Study Open Source Applications

I came across an excellent resource last week that more people should know about.

The Architecture for Open Source Applications is a series of books that examines how some of the best software ever written is designed.

Programmers rarely get the chance to study the work of others in detail.  You learn the fundamentals in school but when it comes to experience building larger applications it’s not easy to pass on that knowledge in a single semester when writing the code for a large application may take years.

The books are inspired by how architects learn by studying the designs of other buildings. If you’re tasked with designing an office tower there are no doubt countless lessons that have been learned in the past century about dimensions, materials, efficiency, best practices, capacities for everything from floor space, water pipes, air exchangers and elevators. If architects re-invented the wheel each time they took on a new project almost all buildings would be terrible.

Software developers do often start each new project as a chance to re-invent everything themselves.  Of course this is a massive risk.  Even the best developers cannot implement the optimal solution to each an every sub problem in a large application.

Studying design patterns get you part of the way there.  Actually seeing them used in different contexts will deepen your understanding of their value.

Actually studying the great open source applications will give you inspiration to lean on when solving your own application design issues.

All software developers should read these books.