I am writing in request of some suggestions for some well-designed open source Java projects which contain good design documentation – especially how the design evolved as more people looked into it (and raised flaws?) in the proposed design).
I remember reading Joel Spolsky comment about most of the value in a software product (or project) comes from good design. While he published an example of a good functional specification (CoPilot), he (sadly) did not publish how this functional specification was subsequently transformed into the technical specification, and the design of the final product.
Currently,I am trying to get involved with open source projects in order to develop my skills in Java. I am at a plateau where (in order to progress) I need more insight into how a project evolved from functional requirements to the Technical Design so I can gain an appreciation for the issues considered before converging on the code-base that currently exists.
Most of the open source Java projects I looked at do not seem to have any information on what issues were considered before converging on the design (code) that exists today. I am sure someone (at some point) must have (at least) published a class diagram modeling the relationships between different entities and justifications as to why it was designed in that way.
Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards, Dinuk
Look at Apache projects. They are mostly very well documented and have active dev & user mailinglists where you can get information going beyond what is documented. Besides looking at past conversations on the mailing lists you’d see what issues have appeared and how they’ve been solved.