Open Source Contribution
A Beginner’s Guide!
Open Source is a self-explanatory term. It means that it is publicly available to use and modify.
Why you should contribute to Open-source?
Linux Operating System, Android, Firefox, VSCode, VLC Media Player, WordPress, etc.
How amazing features all these software have!
These are all open-source software and This is where open source contribution comes in. Contributors around the world help develop and improve the software for us.
Contribution in open-source is giving back to the community!
Apart from the impact that you get to create, it also helps you become a better developer and a good team player.
More reasons why you should contribute to open-source:
- To learn and share your skills
- To add new features to a software
- To find a mentor if you need one
- To become a much better developer
- To gain a much deeper knowledge about the software that’s being used
- To build up your reputation and help grow your career
- It builds your resume by demonstrating that you can collaborate with others on code.
- It gives you practice with Git and GitHub, which is a valuable skill.
- It helps you to build relationships in the open-source community.
- It feels good to give back to a project that you use!
- Last but not least, It’s fun.
How to start contributing:
You do not have to know everything about a project to con to make a contribution.
There are few ways to get started:
- Make your projects open source
2. Get started with solving beginner-friendly issues on Github.
3. Choose projects on Github.
Contributing to an open-source project does not necessarily mean that you have to contribute to the codebase. But you can also contribute in these:
- You can add a description to a project’s documentation to elaborate on a certain point
- Can give guidance on a specific project
- Write tutorials and add translations for projects.
- You can add examples to show how the code works
- fix typos
- Review open source pull requests
- arrange the project architecture
All of these ways count towards contributing to an open-source project.
For more details :
https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/08/03/getting-started-with-contributing-to-open-source/
Prerequisites before you start contributing:
- Get yourself familiar with a programming language
It can be any programming language, be it python,c,c#, CPP, or javascript. Get comfortable with the basics of that programming language.
2. Get familiar with the version control system(VCS):
Version control systems are useful while working on projects (esp larger ones)as it keeps track of every change made on the source code as versions.
One can easily revert back to an older version whenever necessary. Git is the most popular open-source distributed VCS used with most projects.
To know more about Version Control System :
GIT Cheat Sheet :
https://github.com/SriSravyaN/Git-Cheatsheet/blob/master/git-cheat-sheet.pdf
Github :
It is a code collaboration and version control tool that also offers repository management.
At some point when you have to share your source code with your fellow developers or friends, this will be much helpful.
Similar to Github, there are few other tools like GitLab, Bitbucket. These would be three primary options if we’re using GIT as our version control system.
Please note that you need not be a professional or expert in these to contribute. You just have to be comfortable with these, more importantly with basics, and then start contributing to open-source.
Best open-source programs :
There are n no. open-source programs for students and working professionals to participate in. Listing few popular programs here below.
- Hacktoberfest by Digital Ocean
- Gsoc ( Google summer of code)
- Outreachy
- MLH Fellowship
- GsoD ( google season of docs)
- Open summer of code
- Gssoc (Girlscript summer of code)
- Rails Girls Summer of code
Detailed Repository of all OPEN SOURCE PROGRAMS: List of all
🎉🎉🎉Now you are all set…..Start Contributing!!!🎉🎉🎉
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