this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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Programming

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Algorithms instead of source code !! (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) by erranto@lemmy.world to c/programming@programming.dev
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Disclaimer : I am a hobbyist programmer, I have not gone to Uni for that , so I might not know everything I am talking about.

My question is why don't open source programs include something like diagrams of the algorithms they employ ?? I Was looking for algorithms for a chat program with client-server architecture, I was hoping to find diagrams and descriptions of how algorithms work, so a to study them an adapt them to my needs. All I found were FOSS projects with no such documentation.

Considering that reading source code can take a long time, and sometimes interesting projects are written in a language the user isn't familiar with, I was wondering why such documentation style doesn't exist ? It could help even newer contributors get started quicker.

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[–] orbitz@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago

The problem with stuff like flow charts is that when you do a new feature that changes the chart then there's another chunk of time to update that document. If you're really interested in that all you can really do is make your own as you go through software and you'll see usual patterns how different code areas interact. it's not as useful as figuring it out on your own or studying design paradigms.