# The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson

13 Hacker News commenters recommended The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Learn software architecture by example: each chapter is written by a maintainer of a real open source project, showing how to think about application design.

## Why people recommend it

- Chapters written by real project maintainers (2 comments): "It's a book series where you learn architecture by example, with each chapter written by a maintainer of the project in question." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48106854)) "I do like the fact that these are all examples of actual projects" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432327))
- Teaches systems design and application thinking (2 comments): "There are enough details/notes here from experts to show one how to think about an application" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46440057)) "I learned a lot about systems design from it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46933394))
- Appealing series format (2 comments): "I really appreciate the documentaries by CultRepo and the "Architecture of Open Source Applications" books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45925925)) "there's just something about the series that I like" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48325671))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mythical-man-month.md): 56 recommend
- [Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann](https://hackerapproved.com/p/designing-data-intensive-applications.md): 37 recommend
- [A Philosophy of Software Design by John Ousterhout](https://hackerapproved.com/p/a-philosophy-of-software-design.md): 28 recommend
- [Code Complete by Steve McConnell](https://hackerapproved.com/p/code-complete.md): 14 recommend
- [Design Patterns by Gamma, Helm, Johnson and Vlissides](https://hackerapproved.com/p/design-patterns.md): 12 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1257638017?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781257638017) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The Architecture of Open Source Applications by Amy Brown and Greg Wilson", https://hackerapproved.com/p/architecture-of-open-source-applications/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).