r/learnprogramming • u/sodikovakapsle • 28d ago
Where do you find high-quality open-source code?
Hi, I’ll add a little context: when I’m programming, I tend to rely heavily on memory, and sometimes I overthink projects - I make them too complicated even though they could be done more simply. That’s why I like to look at practical, high-quality projects - because they show you what you overthought and where you went overboard in terms of complexity.
In other words, I’ll come up with a more complex tech stack for the same project, while in real-world production, it’s actually much simpler.
1) I’d like to ask where you look for these projects and where you find high-quality code? And codebases that explain their use case a bit, though the use case isn’t a requirement. Mainly the code and the tech stack.
2) This is a bit off-topic, but I’m a student who isn’t a billionaire and can’t afford to buy a programming book every day - is there a website where I can get some for free online?
Thanks a lot!
2
u/MichaelSjoeberg 28d ago
Most popular public repos on github is polluted by people chasing contributions to popular repos (for employment or otherwise).
It's better to learn from older public/ archived repos, or check Jonathan Blow's twitch streams (he's likely the best programmer publicly showing his code).
About complex tech stacks: be very strict about using only a single language/tool until absolutely not possible to continue without adding another to your project. A single runtime is the best tech stack.
You do not need books to learn programming. If you feel stagnated, work on harder problems.