Where Can I Start with Open Source Programming as a Beginner?

[nuudelchin]

Hello all.

I need some advice for my programming skills.
Now I'm a third year student majoring electronics and information technology(not sure what to specialize). Everything i study at the school is real basics things such as maths, physics, and all the experiments etc. .I am sure they are worth studying and i like them. But I never studied programing languages except for C and now I think, maybe too late however, I just should study at least one object-oriented language. So, I chose "java" and trying self-study.

I think only reading a book is not so bright idea, so i want to do something in in "real world" and that would help a lot. I mean i want to participate in open sourcing. But i don't know where to start and what to do?

Can anyone give me some advice? Any advice on anything is welcome.

 

[ZlBarnoussi]

Hi nuudelchin,

Why do chose for Java and not C++, because of your experience in C?
C++ is also object oriented and can bring you a lot of experience.

When looking for a open source project I most of the time start looking on Github.
for java projects: https://github.com/trending?l=java
for C++: https://github.com/trending?l=cpp
Look around and try to find something interesting.
If you do find something you could fork the project and make you own version of the repository.

Some tips when joining a open source project
When writing code put some comments in so the other collaborators can easily see what you code does.
The same for commits to the repo. Make sure you put good comments by the commits.
This way you can see the change allong the way. This definitely helps when doing large projects.


Good luck,
Barnoussi

 

[chiro]

Hey nuudelchin.

I would suggest you think about what kind of code you want to contribute to. List some projects relevant to your projects and your interests and then look for open source projects to contribute to.

Also note that gaining access to the repository won't usually come quickly - you will often have to prove yourself before you get the kind of access that allows you to actively contribute.

I'd recommend you just modify the code with your own personal branch than try to actively contribute. It's not easy to trust someone to write good code when you haven't seen them write code before so if you can't get access to the main repository then just go it alone and you can talk about that.

If you want to do group projects then you may want to check different repositories and see if they allow you to create custom branches on significant alterations to the code you write.

Also if you haven't actually written a lot of code, try getting your coding environment setup right and then look at doing some simple projects to get you started - don't run when you can't walk correctly.

 

[Borg]

Originally posted in 2010 and nuudelchin hasn't been to the site in 4 years. This has got to be one of the oldest necro-posts I've seen in a while.

 

[Mark44]

Closed as the OP posted this almost 5 years ago, and hasn't been heard from since.