PyCon tutorial: Getting started with open source development

Contribute with me! Getting started with open source development

When: Sunday, March 2nd, 1pm - 4pm

Where: MIT, room 3-133

Things to bring: laptop and charger

Instructor: Jessica McKellar

Want to contribute to a Python project or the core language, but not sure where to start?

Join us for 3 hours learning the nuts and bolts of open source contribution. By the end of this tutorial, you'll have the tools and practice to confidently contribute to your favorite projects. Give back to the community while making yourself a better software engineer.

We'll cover:

• the structure of an open source project

• the many ways to contribute

• the life cycle of a bug

• key development tools

• communication in an open source project

During this tutorial, you'll get hands-on experience with:

• issue trackers, to report and track bugs

• the diff and patch utilities, to share your source code changes

• a revision control system, to collaboratively manage changes to projects

• IRC, to get and give help while contributing in real time

• testing and building Python projects

We'll put these concepts and tools to practice by collaboratively reporting and fixing bugs in a demo Python project.

We'll end with personalized next steps for getting started with open source projects that match your skills and interests.