amazon’s Digital Media Platform.  Therefore, the first title will only be available electronically and will be an abridged version of the final form.  I will be actively seeking feedback from readers in this first publishing round, then I will seek alternate avenues for the expanded publishing round for the physical (and electronic) unabridged form.

Second, for the past few years I’ve been actively looking for a candidate programming language and platform for the virtual work on static pattern engineering.  I am happy to announce that I’ve finally found it – thanks to some extraordinary work at Microsoft research. They have produced the F# language which is about to reach maturity (the v1.0 release). This language will allow me to finally model some of the complexity surrounding the virtual work in an elegant form using multiple programming paradigms. My previous attempts to model some of the data structures and operations using a purely object oriented paradigm were not sufficient using anything else available. I had explored functional programming using Lisp and Scheme; however, the lack of constructs from imperative programming were also not sufficient and I couldn’t find an active project that maintained a connection to powerful frameworks (such as the .NET framework). The F# language effectively merges these paradigms as well as offering effective abstract representation, symbolic, and lexical processing which we will important for dealing with some of the core concepts in a programming language form.

Finally, the virtual side of static pattern engineering is going to take further form in a new project codenamed ‘FluxPoints’. A fluxpoint will be a virtual and active representation of a static pattern (or an aggregation of static patterns) on the Internet (in other words, the medium the static pattern will be expressed in is a ‘physical’ construct that allow it to participate on the Internet). I’d like to note that this is simply a research application of static pattern engineering, so won’t receive full attention here (only in the cases where the application helps inform the core theory); nonetheless, I am expecting some exciting developments from this project and am looking forward to it.