Well, learning programming is surely a difficult task but it is not at all rocket science. However, one of the best ways to learn it through open source projects. The Open Source projects not only improve the skills of the aspiring programmers but they also provide a well-established platform for them to exhibit their skills and experience.
Before starting with the open source projects, let us briefly understand the concept of “Open Source”.
What is Open Source?
Techopedia defines Open Source as:-
“Open source is a philosophy that promotes the free access and distribution of an end product, usually software or a program, although it may extend to the implementation and design of other objects. The term open source gained traction with the growth of the Internet because of the need to rework massive amounts of program source code. When source code is opened to the public it allows for the creation of different communication paths and interactive technical communities; it also leads to a diverse array of new models.”
When a project is an open source, that means anybody can view, use, modify, and distribute your project for any purpose. These permissions are enforced through an open source license
Open source is powerful because it lowers the barriers to adoption, allowing ideas to spread quickly.
“One of the most rewarding experiences I get out of using and collaborating on open source comes from the relationships that I build with other developers facing many of the same problems I am.” – Kent C Dodds
Is Open Source for you or should you go for it?
Yes, go for it, because no matter the outcome there is a great learning opportunity when you make your own open source project.
If you’ve never open sourced a project before, you might be nervous about what people will say, or whether anyone will notice at all. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone!
Open source work is like any other creative activity, whether it’s writing or painting. It can feel scary to share your work with the world, but the only way to get better is to practice – even if you don’t have an audience.
If you’re not yet convinced, take a moment to think about what your goals might be.
Launching your own Open Source Project
1. How To Get Started with Open Source?
First and foremost, you must choose a programming language of your choice. Once you are done with selecting a programming language, search for a project that is interesting to you.
2. How to Find a Bug?
Finding a Bug can be a lot difficult especially for beginners. I will list some resources which will help beginners in learning how to find bugs in the code and also how to contribute to a large open source organisation
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- Mozilla: Getting started with Mozilla is easy. It suggests projects based on the programming language you choose
- Bugs Ahoy: Bugs Ahoy is a website, particularly for new developers and contributors.
- KDE: KDE contains a section on how to get started with KDE projects.
- OpenStack: OpenStack is also a great project to start out with. The OpenStack project is divided into various components: Swift, Glance, Nova, Horizon, Keystone etc. Each of these components has their own page. If you head over to OpenStack, you can see the components listed separately
- Wikipedia: Most of you would have heard of Wikipedia, but do you know you can also contribute to it.
- GNOM: It is a free & open source desktop that provides software resources to developers.
- Apache: Apache has a number of projects in which you can start contributing right away!
You should Open source your projects when you want others to view your code or maybe give feedback. Nevertheless, at whatever stage you are at, you should include the following documentation in your every project.
- Open Source License
- ReadMe
- Contributing Guidelines
- Code of Conduct
Open Source Projects for Beginners Using Python
Python Open Source Projects
To start with contributing with Python, just head over to the Developer’s Guide. It starts with cloning the repository in your system and then asks you how can you check for the easy fixes.
The developer guide mentions how can you start with making documentation fixes, then move up to fix small bugs. Once you get acquainted you can start taking up easy bugs.
- READ
- Issue Tracker
- Easy Issues
Python Open Source Projects
1. Pipenv: Python Development Workflow for Humans.[ 8622 stars on Github]
2. Som-tsp: Solving the Traveling Salesman Problem using Self-Organizing Maps
3. Py2bpf: A python to BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter bytecode) converter [75 stars on Github].
4. Chatistics: Python scripts to convert your Messenger, Hangouts and Telegram chat logs into DataFrames. [263 stars on Github].
5. WhatWaf: Detect and bypass web application firewalls and protection systems [554 stars on Github].
6. SimpleCoin: Just a really simple, insecure and incomplete implementation of a blockchain for a cryptocurrency made in Python as educational material. In other words, a simple Bitcoin clone. [779 stars on Github]
7. Pyray: a 3d rendering library written completely in python. [83 stars on Github].
Open Source Projects for Beginners Using Machine Learning
Machine Learning Open Source Projects
1. TensorFlow
Tensorflow is by far the most popular and one of the best machine learning open source projects on GitHub by a mile.
Originally a part of the Google Brain team in Google’s Machine Intelligence Research organization, TensorFlow is an open source software library for numerical computation using data flow graphs. It comes with an easy-to-use Python interface and no-nonsense interfaces in other languages to build and execute computational graphs. Tensor Flow Object Detection is another feature that makes it one of the best machine learning open source projects.
2. Scikit-learn
Scikit-learn, a Python module for machine learning. Scikit boasts a number of simple and efficient tools for data mining and data analysis. It’s highly accessible and reusable across various contexts. Plus, it builds off of well-known data science tools like NumPy, SciPy, and matplotlib.
3. PredictionIO
PredictionIO is built on top of a state-of-the-art open source stack. This machine learning server is designed for developers and data scientists to create predictive engines for any machine learning task.
Developers can create deployable applications “without having to cobble together underlying technologies” with the full-stack and templates available. Built directly on Spark and Hadoop, PredictionIO allows developers to quickly build and deploy an engine as a web service on production with customizable templates. It is written in Scala.
PredictionIO is mean to simplify data infrastructure management. By implementing your own machine learning models, you can seamlessly incorporate them into your engine. It also speeds up machine learning modelling with systematic processes and pre-built evaluation measures.
4. SwiftAI
Swift AI continues to gain kudos on GitHub. Swift AI is a high-performance deep learning library written entirely in Swift, with support for all Apple platforms. Macbook users rejoice!
Swift AI boasts an interesting tool for those interested in writing neural networks in Swift. The NeuralNet class contains a fully connected, feed-forward artificial neural network. With support for deep learning, the NeuralNet is designed for flexibility and use in performance-critical applications.
5. GoLearn
Still in active development, this project is looking for developers interested in hearing back from users. GoLearn’s model for machine learning problems will be familiar if you’ve used SciPy, WEKA or R. Data is represented as a flat table, analogous to a spreadsheet, and used for training and prediction.
As befitting a relatively new project, the wish list is longer than the actual current tools. So, if you’re looking for a project to really make a difference in, GoLearn might be the one for you.
6. Keras
A high-level neural networks API, written in Python and capable of running on top of TensorFlow, CNTK, or Theano.
7. PyTorch
Tensors and Dynamic neural networks in Python with strong GPU acceleration.
8. Caffe
Caffe is a deep learning framework made with expression, speed, and modularity in mind. It is developed by the Berkeley Vision and Learning Center (BVLC) and community contributors.
9. Statsmodels
A Python module that allows users to explore data, estimate statistical models, and perform statistical tests. An extensive list of descriptive statistics, statistical tests, plotting functions, and result statistics are available for different types of data and each estimator.
10. Neon
Neon is Nervana’s Python-based deep learning library. It provides ease of use while delivering the highest performance.
11. PyBrain
PyBrain is a modular Machine Learning Library for Python. Its goal is to offer flexible, easy-to-use yet still powerful algorithms for Machine Learning Tasks and a variety of predefined environments to test and compare your algorithms.
12. Fuel
Fuel is a data pipeline framework which provides your machine learning models with the data they need. It is planned to be used by both the Blocks and Pylearn2 neural network libraries.
Conclusion
If you are serious about learning Software Development, you must make it a priority to start contributing to Opensource. There are a lot of opportunities available and you only have to put in some effort.
If you want to hone your Open source skills, try participating in Google Summer of Code, in which students over a period of 4 months contribute and develop some open source projects and if successfully completed, Google will pay you a stipend of $2400! Talk about learning with earning!
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