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Ask HN: Best codebases to study to learn software design?

107 points pixelworm | 2 comments | 24 Aug 25 05:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.002s | source

I’m working on improving my software design skills, and it was recommended that I study existing well designed codebases. What are some publicly accessible codebases you would consider gold standards for software design?
1. BlackFly ◴[24 Aug 25 06:30 UTC] No.45001872[source]▶
I can recommend reading about postfix architecture if you want to learn a bit about what would nowadays be called a microservice architecture:

https://www.postfix.org/OVERVIEW.html

You might need to know a bit about how email servers work to appreciate it though.

replies(1): >>45002021 #
2. pixelworm ◴[24 Aug 25 07:04 UTC] No.45002021[source]▶
Well maybe I'll take some time to learn about email servers then. I use email everyday so I suppose it'll be good to know a little more about how it works.