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代码的“负空间”:ADRs是AI与开发者理解架构的桥梁

Studying well-designed codebases offers significant learning opportunities, but a critical aspect of effective software architecture—the "negative space" of deliberate omissions and avoided complexities—often remains hidden. This invisible reasoning, comprising rejected patterns and simplified abstractions, is crucial for understanding the final codebase. To address this knowledge gap, maintaining Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) is paramount. These documents capture the rationale behind significant technical choices, including alternatives considered and discarded, functioning as essential context for both human developers and AI coding assistants.

ADRs provide AI tools with vital context regarding architectural constraints and design compromises, enabling more effective assistance by respecting established decisions rather than suggesting avoided patterns. This practice enhances AI's ability to adhere to project-specific design principles, leading to more consistent and well-aligned code generation. Projects that publicly document their architectural decisions, such as Rust's RFCs and Python's PEPs, offer a richer learning experience by combining clean code with transparent design rationale, particularly highlighting the value of deliberate restraint.

The practice of documenting what is *not* built is often more instructive than the implementation itself. By revealing the considerations behind exclusions, ADRs offer profound insights into architectural evolution and maintainability, serving as a critical resource for fostering robust software development practices and enabling more intelligent AI-driven development workflows.

Ask HN: Best codebases to study to learn software design? | Hacker News
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