# Code reading: recommended projects? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 8, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044 "2008-05-08T15:15:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/1 "2008-05-08T15:15:32Z")
I generally like reading well-written code and find I can always learn a lot from it. I closely study the code of every plugin I use and read it of those others that just interest me. I’m less successful at finding complete _application_ projects that are worth reading or, even better, closely studying. I’ve just finished reading the code of (Altered) Beast and have started on Mephisto. So, for my reading pleasure, please recommend well-written application projects of more than trivial size. Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/) ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/2 "2008-05-08T20:18:41Z")
Michael S. wrote: > So, for my reading pleasure, please recommend well-written application > projects of more than trivial size. Completed applications are going to be difficult to come by because I think most applications are personal, commercial or internal to a business. That said, I’d suggest looking at the public projects at GitHub: > **[GitHub: Let’s build from here](https://github.com/)** > > GitHub is where over 100 million developers shape the future of software, together. Contribute to the open source community, manage your Git repositories, review code like a pro, track bugs and fea... Of course, writing, studying and bettering your own applications is also helpful. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 8:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/3 "2008-05-08T20:55:45Z")
On Thursday 08 May 2008, Daniel W. wrote: > Michael S. wrote: > > > So, for my reading pleasure, please recommend well-written > > application projects of more than trivial size. > > Completed applications are going to be difficult to come by because I > think most applications are personal, commercial or internal to a > business. Another reason to ask whether anyone knows of publicly available ones. > That said, I’d suggest looking at the public projects at GitHub: > [http://github.com/](http://github.com/) You’re ignoring the “well-written” part. Or, in order not to offend anyone, let’s say written in a way worth studying by others. > Of course, writing, studying and bettering your own applications is > also helpful. 🙂 Yes, but if that is all I ever do I’m going to miss out on a lot of ideas that I don’t come up with myself or anyone on the same team. Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/) ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 2:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/4 "2008-05-09T02:33:01Z")
This might be too obvious, but you can always read the Rails source code. Even though they aren’t complete applications, I would also recommend Rick Olsen’s plugins. [http://svn.techno-weenie.net/projects/plugins/](http://svn.techno-weenie.net/projects/plugins/) I would say he is the most well-respected plugin writter in the Rails community. I hope that helps, Paul ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 7:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/5 "2008-05-09T07:45:57Z")
On Friday 09 May 2008, DyingToLearn wrote: > This might be too obvious, but you can always read the Rails source > code. Some time in 2005 I have read the Rails sources in its entirety. Since then it has grown substantially, however, I go back to it all the time to find out things. So, I obviously agree that reading the Rails sources is very worthwhile. > Even though they aren’t complete applications, I would also recommend > Rick Olsen’s plugins. > [http://svn.techno-weenie.net/projects/plugins/](http://svn.techno-weenie.net/projects/plugins/) I think I’ve had a close look at each of them at some time. Interesting projects I’ve found - Radiant - Typo - Redmine Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/) ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/6 "2008-05-09T07:48:17Z")
On Friday 09 May 2008, Daniel Collis-puro wrote: > Michael S. wrote: > > > So, for my reading pleasure, please recommend well-written > > application projects of more than trivial size. > > Radiant ([www.radiantcms.org](http://www.radiantcms.org)) has a pretty clever architecture for > writing extensions, which can act essentially as mini-rails apps > inside the Radiant framework. Yes, I found it myself last night, and it looks interesting indeed. Thanks for the suggestion nevertheless. Michael – Michael S. [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) [http://www.schuerig.de/michael/](http://www.schuerig.de/michael/) ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/7 "2008-05-09T06:09:00Z")
Michael S. wrote: > So, for my reading pleasure, please recommend well-written application > projects of more than trivial size. Radiant ([www.radiantcms.org](http://www.radiantcms.org)) has a pretty clever architecture for writing extensions, which can act essentially as mini-rails apps inside the Radiant framework. Spree - formerly RailsCart - ([www.spreehq.org](http://www.spreehq.org)) is lifting this extension architecture with the idea of building a light, easily extended core for e-commerce sites. Both are still pretty young, but Radiant is powering some large sites in production out there - [ruby-lang.org](http://ruby-lang.org) for one, [shopify.com](http://shopify.com) and [redken.com](http://redken.com) for others. Spree still has a ways to go but is moving fast and looks promising - full disclosure: my employer is sponsoring the project. I’ve learned a lot from both projects. Some clever stuff going on. –DJCP ---
**Author:** ![wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@wickie](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/wickie)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2008, 5:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/code-reading-recommended-projects/137044/8 "2008-05-09T17:35:02Z")
We’ve put together a small list of open-source Rails applications: [http://www.buildingwebapps.com/topic/230-open-source-applications](http://www.buildingwebapps.com/topic/230-open-source-applications) If anyone has others to add, please do so using the form on that page. I realize you’re particularly looking for ones of high coding quality, and I’ll have to defer to others on that point. We’ll soon be adding the ability for people to rate the links on this and other similar pages on BuildingWebApps, which would help some. Michael S. [www.BuildingWebApps.com](http://www.BuildingWebApps.com) Resources for Ruby on Rails Developers