Totally fair.. I am not claiming periodicity here :) I just wanted to use the "periodic table" as a visual metaphor. The goal is to outline a mostly orthogonal set of system design principles and illustrate cross-domain connections to students so that it is easier to compare trade-offs and discuss designs more precisely.

You keep doing you. It's a losing battle on my end. There will still be more Periodic Table of X on the internet after I've stopped yelling at clouds.

:)

I know it's a rant, but my explanation for the popularity of such visualization is their familiarity. I mean, I'd also prefer a more accurate use of references to science, but I guess you will agree that "A periodic table of X" sounds pretty cool and makes you read the article :)

Ok, now show me a molecule. The Periodic Table of Elements is a deep reference object, not a graphic design template.

Author here, great question :) If principles are the elements, we can think of each system as a "molecule" with some imagination. For example, an SQL database system has many principles:

1. Abstraction Lifting (Al) + Policy/Mechanism Separation (Pm): SQL states high-level intent with precise semantics, and logical operators are decoupled from physical operators.

2. Equivalence-based Planning (Ep) + Invariant-Guided Transformation (Ig): We apply algebraic rewrites that preserve semantics (e.g., join reordering, predicate pushdown) under stated invariants.

3. Cost-based Planning (Cm): We choose concrete physical operators and join orders using a cost model and so on..

it's both

just by it's ubiquity and success it has become a template for graphical design

The periodicity reflects the allowed solutions to the Schrödinger equation for electrons in atoms. It is not some branding teams' genius design innovation.

Ironically, you are in a superstate between "can" and "should".

It is _also_ a colorful collection of boxes that a billion+ people could instantly identify.

Cashing in on that global cultural awareness is just the kind of innovation a genius branding team needs.

It does annoy me when 'Periodic Tables of X' are just lists of color coded boxes, but I get it.

The problem - and it is a problem - is that this is not a good thing.

A billion+ people instantly identify police, but dressing like a cop is a crime.

FWIW, there are other styles which emphasise other aspects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Types_of_periodic_tables

Right, I'm thinking --- if you put it on a grid are there properties on rows? or columns?

If not, eeehhh

I wouldn't even call it a taxonomy. "A list organized into sections".

But that sounds far less grand...

Yes :)