The Architecture of Open Source Applications, Volume II

The Architecture of Open Source Applications #2

by Amy Brown, Greg Wilson

Architects look at thousands of buildings during their training, and study critiques of those buildings written by masters. In contrast, most software developers only ever get to know a handful of large programs well - usually programs they wrote themselves - and never study the great programs of history. As a result, they repeat one another's mistakes rather than building on one another's successes. This second volume of The Architecture of Open Source Applications aims to change that. In it, the authors of twenty-four open source applications explain how their software is structured, and why. What are each program's major components? How do they interact? And what did their builders learn during their development? In answering these questions, the contributors to this book provide unique insights into how they think.

Genres: Programming, Technology, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Architecture, Software, Technical

390 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Architecture of Open Source Applications, Volume II is another interesting set of open source tools that are described in detail by individuals intimately familiar with the details. Volume II follows the same format of its predecessor. Each chapter describes a specific open source application and provides whatever details the authors wish to expound upon. The chapters are only loosely similar by all having lessons learned and some form of conclusion.

I enjoyed Volume II quite a bit more than Volume I. Put simply: the content was better. My biggest complaint about Volume I is that there were many really poor chapters. For Volume II, there were only a couple of chapters that I was disappointed with.

Both Volume I and II are worth reading, but I would read Volume II first if someone is approaching the set for the first time.

[Kam Yung Soh]

Available as an online book.

[Nicklas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since each chapter is written by an individual person the quality and way of writing varies vastly. Some chapters are really interesting, others not so much.

[Vasil Kolev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was very good. Even though I don't use the software from some of the chapters (and I don't see that happening soon), the "lessons learned" part everywhere was useful. Also, some of the software is very interesting in itself.

[Alexander Pletnev · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Since first volume release its content grown excellent, Im so happy to read about internals of software Im using. And even to know new software from the book. I do not even knew that some of them exist.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of papers on different open-source applications, explaining the high-level architecture and design decisions that were involved in each one. Some were really interesting, like the ones about BerkelyDB, Hadoop, and Mercurial. Some I skipped.

[Abdul Qavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read with diverse topics. Since each chapter is written by different author, some are written perfect while others are not that good.

[Mattias Lundell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good chapters mixed with not so good ones.