The best code is no code. I would stop chasing these kinds of rabbits and start looking harder at the actual information being processed throughout. I'd also fo

The best code is no code. I would stop chasing these kinds of rabbits and start looking harder at the actual information being processed throughout. I'd also focus more on the actual business & customers over any specific coding practice. You would hopefully find that the most compelling aspect of well-designed software systems is the data. In "data-driven" applications, 100% of the application state and configuration can be made to live in a database somewhere. In these scenarios, seeking code examples is not going to tell you much of anything. My advice is to look at a bunch of SQL schemas (ideally, ones you know to be under successful products) and compare them to the problem area they support. Think about how you would answer questions a reasonable person might ask of that business by way of a query. Then, consider how much code you just now did not write to answer a realistic business problem. Relational modeling can eliminate entire repositories worth of bullshit code that should have never existed in the first place. Do you want to train yourself to rely upon something that a true wizard can walk in and disaparate at the snap of his fingers?