The slides from my talk at FullStack 2015 on getting started with Open Source and how to become an awesome contributor or maintainer. You can find some useful links at the end as well
Upcoming Event: Wonderware Next Generation Conferenceshannon fisk
See the future of modernised manufacturing in action!
With a main stage agenda covering topics such as the reveal of System Platform 2017, through to networking and cyber security, you can be sure that you will leave this event with a vision on how you can transform existing architectures into smart, dynamic and connected environments.
Throughout the day you will be able to speak with market leading industrial IT partners in our expo area, followed by an evening of networking and entertainment at our gala dinner.
On day 2 you are invited to attend our training sessions, where we will be holding deep dive sessions on areas such as Line Performance Suite and Next Generation HMI/SCADA.
Spaces are limited, don't miss out.
wonderware.co.uk/events-webinars/next-generation-conference/
Upcoming Event: Wonderware Next Generation Conferenceshannon fisk
See the future of modernised manufacturing in action!
With a main stage agenda covering topics such as the reveal of System Platform 2017, through to networking and cyber security, you can be sure that you will leave this event with a vision on how you can transform existing architectures into smart, dynamic and connected environments.
Throughout the day you will be able to speak with market leading industrial IT partners in our expo area, followed by an evening of networking and entertainment at our gala dinner.
On day 2 you are invited to attend our training sessions, where we will be holding deep dive sessions on areas such as Line Performance Suite and Next Generation HMI/SCADA.
Spaces are limited, don't miss out.
wonderware.co.uk/events-webinars/next-generation-conference/
This lecture looks at Open Source products as the shape of things to come. Open Source is completely changing the software industry and the same models are starting to be applied to hardware and creative works.
Kariera IT - Open Source - the best way to develop your product and yourself ...Tymoteusz Stengert
Why is Open Source the best way to develop your product and career in the IT world? I answer this question describing my ongoing adventure with Sylius Ecosystem.
OASIS: open source and open standards: internet of thingsJamie Clark
How FOSS projects and open ICT standards often interact in a virtuous cycle. Recent examples, and a list of IoT-relevant open standards projects at OASIS. Feb 2014
This slide is prepared as a course work for E-Business Management undergraduate course at Yıldız Technical University, Industrial Engineering department.
When we presented this subject we talked about relation between business and open source. For instance, some corporations has changed their models being from product provider to service provider. So this means a change in financial approaches.
"Open source movement is strongly supported from open source software users and developers, according to their groups' agendas and discourses."
Open Source Software Development by TLV PartnersRoy Leiser
Our insights about Open Source software development. Trends, leading brands and practices, success stories, important Exists, Pros and Cons and much more.
Hello everybody and welcome to our new SlideShare post!
The slides you are seeing are taken from our 12th webinar: What Open Compute Project has in store for us all in 2020! (you can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv02EGqI4ts).
Together with Lesya Dymyd and Adrien Badina of 2CRSi, and Steve Helvie of OCP we talked about innovation, standardisation, open source and we went through the roadmap of OCP for 2020.
Among the topics we covered:
- OCP in the world: how the integration and the adoption of OCP standards vary from one continent to another.
- The current challenges with OCP adoption and OCP organization.
- The path from innovation to standardization.
- The contemporary scenario: who’s innovating and who’s not?
- What are the hottest upcoming tech areas?
- Planning and executing: how a big organization should embrace innovation?
Learn more about Immersion Cooling here:
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_immersion_cooling
And in our Blog: https://submer.com/blog/what-is-immersion-cooling
—
Follow us online here:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Submer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/submertech
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/submertech/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/submertech/
Website: https://submer.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/submer-immersion-cooling/
Business Models and Open Source Licenses in 2019: Can we all get along?Jeffrey Borek
The open source definition is over 20 years old. Cloudera and Hortonworks have completed their all-stock merger of their software companies. Major companies in the open source ecosystem are being snapped up by traditional IT companies. Seems like a good business model, yes? But Stephen would like to observe that despite these successes, there is NO open source business model.
Jeffrey would beg to differ! From data centers to the cloud, from self-driving cars to drones - open source software is everywhere. Major enterprise companies that are bottom-line driven are changing the way they participate in open source, starting to actively engage and contribute to open source projects - not just consume them as products. Having OS in your business model looks great, or does it?
Over the last year a major conflict has emerged between Cloud Platforms and VCs looking to make $$$ with open source.
Introduction to the Microsoft identity platform for developersChristos Matskas
This deck gives you a quick tour of some of the important features in the Microsoft Identity Platform including Azure AD and B2C. We cover the why and the how to get started with the Microsoft identity platform to securely authenticate and authorize users in your apps - any platform, any language, any cloud.
This lecture looks at Open Source products as the shape of things to come. Open Source is completely changing the software industry and the same models are starting to be applied to hardware and creative works.
Kariera IT - Open Source - the best way to develop your product and yourself ...Tymoteusz Stengert
Why is Open Source the best way to develop your product and career in the IT world? I answer this question describing my ongoing adventure with Sylius Ecosystem.
OASIS: open source and open standards: internet of thingsJamie Clark
How FOSS projects and open ICT standards often interact in a virtuous cycle. Recent examples, and a list of IoT-relevant open standards projects at OASIS. Feb 2014
This slide is prepared as a course work for E-Business Management undergraduate course at Yıldız Technical University, Industrial Engineering department.
When we presented this subject we talked about relation between business and open source. For instance, some corporations has changed their models being from product provider to service provider. So this means a change in financial approaches.
"Open source movement is strongly supported from open source software users and developers, according to their groups' agendas and discourses."
Open Source Software Development by TLV PartnersRoy Leiser
Our insights about Open Source software development. Trends, leading brands and practices, success stories, important Exists, Pros and Cons and much more.
Hello everybody and welcome to our new SlideShare post!
The slides you are seeing are taken from our 12th webinar: What Open Compute Project has in store for us all in 2020! (you can find the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv02EGqI4ts).
Together with Lesya Dymyd and Adrien Badina of 2CRSi, and Steve Helvie of OCP we talked about innovation, standardisation, open source and we went through the roadmap of OCP for 2020.
Among the topics we covered:
- OCP in the world: how the integration and the adoption of OCP standards vary from one continent to another.
- The current challenges with OCP adoption and OCP organization.
- The path from innovation to standardization.
- The contemporary scenario: who’s innovating and who’s not?
- What are the hottest upcoming tech areas?
- Planning and executing: how a big organization should embrace innovation?
Learn more about Immersion Cooling here:
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_immersion_cooling
And in our Blog: https://submer.com/blog/what-is-immersion-cooling
—
Follow us online here:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Submer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/submertech
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/submertech/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/submertech/
Website: https://submer.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/submer-immersion-cooling/
Business Models and Open Source Licenses in 2019: Can we all get along?Jeffrey Borek
The open source definition is over 20 years old. Cloudera and Hortonworks have completed their all-stock merger of their software companies. Major companies in the open source ecosystem are being snapped up by traditional IT companies. Seems like a good business model, yes? But Stephen would like to observe that despite these successes, there is NO open source business model.
Jeffrey would beg to differ! From data centers to the cloud, from self-driving cars to drones - open source software is everywhere. Major enterprise companies that are bottom-line driven are changing the way they participate in open source, starting to actively engage and contribute to open source projects - not just consume them as products. Having OS in your business model looks great, or does it?
Over the last year a major conflict has emerged between Cloud Platforms and VCs looking to make $$$ with open source.
Introduction to the Microsoft identity platform for developersChristos Matskas
This deck gives you a quick tour of some of the important features in the Microsoft Identity Platform including Azure AD and B2C. We cover the why and the how to get started with the Microsoft identity platform to securely authenticate and authorize users in your apps - any platform, any language, any cloud.
A session on how to use Azure DevOps best practices for developing and publishing applications and infrastructure to Azure, whether you use PaaS, FaaS or IaaS
Serverless with azure functions the rebel serviceChristos Matskas
Azure Serverless introduction around Functions and LogicApps. It's all about creating microservices and event-driven solutions with the power of the cloud
Visual Studio Code and JavaScript - a pair made in heavenChristos Matskas
A talk about how VS Code enables JavaScript developers to be more productive and efficient using the VS Code debugger, Intellisence, Git integration and Extension
TypeScript - Your regular JavaScript on steroidsChristos Matskas
Slides from my talk on Supercharing your Javascript with TypeScript. It includes an intro to the current problems we face in JavaScript and describes how TypeScript can be used to develop enterprise-scale applications.
Slides from my talk on IoT application development using the Windows Core IoT operating system and .NET. In this talk I introduce IoT, explain why it's important for developers and analyze briefly the moral and security implications. Finally, I run a demo using an applicaton running on Raspberry Pi talking to number of sensors to pull noise and temperature reading and post them on the cloud
These is the slide deck I used during my talk at Software Architect about how using architecture in order to create maintainable, secure and fast mobile applications.
Slides for my talk on TDD, the usual mistakes that developers make when practising TDD, the wider issues in TDD and suggestions how to make TDD work better
First Steps with Globus Compute Multi-User EndpointsGlobus
In this presentation we will share our experiences around getting started with the Globus Compute multi-user endpoint. Working with the Pharmacology group at the University of Auckland, we have previously written an application using Globus Compute that can offload computationally expensive steps in the researcher's workflows, which they wish to manage from their familiar Windows environments, onto the NeSI (New Zealand eScience Infrastructure) cluster. Some of the challenges we have encountered were that each researcher had to set up and manage their own single-user globus compute endpoint and that the workloads had varying resource requirements (CPUs, memory and wall time) between different runs. We hope that the multi-user endpoint will help to address these challenges and share an update on our progress here.
Unleash Unlimited Potential with One-Time Purchase
BoxLang is more than just a language; it's a community. By choosing a Visionary License, you're not just investing in your success, you're actively contributing to the ongoing development and support of BoxLang.
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Cyaniclab : Software Development Agency Portfolio.pdfCyanic lab
CyanicLab, an offshore custom software development company based in Sweden,India, Finland, is your go-to partner for startup development and innovative web design solutions. Our expert team specializes in crafting cutting-edge software tailored to meet the unique needs of startups and established enterprises alike. From conceptualization to execution, we offer comprehensive services including web and mobile app development, UI/UX design, and ongoing software maintenance. Ready to elevate your business? Contact CyanicLab today and let us propel your vision to success with our top-notch IT solutions.
How to Position Your Globus Data Portal for Success Ten Good PracticesGlobus
Science gateways allow science and engineering communities to access shared data, software, computing services, and instruments. Science gateways have gained a lot of traction in the last twenty years, as evidenced by projects such as the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) and the Center of Excellence on Science Gateways (SGX3) in the US, The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) and its platforms in Australia, and the projects around Virtual Research Environments in Europe. A few mature frameworks have evolved with their different strengths and foci and have been taken up by a larger community such as the Globus Data Portal, Hubzero, Tapis, and Galaxy. However, even when gateways are built on successful frameworks, they continue to face the challenges of ongoing maintenance costs and how to meet the ever-expanding needs of the community they serve with enhanced features. It is not uncommon that gateways with compelling use cases are nonetheless unable to get past the prototype phase and become a full production service, or if they do, they don't survive more than a couple of years. While there is no guaranteed pathway to success, it seems likely that for any gateway there is a need for a strong community and/or solid funding streams to create and sustain its success. With over twenty years of examples to draw from, this presentation goes into detail for ten factors common to successful and enduring gateways that effectively serve as best practices for any new or developing gateway.
Software Engineering, Software Consulting, Tech Lead.
Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Spring Core, Spring JDBC, Spring Security,
Spring Transaction, Spring MVC,
Log4j, REST/SOAP WEB-SERVICES.
Globus Compute wth IRI Workflows - GlobusWorld 2024Globus
As part of the DOE Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) program, NERSC at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and ALCF at Argonne National Lab are working closely with General Atomics on accelerating the computing requirements of the DIII-D experiment. As part of the work the team is investigating ways to speedup the time to solution for many different parts of the DIII-D workflow including how they run jobs on HPC systems. One of these routes is looking at Globus Compute as a way to replace the current method for managing tasks and we describe a brief proof of concept showing how Globus Compute could help to schedule jobs and be a tool to connect compute at different facilities.
Field Employee Tracking System| MiTrack App| Best Employee Tracking Solution|...informapgpstrackings
Keep tabs on your field staff effortlessly with Informap Technology Centre LLC. Real-time tracking, task assignment, and smart features for efficient management. Request a live demo today!
For more details, visit us : https://informapuae.com/field-staff-tracking/
Check out the webinar slides to learn more about how XfilesPro transforms Salesforce document management by leveraging its world-class applications. For more details, please connect with sales@xfilespro.com
If you want to watch the on-demand webinar, please click here: https://www.xfilespro.com/webinars/salesforce-document-management-2-0-smarter-faster-better/
Launch Your Streaming Platforms in MinutesRoshan Dwivedi
The claim of launching a streaming platform in minutes might be a bit of an exaggeration, but there are services that can significantly streamline the process. Here's a breakdown:
Pros of Speedy Streaming Platform Launch Services:
No coding required: These services often use drag-and-drop interfaces or pre-built templates, eliminating the need for programming knowledge.
Faster setup: Compared to building from scratch, these platforms can get you up and running much quicker.
All-in-one solutions: Many services offer features like content management systems (CMS), video players, and monetization tools, reducing the need for multiple integrations.
Things to Consider:
Limited customization: These platforms may offer less flexibility in design and functionality compared to custom-built solutions.
Scalability: As your audience grows, you might need to upgrade to a more robust platform or encounter limitations with the "quick launch" option.
Features: Carefully evaluate which features are included and if they meet your specific needs (e.g., live streaming, subscription options).
Examples of Services for Launching Streaming Platforms:
Muvi [muvi com]
Uscreen [usencreen tv]
Alternatives to Consider:
Existing Streaming platforms: Platforms like YouTube or Twitch might be suitable for basic streaming needs, though monetization options might be limited.
Custom Development: While more time-consuming, custom development offers the most control and flexibility for your platform.
Overall, launching a streaming platform in minutes might not be entirely realistic, but these services can significantly speed up the process compared to building from scratch. Carefully consider your needs and budget when choosing the best option for you.
In 2015, I used to write extensions for Joomla, WordPress, phpBB3, etc and I ...Juraj Vysvader
In 2015, I used to write extensions for Joomla, WordPress, phpBB3, etc and I didn't get rich from it but it did have 63K downloads (powered possible tens of thousands of websites).
Top 7 Unique WhatsApp API Benefits | Saudi ArabiaYara Milbes
Discover the transformative power of the WhatsApp API in our latest SlideShare presentation, "Top 7 Unique WhatsApp API Benefits." In today's fast-paced digital era, effective communication is crucial for both personal and professional success. Whether you're a small business looking to enhance customer interactions or an individual seeking seamless communication with loved ones, the WhatsApp API offers robust capabilities that can significantly elevate your experience.
In this presentation, we delve into the top 7 distinctive benefits of the WhatsApp API, provided by the leading WhatsApp API service provider in Saudi Arabia. Learn how to streamline customer support, automate notifications, leverage rich media messaging, run scalable marketing campaigns, integrate secure payments, synchronize with CRM systems, and ensure enhanced security and privacy.
In software engineering, the right architecture is essential for robust, scalable platforms. Wix has undergone a pivotal shift from event sourcing to a CRUD-based model for its microservices. This talk will chart the course of this pivotal journey.
Event sourcing, which records state changes as immutable events, provided robust auditing and "time travel" debugging for Wix Stores' microservices. Despite its benefits, the complexity it introduced in state management slowed development. Wix responded by adopting a simpler, unified CRUD model. This talk will explore the challenges of event sourcing and the advantages of Wix's new "CRUD on steroids" approach, which streamlines API integration and domain event management while preserving data integrity and system resilience.
Participants will gain valuable insights into Wix's strategies for ensuring atomicity in database updates and event production, as well as caching, materialization, and performance optimization techniques within a distributed system.
Join us to discover how Wix has mastered the art of balancing simplicity and extensibility, and learn how the re-adoption of the modest CRUD has turbocharged their development velocity, resilience, and scalability in a high-growth environment.
Exploring Innovations in Data Repository Solutions - Insights from the U.S. G...Globus
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has made substantial investments in meeting evolving scientific, technical, and policy driven demands on storing, managing, and delivering data. As these demands continue to grow in complexity and scale, the USGS must continue to explore innovative solutions to improve its management, curation, sharing, delivering, and preservation approaches for large-scale research data. Supporting these needs, the USGS has partnered with the University of Chicago-Globus to research and develop advanced repository components and workflows leveraging its current investment in Globus. The primary outcome of this partnership includes the development of a prototype enterprise repository, driven by USGS Data Release requirements, through exploration and implementation of the entire suite of the Globus platform offerings, including Globus Flow, Globus Auth, Globus Transfer, and Globus Search. This presentation will provide insights into this research partnership, introduce the unique requirements and challenges being addressed and provide relevant project progress.
Developing Distributed High-performance Computing Capabilities of an Open Sci...Globus
COVID-19 had an unprecedented impact on scientific collaboration. The pandemic and its broad response from the scientific community has forged new relationships among public health practitioners, mathematical modelers, and scientific computing specialists, while revealing critical gaps in exploiting advanced computing systems to support urgent decision making. Informed by our team’s work in applying high-performance computing in support of public health decision makers during the COVID-19 pandemic, we present how Globus technologies are enabling the development of an open science platform for robust epidemic analysis, with the goal of collaborative, secure, distributed, on-demand, and fast time-to-solution analyses to support public health.
10. What is Open Source
Open source software is software whose
source code is available for modification or
enhancement by anyone.
- OpenSource.com
Open-source software (OSS) is computer
software with its source code made available
with a license in which the copyright holder
provides the rights to study, change, and
distribute the software to anyone and for any
purpose.
- Wikipedia
12. •US Department of Defence
•The City Of Munich, Germany
•Spain
•Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
•The Stock Market
•French Parliament
•Cuba
Examples of OSS
13. Big Companies are joining in
• Microsoft - The .NET Foundation
(.NET, ASP.NET, Roslyn etc) - over 40
projects
• Apple - Swift 2015
• Linux
• Node.js Foundation, Angular.js,
Bootstrap
14. Why does it matter to me?
Making better software by
standing on the shoulders of
giants
15. Recipe to a successful OSS
1. Find a project to contribute
2. Write Code
3. Submit a PR
4. ?????
5. $$$$$$$$$$
17. Conclusion
Learn how to Git – vital
Read the contribution
instructions
Contact the owner
Don’t change coding standards
Attach related unit tests
Be patient
18. Maintainer checklist
Don’t create software for the
sake of it
It’s a big commitment
Create contribution instructions
Add how-to instructions
Be open to criticism
Be supportive to new members
20. Useful links
• https://up-for-grab.net
• https://github.com
• First time with open source
• Becoming an awesome OSS
contributor
• @yourfirstpr
• Book – The Cathedral & the Bazaar
Editor's Notes
Becoming an awesome open source contributor. Wow, how does one really become one? I know I never imagined I would be one even as my career progressed. In fact, my first brush with Open Source was quite accidental. About a year ago I joined a large corporation to work on a big customer facing project. The code base was in dire state so one of my first tasks was to tidy things up. If you are a .NET developer, you will already know that all our external libraries come through NuGet. Most of them anyway. NuGet is Visual Studio's package manager. NuGet works in 2 modes. Download all the packages locally and store them as part of the solution, or use the package config file to instruct the solution to download the packages the first time a developer or the CI runs the build. Obviously, I decided to implement option 2 and break everything! So once I broke the build for everyone, I started working on reverting the changes. Unfortunately, once you "go NuGet you never go back", so the roll back was a painful process of reaping out xml from our project files. Since I knew that I'm not the only one that has done this tragic error, I blogged about it. Next time I have to roll back, I'll know exactly what to do. I blogged and tweeted about it, in hope that one of my 740 following bots would retweeted ( by now I'm convinced that I have no human followers). Lo and behold, within a couple of hours, the NuGet team contacts me saying that they loved my post and whether I could add it to the official NuGet documentation. That same documentation that millions of .NET developers use around the world. Me? The next few hours are a blur. I'm in a mess of documentation trying to understand forks and pull requests etc etc. I finally mange to send the PR in and have it merged. This is my PR:
That first PR and Jeff’s encouragement were enough to create an extremely enthusiastic and passionate OSS developer. In the past year I've not only contributed to a large number of OSS projects but I've also managed to get my own projects published. And it all started off by chance.
The gist of it is that OSS is free and available for modification and distribution. You can use, copy and change the code as you see fit.
One important thing to note, however, is that there are different OSS licences so you need to make sure that the code you wish to alter has the right licence attached to it.
Open Source is what makes the development world go round. At some point in your development career you've used, or you will use, Open Source in a project in order to implement a feature, solve a problem or enhance some existing functionality. Today, more than ever, we rely on Open Source when creating new applications, even if we don't realize it. There are thousands upon thousands of developers and millions of hours spent on developing and writing about Open Source.
It's not just the code behind each project. It's the
documentation,
tests,
reviews,
roadmaps,
planning,
features,
bugs and so on.
And all these people do it because they love what they do and because they have a purpose. To help the community become bigger and better.
Let’s look at some examples of interesting projects using open source:
Even big software companies today actively support and contribute to OSS. Companies that in the past were so against Open Source!
For me, one of the biggest benefits is the agility and ease of use that OSS provides. I can build better software by standing on the shoulders of giants! The first thing I do when I need to add new functionality is to look up for the library:
What I can Do
If I like a library or a project, I use it.
If I find that it works but it's not exactly what I need, I fork the project and build something better.
Then I have the option to contribute back to the original project through a Pull Request.
If the owner likes it, then my changes can be incorporated into the project.
If not we go our separate ways and continue to maintain our different versions of the software.
What I don't have to do
Wait for a patch release by the project owner
Wait for the next major release in order to have my feature or bug resolved.
Moan about the luck of features on the internet
It doesn't get more agile than this!
Unfortunately, unless you're extremely lucky, your OSS won't make you rich. It will, however, benefit you in many ways and allow you to grow as a developer. There are different ways to get started. My journey to Open Source begun totally off chance. A good friend of mine made an excellent contribution last year during Microsoft's //Build conference. Scott Hanselman was on stage pressing the publish button on the .NET CoreFX project - the cross platform .NET framework. As this was live and the code available, Adam decided to pull it and run it locally out of curiosity. The first thing any developer does when faced with a new library is to go into the tests and run them to see how the code works. Within a couple of minutes, the tests failed due to different language culture settings. So he fixed it and made a PR request to the project owners, which was, surprise surprise, accepted an merged. AT the same time, Scott is on stage with Miguel De Icaza, the guy behind Mono.NET and Xamarin thinking that they are raising the first Pull Request. The whole thing was ruined! But not in a bad way. In fact, Scott commented live about how engaged the community is.
Your journey in OSS doesn't have to be the same. In fact, there are several ways one can get involved, contribute and add value. First, you need to find a language and project you're passionate about. The easiest way to find a project you can work on is through public repos, such as Github. Search for the language you like and find a project of interest. Another option is the Up-For-Grabs.net website that contains a list of projects that have issues that need attention and are open to the community.. If you're not comfortable with writing code, maybe you can contribute with documentation. There are thousands of projects that lack good documentation and some of them have none at all. Alternatively, you could contribute by writing unit tests. As with documentation, you'll find lots of projects that are in dire need of unit tests. Apparently there are still people that don't write tests? Shocked? Don't be! Once you overcome your initial "fear" and you feel brave enough, start forking and write some code. When you're done and you believe that your work is ready to be part of the original project you can send a Pull Request (PR), sit back and enjoy.
I believe that Git is the biggest barrier in getting started with Open Source. The workflow is sometimes daunting to new users so you need to have a good grasp of terms like:
Pull Request
Merging
Rebasing
Cherry Picking etc
Github provides a good, solid GUI but eventually you’ll have to drop down to the command line. There’s plenty of written material and tutorials out there that can help you become a Git ninja!
There is an etiquette for contributing, so make sure you read each project's contribution requirements first. Before you go ahead and code your awesome bug fix or feature, ensure that there isn't an open issue already. Contact the project owner to let them know that you wish to help. Inform them of your intentions and this will give your PR better chances in being accepted right away. Also, try not to change coding standards or use automated tools to suppress errors, white space or remove/add comments. It's important you follow the coding standards of the project even if you don't agree with them. You can certainly discuss them with the project owners but I can guarantee you're going to fail if you go ahead and be brave. No matter what happens, don't be discouraged if your PR is not accepted. Find out why and work harder to fix it accordingly before re-submitting.
To begin with, I would advise against you creating software for the sake of writing software. If you want your project to succeed, make it useful, make it meaningful and be passionate about it. Also, some of the most successful OSS projects started as someone's library (Automapper for example, has over 4M downloads and Underscore.js 8.3M downloads only last month!). Both these projects begun their lives as someone's utility and once the developers recognized the value, they shared their code.
If you've decided to create your first OSS then we, the community, would like to thank you for your awesome, awesome, effort. You don't get paid, yet you choose to create something and share it with us. You rock! It is at this point that I would like to stress out that the OSS community owes you, not the other way around. If you feel that you’re getting abuse for no reason or things are not working out, then don’t worry about it. Do’t feel guilty. Eventually someone will come along and pick up the project.
OSS is awesome and it's what makes to development world go round. OSS is consumed everywhere and even large corporations, who once stood against OSS, are starting to not only support but actively contribute. Because we all want to make better software for everyone. We live through some really exciting times and I, for one, am thrilled to be part of this community, at this time. Note that we always need more contributors to help out with the load, so I would urge you to go out there today and share your knowledge and passion with the rest of us. Find a project that you love, use or hate and make it better :)