What do architects, artists, authors, and athletes have in common that programmers lack? If you said they all start with the letter A, you are correct! I would like to submit another thing most of these people do: admire and learn from the masterful results of the best.

As programmers we have volumes we can learn from the giants: Linus, Dennis, And Others.

Well in that vein, I made up my mind to peruse the script of another famous programmer. Years ago I was watching a Ludum Dare stream from a guy named nizzotch and thought to myself, "self, this guy is good, he should be famous! The world is not just.." A year or so later notch thrust himself violently onto the unsuspecting world with his mega successful game minecraft.

Metagun's source is a rich deposit of history and learning. You may want to check out some projects that weren't created in 48 hours as well!

ID's Projects
NetHack
Gish Lugaru
Open Source Projects

And here are some great creations that aren't games!

Linux Kernel
Nagios
Virtual Box

Go, Learn, Be Happy.