[jokoon]

Generally, things that are not open source are rarely not well written, since there are less programmers who will read your code, and all questions on the code can be done internally, so developers only write code so it works.

Open source generally leads to better quality code, since it's the best way to attract other developers to contribute to it.

So I'm rarely interested by any accomplished project that opens its code.

For example, if microsoft opened its OS, I doubt developers would really try to do things with it. The windows kernel would obviously be high quality code, but a lot of the rest is probably short lived garbage.

[dman]

I disagree with this line of reasoning. I have seen good/bad examples on either side. I think it actually comes down to someone on the developer team having a high set of standards that they push everyone to subscribe to.

[gentleman11]

All the open source projects I have personally seen were ones meant to live a long time. When there were code issues, there were always awkward discussions on github about “there should be unit tests here” or “this code makes no sense,” and weeks later the developer announcing a cleanup or some sort. Anecdotal but public scrutiny and pressure is a real thing.

Just as an example, this is why Bitwarden started getting some automated testing - lots of propelled bumping github issues about it in order to get it more visibility

[mhh__]

It's only tangentially related to code quality but I do think open/free source is the only way to write sustainable software if your aim is to change the world rather than ones bank account (so to speak).

There's terrible code all over the place, although it is definitely true that no one's going to clean up - even source available - proprietary code out of kindness of their heart.

[remram]

> things that are not open source are rarely not well written

I think you got lost in your triple negative there

[jokoon]

yes, english is not my main language, thanks for the correction

[squarefoot]

Openness aside, working under constant pressure with crazy deadlines also paves the way for ugly/barely tested/hard to maintain code. Game studios often have extremely strict deadlines, but I've experienced this pressure also when working in government software; this code looks like examples from Dr Dobb's compared to the pile of crap we sometimes could barely stick together in the old days.