Portland Pattern Repository

The grand-daddy of all Wikis and also A Good Name for a Rock Band. Every single Wiki, including this one, owes something to it. Not only did it invent the idea of a website anyone can edit, it invented a lot of the things that define the wiki experience, such as Wiki Words, and the simple syntax for Bold and Italic used by almost all wikis.

An interesting feature of the Portland Pattern Repository is that it completely lacks separate discussion pages, instead having discussions on the pages themselves. This wove the discussion into the main page, making it seem much more like a forum on some pages.

Although it often strayed from its purpose (not unlike TV Tropes), it was still mainly concentrated on the patterns used by programmers, the how of their techniques, labeling ideas to make it easier to see how they flow. There's a beautiful symmetry between this idea and the idea of a trope.

The wiki ended up being very influential not only on the internet, but on programming practice itself. However, as far we know, no one has appropriated the name for a band.

Trope Namer for Names Given to Computers (original page).

Visit this piece of wiki history here.