How To Be An Instrumental
Open Source Contributor

By Henry Blyth

Front-ender at Incuna

@henrahmagix

I love Open Source

It's true.

What is Open Source?

(adj) open-source:

Of or relating to or being computer software for which the source code is freely available.

Why should I use it?

• Bug-fixing
• Customisation
• Cost

It's easier to get and make patches for Open Source code, and often it's free.

Open Source is great, but you already know that

So why am I yabbering on?

You probably already know all of the practical reasons for using Open Source. Many people have extolled the benefits of its use over pretty much the entire history of computing.

This is about my personal experience

Reasons why I use and contribute to Open Source projects

• Feel good
• Connect with people
• Share in something that you care about
• Get a feeling for how others write code
• Get the solutions to problems out of my head

Why do I code?

I love solving problems. When writing code, everything is a problem. Also, I play devil's advocate a lot, since I hardly ever know what I really think on a subject any way. So when I read some code, I'm going through it in my head to figure it out, and in doing so I automatically start thinking of different ways to do things. If any of those methods linger in my head, I like to get them out into code; mostly because it's fun, but also so I can relax. Of course, it would be silly to waste it, so often I will send it to the original author.

If it's broke, fix it

If a project you find is doing something interesting and you want to use it, but it doesn't work for you, look into it if you have the time.

If you find anything, let the author know, file a bug report.

If you know how to fix it, fix it!

Why should I fix other people's code?

Because you can!

Stop using "guru," "ninja," and other terms for job descriptions. You are a Sparkly Code Princess. Own it.

November 9, 2012 10:52 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@betthearm

Timothy Asher

Sending a pull-request for a bug fix shouldn't be seen as an insult; far from that, it shows you care enough about a project to want to contribute.

Why should you talk about Open Source?

Drawn out analogy commencing

Lemon Curd

Who here knows what Lemon Curd is?

Who here likes Lemon Curd?

When was the last time you told someone how much you like Lemon Curd?

Did you ask them to try it for themselves?

I love Lemon Curd

But recently I stopped telling people about it.

Why did I stop talking about Lemon Curd?

I don't know. I honestly don't know. But now I'm telling you all how much I love Lemon Curd, and it's absurd.

But I'm telling you because I love Lemon Curd.

If you like Open Source, tell people who don't know about it.

Tell them why it rocks, how it rocks, and how they can rock by contributing to it.

You don't have to be a programmer

Anyone can contribute to an Open Source project in so many ways other than writing code. This is mostly within the world of free software, or FOSS (Free Open Source Software), where any and all help is welcomed.

• Documentation
• Marketing
• Design

You can contribute

And by doing so, your awesome will increase.

And your song will get better

Song Of Github is a Heroku app that gets your Open Source commits from GitHub and arranges them into a C-major tune based on the number of commits a day.

DEMO

End

Thank you

@henrahmagix