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

107 points pixelworm | 1 comments | 24 Aug 25 05:08 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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?
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pfannkuchen ◴[24 Aug 25 06:11 UTC] No.45001808[source]▶
Maybe I’m just not good enough at paying attention, but for me it seems like you have to actually run into problems over and over and figure out how to avoid the problems. Then you end up being able to mentally simulate what problems you will run into, and design is basically all about avoiding future problems of various kinds (and balancing tradeoffs about which future problems to avoid and how much effort to put into each, whether you can solve multiple with one design play, etc).
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teiferer ◴[24 Aug 25 08:01 UTC] No.45002299[source]▶
> for me it seems like you have to actually run into problems over and over and figure out how to avoid the problems

This shows how immature the field of software engineering is. Imagine bridges or houses were built like that. Or your surgeon was trained like that.

Over time, we hopefully develop estblished norms, but at the moment, things are too much in flux. Put 5 sw engineers in a room, pose a problem and you will get not just 5 different solution proposals, but there will likely be strong disagreements on which approach is a good one.

"I recognize a good solution when I see it" is just not good enough for a serious engineering discipline.

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1. wqaatwt ◴[24 Aug 25 11:43 UTC] No.45003480[source]▶
> Imagine bridges or houses were built like that

If they could afford experimenting and have a few bridges collapse before they get it right with no significant negative consequences IMHO it wouldn’t be the worst way to learn.

Maybe even more so for surgeons, being able to experiment and fail in a risk free environment seems like a good thing.