29 ways to get started in open source

Easy ways to get started in open source without having to be a programming genius.

1. 29 ways to get started in open source Andy Lester, http://petdance.com/ Monday, May 14, 12
2. Monday, May 14, 12
3. Rule 1 Monday, May 14, 12
4. You are worthy Monday, May 14, 12
5. What’s a good project to help out with? Monday, May 14, 12
6. Listen & learn Monday, May 14, 12
7. Listen & learn • How does project work flow? • Who are leaders? Dictator or committee? • What’s being worked on? • What does the project value? Monday, May 14, 12
8. Listen & learn • Join a mailing list. • Read blogs of leaders. • Join IRC channel. • Attend a user group meeting. Monday, May 14, 12
9. Every project is different. Monday, May 14, 12
10. Bug management Monday, May 14, 12
11. Report a bug. Monday, May 14, 12
12. Enhance a bug report. Monday, May 14, 12
13. A bug ticket is not a static document! Monday, May 14, 12
14. Enhance a bug report. • “I recreated this on Ubuntu with the 1.6 release per the ticket. On Mac OS X, it also failed, but with a different error message and with a stack trace.” • (And give the message and contents of the stack trace!) Monday, May 14, 12
15. Isolate a bug. Monday, May 14, 12
16. Isolate a bug. • “I was not able to recreate this under Firefox 11.0, but it does happen on Firefox 9.1 and Safari 2.4.” • If you have a theory, provide it. • “I remember reading that Firefox 11 was more forgiving in handling JavaScript that does X.” Monday, May 14, 12
17. Isolate a bug. • Be careful you are clear what is theory and guessing, and what is fact you’ve proven. • Avoid sweeping guesses. • Bad: “This happens with every template.” • Good: “I tried this on these seven templates: A, B, C, M, N, P and X”. Monday, May 14, 12
18. Write a test Monday, May 14, 12
19. Silence a compiler warning. Monday, May 14, 12
20. Close a ticket Monday, May 14, 12
21. Document an API: Examples! Monday, May 14, 12
22. Document a process Monday, May 14, 12
23. Fix the website Monday, May 14, 12
24. Translate something. Monday, May 14, 12
25. Tweet some news Monday, May 14, 12
26. Write a blog post Monday, May 14, 12
27. How did you use the project? Monday, May 14, 12
28. What worked? What didn’t? Monday, May 14, 12
29. Go to a user group meeting Monday, May 14, 12
30. Test a beta or RC Monday, May 14, 12
31. Answer a question Monday, May 14, 12
32. Draw a logo Monday, May 14, 12
33. Welcome a newcomer Monday, May 14, 12
34. Write a blog post Monday, May 14, 12
35. Talk at a user group Monday, May 14, 12
36. Do what needs to get done Monday, May 14, 12
37. Just Do It Monday, May 14, 12
38. Thank someone. Monday, May 14, 12
39. Thank you for listening. Monday, May 14, 12