On Sun, Oct 17, 2010 at 3:45 PM, Hameed <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Pradeep, Girish > > If you were to suggest **ONE** open-source project for any new comer to > start with - a project that makes it easy to learn, at the same time, > generates lot of interest in a *newbie* developer to dive deeper & deeper, > what would it be??
Dear Hameed and other wanna-be opensource enthusiasts, Like it has already been pointed out, no one can really suggest an open source project for new comer. The idea should come from you, the idea should be a virus, infecting your brain. Like Girish rightly said, its like falling in love, being possessed with it. You shouldn't go after a project to 'try' or 'learn' or 'dive deeper' etc. Remember: In the olden days, people worked in opensource to fix a problem for them - now people mostly want to work in opensource for satisfying and boosting their geek cred. It works for both of the parties, but now the since the demand is more, the barrier for entry is a bit high. Its not all glory right from the start. You need to have knowledge in: * source control systems. - checkout, commit, fork, branch, patch, merge, update, status, log (If these words doesn't mean anything to you, learn them - git, svn, cvs, hg) * coding standards - each project has its own set of rules and guidelines. * bug tracking systems and how to sign up for testing, triaging, fixing, reporting them. * you need to be good at at least 2 programming languages (apart from html, css, javascript, xml) and be well versed with programming paradigms and patterns. * understand build process. understand what is unit testing, how to write tests. * You need to be good with typing, ide shortcuts - its an important skill. * Debugging is also an essential skill - ide to the rescue. * read code - literally read code. understand what each line does, go with the flow, use debug points and figure out when and which and what gets triggered, evaluated and executed. You won't get commit rights right from the start, you need to build your reputation, that is only through finding bugs, triaging bugs, reporting bugs and fixing bugs. Communication skills is really important. You'd need to mail, irc, chat with fellow developers and committers. English is the medium of communication - better be good at it. Checkout some opensource projects, read the code, find and understand their bug tracking and request acceptance processes. See their bug tracking system, mailing lists and start up! If it feels daunting, don't worry. You'd get it eventually. But, most importantly - start! > > > Thanks > > Hameed _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
