Each ({0,1,0,....}) describes the different patterns you want to display(the state of the 8 pins). In this case they describe the digits 0-9, but could be describing any pattern you want to display.
Example:
{1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0} - describes the digit "0". All segment are On except segment G.
{1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0} - describes the digit "8". All segments are On.
It's seven pins for the segments and one (last one) for the dot (I have one on my display). The dot is always off (last digit is 0).
Connect segement A on the display to the first pin defined in the pins[] variable (in my case pin 2), and segment B to the second pin defined in the pins[] variable (in my case pin 3)...
The pattern[][] variable is a two dimensional array. Maybe it's clear to a C programmer how to define it, but I had a lot of trouble get it to work. Finally I got i correct!