The Architecture of Open Source Applications (aosabook.org)

Article summary

The article discusses two books, 'The Architecture of Open Source Applications', which provide insights into the structure and development of various open source software applications. The books aim to help developers learn from the experiences of others and improve their own skills. The authors of the applications explain their design decisions and the lessons they learned during development. The books are available under a Creative Commons license and royalties are donated to Amnesty International.

Main themes

• open source software
• software architecture
• design patterns
• developer learning
• code quality

What commenters say

• Studying the architecture of open source applications can help developers learn from others' successes and failures.
• Some commenters believe that studying failure is more instructive than studying success.
• Others argue that studying success is more valuable than studying failure, as it can provide insights into effective design patterns and architectures.
• The quality of a codebase does not necessarily determine the quality of the end product, as some successful projects have poor code quality.
• Some commenters disagree with criticisms of certain open source projects, such as GIMP and GTK, and argue that they have their own strengths and design goals.
• There is a need for more examples of software architectures that are relevant to modern web and server-side applications.
• The architecture of distributed systems and high-traffic web applications would be particularly valuable to study.