"A group of UC Davis researchers has just received a three-year, $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study how open source software such as the Apache Web server is built.
"Unlike a cathedral or an airliner, there is no 'blueprint' for a piece of open source software that shows all the parts in relation to each other, said Premkumar Devanbu, a professor of computer science at UC Davis and a principal investigator on the grant. Typically, a small group of programmers looks after the core elements of the system, and the rest is broken up into modules that are attacked by a floating group of volunteers who report flaws and suggest modifications..."
