Dennis Doomen

What you can learn from an open-source project with 500 million downloads

What can a project with 500 million downloads teach you about inner sourcing? Discover how to automate quality and prevent breaking changes in your internal libraries.

What you can learn from an open-source project with 500 million downloads
#1about 1 minute

Applying open source principles to internal projects

Lessons learned from maintaining open source projects can be applied within companies, a practice often called inner sourcing.

#2about 2 minutes

Streamlining contributions with issue templates and labels

Use structured issue templates and labels in GitHub to streamline bug reports and feature requests, preventing wasted effort on unapproved work.

#3about 2 minutes

Designing for extensibility and API consistency

Building extensible code requires predicting future use cases, carefully managing breaking changes, and maintaining API consistency.

#4about 1 minute

Improving repository quality with documentation

A well-structured README and a contributing guide are essential for helping new contributors understand, build, and use a project.

#5about 2 minutes

Essential command-line and Git tooling for developers

Enhance productivity with powerful command-line tools like Oh My Posh and ZLocation, alongside graphical Git clients for complex operations.

#6about 2 minutes

Automating code style and quality checks

Use tools like EditorConfig and Roslyn analyzers to enforce coding standards automatically, saving time and frustration during code reviews.

#7about 1 minute

Adopting functional and concise unit test naming

Evolve unit test naming conventions from long, descriptive sentences to shorter, more direct names that clearly state the expected outcome.

#8about 1 minute

Managing project settings and dependencies efficiently

Use Directory.Build.props for shared solution settings and PolySharp to enable modern C# features on older .NET frameworks.

#9about 2 minutes

Applying SOLID principles to package design

Structure dependencies so that packages only rely on more stable or abstract modules, creating separate packages for optional integrations.

#10about 1 minute

Using design patterns as refactoring goals

Design patterns should be used as a tool for refactoring complex code to improve communication and structure, not as an initial design goal.

#11about 2 minutes

Building robust CI/CD pipelines with Nuke

Replace complex YAML pipelines with Nuke, a C# based build automation tool that allows for local execution, debugging, and refactoring.

#12about 1 minute

Preventing breaking changes with API verification

Automatically detect unintended breaking changes by using snapshot testing on your public API surface with tools like PublicApiGenerator.

#13about 1 minute

Using micro-benchmarking for performance hotspots

Identify performance hotspots with a profiler and then create targeted micro-benchmarks to prevent future regressions in critical code paths.

#14about 1 minute

Integrating documentation and automated spell checking

Keep documentation in sync with code by using static site generators like Jekyll and ensure quality with automated spell-checking tools.

#15about 1 minute

Automating dependency management with Dependabot

Leverage Dependabot in GitHub to automatically create pull requests for dependency updates, keeping projects secure and up-to-date.

#16about 1 minute

Using code coverage and emoji-driven reviews

Treat code coverage as a developer insight tool rather than a management KPI and use emojis to add nuance to code review feedback.

#17about 3 minutes

Automating semantic versioning and release notes

Implement semantic versioning and use tools like GitVersion to automatically generate version numbers and release notes from your commit history.

#18about 1 minute

Accelerating projects with a .NET library starter kit

A pre-configured starter kit can bundle best practices for pipelines, issue templates, and API verification to bootstrap new library projects.

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