PaulChisholm:

A ``Patterns Handbook Language''
combines loosely coupled, general patterns.
The patterns, and the language itself,
captures expertise in a problem or solution domain.
(Compare with PrescriptivePatternLanguage.)

Because ``handbook'' patterns are so abstract,
the elements of AlexandrianForm
(motivation, context, examples, etc.)
are important.

Examples:

The GangOfFour DesignPatterns book[1].

The patterns handbook being published by Siemens[2].

JimCoplien's ``Advanced C++'' book[3]
(arguably ``just'' ProgrammingIdiom''''''s).

----

JimCoplien:

I feel that, to be a pattern language at all, the patterns
must work together just as the grammatical constructs of
a natural language work together to form literary works.
I perceive a (weakly) established distinction between a
PatternCatalog and a PatternLanguage.
A PatternCatalog assembles largely disjoint patterns;
a PatternLanguage weaves related patterns together.

JimCoplien's ``Advanced C++'' contains idioms.
Idioms are language-specific (low-level?) patterns
(KindsOfPatterns).
However, ``Advanced C++'' may be neither a PatternCatalog
nor a PatternLanguage, as it is organized around the
abstracting principles of the language, not around the
idioms themselves.

-----
CategoryGroupsOfPatterns