Importance of Open source and Why Github
Open source is a buzzword in today’s world. But do we actually know what is open source? In this article let’s go through the what, where, why and how of open source.
What is open source?
Open source is a free software available for modification and redistribution. How amazing is that? You can modify an existing code to best suit your use case and publish your creation to the world. The most common examples of open source include Android, Linux, Python, Mozilla Firefox, Signal etc. All open source software is licensed under the open source license.
Why open source?
Open source has many advantages like:
- Security/ Privacy of the user: Since the code is available everyone knows all the data collected by the software.
- Less costs: It’s free so you save lots of money on not buying the licenses.
- Huge community support: There are many active maintainers to open source so there is faster detecting and fixing of bugs.
- Great learnings: Learn to write better code and increase your ability to work and understand code written by different developers.
Where opensource?
We are surrounded by products of open source but might not know about it. If you’re reading this on your Android phone you are using open source. There are many open source projects and organisations that you could start contributing to. Here are a few prominent ones:
Added to this there various programs held across the globe to promote contributions to open source. Few of the open source programs are:
How opensource?/What are the prerequisites to start with open source?
The intent to build or improve existing software. Yes you read it write that’s all you need to kick start your journey with open source. Open source software includes the products source code, designs and wireframes and content. You could easily use your skill to contribute as well as learn many more things in your journey of open source. You must be wondering how to start contributing.
GitHub is the place where open source communities live. GitHub is an excellent platform to maintain your code.
Features of GitHub:
- Version control
- Hosts documentation
- Pull requests
- Issue and bug tracking
- Huge community of developers
- Follow open source projects
- Learn how others use and contribute to open source
- Find the people behind the code
- Profile building
- Networking
The above features make GitHub the preferred choice of developers. Every day thousands of developers and companies build, ship, and maintain their software on GitHub making it the largest and most advanced development platform in the world.
Final note
So gear up and start contributing to opensource in whichever way possible. Begin by starting to learn and use Git and GitHub. May it be design, code or promoting open source products let’s change the world by one contribution at a time 😍
