Open-source Organizations that use Python
Introduction
In this short blog, I will talk about some open-source organizations that use Python, I’ll also provide links to their social media, active codebase, mailing list, etc. Some of the organizations listed below have participated in Google Summer of Code(GSoC) before(I’ll indicate), so if you are interested in applying for GSoC this will be very helpful to you. I’ll advise, as you are reading through take note of the organizations that spark your interest so if you want to go back and make references it’d be easy.
What is Open-source Software(OSS) and why Contribute to it
In simple terms, open-source software is software that is free to use and the codes are publicly accessible and any developer can go in there, fix bugs, add new features and make changes of any kind. Examples of popular open-source software are; Linux operating system, Firefox browser, VLC media player, Blender, Python, Bitcoin, etc.
Every software developer can take advantage of contributing to open-source software.
First of all, contributing to OSS can help build your career and professional reputation, in the sense that when contributing you are put yourself out there showing potential employers your communication skills and also showing them that you actually know what you are doing.
When contributing to OSS especially the big projects you get to communicate with Developers that are far more experienced than you and they will go through your code and give feedback which will help you improve on your coding. I could go on and on about this but I am just going to go straight to what this blog is actually about.
The Projects that use Python
Below are some amazing Python projects that you can start contributing to if you are looking to start contributing to contribute.
1. Internet Archive
Participated in GSoC(2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Internet archive is a digital library of Internet sites that provide free information to everyone. in their own words “Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge”. They have a blog, twitter account, contact email.
Technologies used: Python, Javascript
Contribution guide
codebase: Open library
2. OpenWISP
Participated in GSoC(2017, 2018, 2020)
OpenWISP is a modular network management system built on top of OpenWRT that allows managing and automating several aspects of IT network deployment, monitoring, and management. They have a Twitter account, IRC channel, Mailing list.
Technologies used: Python, Django, OpenWRT, Javascript, Lua
Contribution guide
codebase: openwisp-radius, openwisp-controller, netjsonconfig. Thre are others you could check out.
3. Creative Commons
Participated in GSoC(2019, 2020)
Creative Commons provide Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools that give every person and organization in the world a free, simple, and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic works; ensure proper attribution; and allow others to copy, distribute, and make use of those works.
They have a Twitter account, IRC channel.
Technologies used: Javascript, vue.js, Python, Django, WordPress.
Contribution guide
Codebase: https://github.com/creativecommons
4. Flask
Not participated in GSoC
Flask is a framework used for building web applications.
Technology used: Python
Contribution guide
Codebase: Flask
5. Django
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design. They have a Twitter account, IRC channel, community page.
Technologies used: Python, Django
Contribution guide
Codebase: Django
6. Youtube-dl
Not participated in GSoC
Youtube-dl is a command-line program to download videos from YouTube.com and a few more sites.
Technologies used: Python
Contribution guide
Codebase: youtube-dl
7. Tensorflow
Participated in GSoC(2019, 2020)
TensorFlow is an open-source software library for high performance numerical computation. Its flexible architecture allows easy deployment of computation across a variety of platforms.
You can find links to their developer community here.
Technologies used: machine learning, deep learning, python, data analysis, c/c++
Contribution guide
Codebase: TensorFlow
8. Fedora Project
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017)
Fedora project is a Linux-based operating system. Here is their contact email, IRC channel, Mailing list
Technologies used: Python, Linux, git, Postgres, ansible
9. Python Software Foundation
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Python Software Foundation serves as an umbrella organization for a variety of Python-related projects, as well as sponsoring projects related to the development of the Python language. Contact their community here.
Technologies used: Python
Contribution guide
10. OpenAstronomy
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
OpenAstronomy is a collaboration between open source astronomy and astrophysics projects that are used by researchers and engineers around the world to study our universe…
Here is their contact email, Mailing list
Technologies used: Python, Julia, spark, numba, Javascript
Contribution guide
Codebase: https://github.com/OpenAstronomy/Universe_OA
11. Open Bioinformatics Foundation(OBF)
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
The Open Bioinformatics Foundation is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization focused on supporting open source programming in bioinformatics. Here is their contact email, Mailing list, Twitter
Technologies used: python, perl, java, javascript, biojs
Contribution guide
Codebase: biopython
12. SymPy
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
SymPy is a Python library for symbolic mathematics. It aims to become a full-featured computer algebra system (CAS) while keeping the code as simple as possible in order to be comprehensible and easily extensible. Here is their contact email, Mailing list, Twitter
Technologies used: Python
Contribution guide
Codebase: SymPy
13. LibreOffice
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite. It’s somewhat like Microsoft office but open-source. Here is their contact email, Mailing list, Twitter, IRC channel, helpful link.
Technologies used: Python, Java, C++
Codebase: https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/source-code/
14. Chaoss
Participated in GSoC(2018, 2019, 2020)
CHAOSS is a Linux Foundation project focused on creating analytics and metrics to help define community health.
The project goals are to:
Establish standard implementation-agnostic metrics for measuring community health
Produce integrated open source software for analyzing software community development
Develop programs for the deployment of metrics not attainable through online trace data
Build reproducible project health reports
Here is their Twitter, Mailing list, Newsletter.
Technologies used: python, javascript, kibana, elasticsearch, MySQL
Contribution guide
Codebase: augur
15. Debian
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2020)
Debian is a free and open-source Linux-based operating system, developed by the community called Debian Project. Here is their contact email, Mailing list, Twitter.
Technologies used: git, python, javascript, c/c++, irc
Codebase: https://github.com/Debian
16. MBDyn
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Free general purpose Multibody Dynamics analysis. This project is in C++ however, Blendyn is a Blender addon to visualize in 3D the output files of MBDyn and is developed in Python3 by MBDyn developers. Here is their contact email, Mailing list.
Technologies used: Python
Codebase: Blendyn
17. Open CV
Participated in GSoC(2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
OpenCV, the Open Source Computer Vision Library includes state of the art computer vision and deep learning algorithms (including running deep networks) and apps. Developer site
Technologies used: c/c++, python 3, javascript, cuda
Codebase: OpenCV
Conclusion
Thank you very much for reading, If this was helpful don’t forget to give it a clap :). Yes, there are many others that you could look into, I just mentioned some of my favorites. If there’s anything I missed or anything you’ll like me to add please drop it in the comments.
My Twitter: https://twitter.com/mvhammedali
