Anybody wants to start/practice contributing to OSS projects??

#opensource #beginners #practice #help

Introduction

I made this super simple ruby gem called spell_generator and looking for people who want to start/practice contributing to OSS projects.

Why?

Making a PR to an OSS project can be intimidating if you don't know how to actually do to it. But if you know the process of making a PR and have already done it before, it can be very simple and fun.
I want to help people who have been thinking about contributing to OSS projects but have been too scared to do it.
Especially if you are a self-taught programmer or new graduate who is looking for some experience to put on your resume, contributions to OSS projects would be great to have as your experience.

I want to help you to take the first step of your OSS journey.

What I want you to do

As I mentioned above, this gem I created is very simple.
All it does is creating a random spell based on adjectives and verbs that are stored in different arrays respectively.

I want you to add one or more adjectives or verbs to the corresponding array.

https://github.com/K-Sato1995/spell_generator/issues/1

Or You can just make an issue and make some improvements on the gem.

How?

Here is an amazing post about how to contribute to GitHub projects by Rob Allen.
You can follow the steps in the post.

The beginner’s guide to contributing to a GitHub project – Rob Allen's DevNotes

Top comments (11)

Robin Victorino • Apr 23 '19

Hi!

Thank you for this brilliant initiative, that I'd have love to see a few months ago when I wanted to get to know PRs and OSS contribution workflows.

I have a few suggestions that are a bit off the main objective (add mode words via PRs), but if you want / need me to open an issue for that, I'd be happy to do so.

As the primary objective (I assume) is to keep the code as simple as possible to simplify contributions, you may want to sort words by alphabetical order. I assume it would allow start a conversation between maintainer and contributor if a new PRs is correct (adding a word) but may be improved by adding the said word at the right index.

It would also avoid word repetition more easily (e.g. «shallow» is listed twice; don't know if it's intentional for further contribution suggestions or not).

This is only a suggestion. You may think that it would probably confuse beginners more than current codebase state. It's up to you, really; just thought this suggestion may help in a way or another.

Thanks again for this great idea an approach :)

(of course externalizing words to a file or db may be an even «cleaner» approach; but I guess would not meet the «beginner friendly codebase» objective as its current state)

K-Sato • Apr 23 '19 • Edited

you may want to sort words by alphabetical order.

That is a brilliant idea!!

I'd really really appreciate if you open an issue for that😁.

It would also avoid word repetition more easily (e.g. «shallow» is listed twice; don't know if it's intentional for further contribution suggestions or not).

That's just my mistake. Thanks for pointing it out 😆!!

Mackenzie • Apr 23 '19

Hey Sato I'm building a tool to make it easier for OSS projects to outsource work to their community. It's supposed to be for people like you.

I’d love to talk to you about your needs doing OSS work. If you're interested join the telegram group t.me/PioneerCommunity

K-Sato • Apr 23 '19

Thanks for the invitation! I'd love to join the group!!

Edwin Mak • Apr 23 '19

Very nice!

I am happy you took the initiative to open up a conversation/practice on OSS contribution. It certainly is an important skill to have in the day-to-day of a software developer.

I'll take a look :)