If you are using, or learning, a framework or api then I recommend reading through the source code for the parts you are using to get some familiarity with other programmer's approaches. A large enough code base will have been touched by multiple people and different bits will be on their n'th revision whereas some will be at a hacky draft stage. There is a wide range of elegance even within long-lived open source projects and the more you look at other people's work the better you will feel about your own :)