What is Open Source and how to get started?

What is Open Source?

Open source is a commonly used term for the code which is publically accessible and people can see, edit, and share the data. In open-source projects, developers from all around the world can contribute to the project and make it better.

Benefits of Open Source

• Lower cost
• Higher quality software and code
• Secure as code is public
• Flexible
• Faster development

Cons of Open Source

• Needs maintenance
• Hidden costs
• Support
• User friendly

Getting Started

Getting started with open source as a maintainer

To get started with open source as a maintainer, you need to do the following steps

• Build a project
• Add it as a public repo to GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket.
• Add some docs on what it is and how to contribute
• Add a license to your repo
• Add some issues in the issues section (if you have any)
• Let everyone know about it (if no one knows about it then no one will be able to contribute :P)

Getting started as a contributor

• Find a repo you want to contribute to
• Add the features or bug fixes
• Make a pull request
• Wait for your code to be merged

The main trouble for every beginner while starting to contribute is finding repositories.
So here are some useful articles-

• 8 resources to start with opensource immediately

• Find Open Source Projects To Contribute As A Beginner

• A curated list of beginner-friendly issues for Hacktoberfest 2021

If you were ever thinking of contributing to open source, now is the perfect time to start

Useful links

Open Source Initiative

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