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Taro

Become An Open Source Master

via Taro

Overview

Open source is a key that can unlock many doors: tremendous learning, compelling career benefits, and industry-wide impact. Every software engineer inevitably consumes open-source software, but they rarely contribute back. **Let's change that**! The transition from open source *consumer* to *contributor* might feel daunting, but the rewards are enormous. This course covers everything you need to contribute meaningfully to existing open-source software projects. What you'll learn by the end: - 🚀 Understand the benefits of contributing to open-source - 🤯 Set up the right mindset for working in open source - 💨 Learn how to demystify a new codebase - 👩🏽‍💻 Master the code and submit changes to it You'll learn directly from the former Head of Open Source at Meta. James also runs his own sizeable [open-source project](https://github.com/tinyplex/tinybase). What's included: ### Open Source Terminology Let's remove any confusion about the terms you've likely heard thrown around: projects, repos, issues, and pull requests. We'll talk about what exactly open source is and why it has so many benefits for the industry and for you. ### Discover How To Contribute To Open Source With so many organizations and individuals involved in open source, it can be daunting to decide where to contribute. A few critical ideas are covered here: - Finding something you use (which you may not even realize is open-source) - Finding companies active in open source development - Evaluating a project's health so you don't waste your time ### Learning The Codebase We'll cover tips and tricks to make sense of a large project: how do you understand the basics, the most important modules, and learn the social aspect of open-source contributions? We'll also cover the recommended steps when making commits and landing changes. Ideally, your contributions get reviewed quickly while building trust with the project authors.

Syllabus

  • Introduction
    • Course + James Intro
    • How This Course Works
  • A Quick Intro To Open Source
    • What Is Open Source?
    • Projects, Repos, Issues, Pull Requests
  • Why Work On Open Source?
    • The Benefits Of Open Source
    • The Right Reason To Do Open Source
  • Finding A Repository
    • Improve Something You Use
    • Find Companies Active In Open Source
    • Solve A Need
    • How To Evaluate A Project’s Health
  • Deciding How To Participate
    • Go With The Flow
    • Identify A First Task
    • Dipping Your Toes Into A Project
    • Case Study: ReactJS Open Source Repo
    • Find The Project Community
  • Learning The Codebase
    • Understand The Basics
    • How Is The Project Laid Out?
    • What Are the Most Important Modules?
    • What Opinions Do The Authors Have?
    • Share What You Learn
  • Making Contributions
    • Start With Something Small
    • Good Practices When Making Commits
    • Be Like Water
    • Anticipate Common Pushback
  • Conclusion
    • Taking The Next Step In Open Source

Taught by

James Pearce

Reviews

5 rating at Taro based on 7 ratings

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