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Algorithms instead of source code !! (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 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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[–] atheken@programming.dev 1 points 7 months ago

You are really looking for architecture diagrams. These are extremely rare in most projects, open source or otherwise.

The reason you don’t see a lot of documentation on algorithms used or architecture is that most of the time the code is not actually novel. It’s like asking a plumber to describe the physical properties of the pipe they used on a job. They’d say “schedule 40” or “copper” and a dimension. They would not describe the manufacturing process or chemical composition of the pipe. The materials are pretty standard and only require special descriptions for when and why they deviate from those standards.