What are some common open-source software design patterns and how do they benefit your projects?

I have found that one of the most promising ways to have good design in an OSS project is a thorough planning and clear documentation based on past experience. I don't set up an app that doesn't use any code, but I instead produce a detailed design document to indicate the structural view, key components and their interactions. One of the reasons for that is it allows developers to spot the problems and set them as a roadmap so that they can analyze their bugs and difficulties, thus making the process smooth. In addition, I follow a code with the completion of detailed documentation materials like code comments, user guides, and contributors guidelines.

The design choices should be made such that it's easier to read & understand the code. Which helps both the implementers who are adopting the project & also new contributors to onboard quickly.

I have learnt so much just by reading the code 🚀 Many time I come across the repositories that have such well maintained code that follows design patterns. And it's just awesome. When so many people contribute to a single piece of code, it's really important to follow some design patters to keep the code maintainable. OSS design matters because it influences collaboration, adoption, community engagement, sustainability, security, user experience, innovation, documentation, and community trust. A well-crafted design is foundational to the success and longevity of open-source software projects.

OSS design is important because complexity kills productivity! Maintaining a stable and easy-to-use OSS design can drastically increase the value and impact of your software. A well-designed project attracts more contributors and users, making collaboration easier and enhancing the overall success of the software.

Some of the advantages of open source software and OSS approaches include (a) the ability to inspect software in order to detect security risks, (b) the ability to modify software to adapt it to local needs, (c) the ability to share cost between a number of contributors, who all receive the full benefits of the work. At a macro-level, open source software is also a great learning environment, because not just the code, but also the discussions about the design of the code and technical decisions are often publicly available.

La conception OSS vise à créer un code facile à comprendre, étendre et adapter, augmentant la valeur, l'impact et attirant contributeurs/utilisateurs. Elle aide à éviter les pièges courants du développement OSS : duplication, fragmentation, sécurité, compatibilité.

From my own experience of which I can assure you, starting with a design that is quite clear-cut and simple can save a lot of trouble that we might get into in the future. When I was asked to do some work on a publicly available project, I was not able to use the code properly in the beginning because it was so complex. By embracing the elementary, I went through some code and have changed the algorithms to straightforward and explicative ones. In addition, I have introduced uniform coding standards throughout the whole project. These improvements were one of the factors that made the code more readable, and they were also the enhancements that allowed the contributors to start the contributions.

Principes de conception OSS : simplicité, modularité, documentation complète, ouverture. Suggestions plutôt que règles strictes, à appliquer selon le contexte. Vise à améliorer la qualité, la cohérence, la collaboration et la participation de la communauté.

Les modèles de conception OSS sont des solutions réutilisables pour résoudre les problèmes récurrents (plugins, microservices, usines). Ils offrent modularité, interopérabilité, flexibilité, résilience, abstraction, polymorphisme et injection de dépendances dans le développement logiciel.

Appliquer les principes et modèles de conception OSS est un processus itératif : analyser le problème/contexte, choisir les options appropriées, implémenter, tester/déboguer, obtenir des retours, évaluer et améliorer continuellement la conception du logiciel.

What helped me the most was contributing to open source projects. I joined forums and mailing lists; attended meetups, improving upon the skills concerning the contributions. Websites such as Open Source Guides and Clean Coders have tutorials, articles, and videos that can help in OSS design. Engagement with these communities has not only increased my knowledge level but also created opportunities through which I could contribute and get feedback on what I do.

De nombreuses ressources (livres, sites Web, tutoriels, articles, cours, podcasts) et communautés sont disponibles pour apprendre et pratiquer la conception OSS. Étudier et contribuer à des projets open source populaires permet également d'acquérir une expérience pratique.

Documentation & having a single source of truth is very helpful. Usually there are multiple communication channels for an open source project but pinning down to one final documentation which can be used as reference with assurance is very important.

There is more to adopting OSS than consideration of design patterns. The vibrancy, adoption, licensing maintenance aspects can have a large impact on the organization over time. For example a project that isn’t vibrant may require forking to address security and or dependency issues. Similarly, lack of adoption can impede awareness of issues and/or head down a path that becomes increasingly at odds with industry best practices/mindshare. Licensing has become less of a concern in recent years given the explosion of code sharing via supper sites. However issues can still exist when using libraries with licenses that may not align with company policy. Finally, it is not uncommon for external OSS librairies version changes to be overlooked.