Open Source Computing

Comp 312-01E/412-001, Open Source Computing, Summer 2018

Peter Dordal, Loyola University Chicago Dept of Computer Science.

The class is scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays, 5:30-8:45, in Corboy 323. Most (maybe all) Thursdays we may meet online, possibly in small groups, with small-group meetings likely at the group's convenience and not necessarily on Thursdays at all.

The main goal of the course is to participate in some open-source project, as part of a team. You are encouraged to participate in a "real" project, but I've rounded up a two "private" projects as alternatives. These are at github.com/pdordal. Another interesting possibility is at github.com/mgoldsmith1/Loyola-Virtual-Exchange.

You will have to be prepared to meet with your team regularly. However, you do not have to meet face-to-face. Almost no "real" open-source project does that! I'm aware that some of you have less background in software development, but there is plenty to do in terms of documentation, architecture planning, use-case development, and testing.

This is not a software-engineering course; grading will be based more on effort than results. That said, results matter, and if you don't achieve them then there should be some legitimate reason (like you chose to contribute something to the linux kernel, and it kept crashing).

Here are links to two open textbooks we will use:

Code, by Lawrence Lessig
Producing Open Source Software, by Karl Fogel

My general course groundrules are here. Do not submit as your own work content that you did not create. You may, of course, quote or include other sources provided there is clear attribution.

In addition to the project, we'll also look at bug finding, bug reporting, and presentations about how projects are put together. There will probably be some kind of final exam, covering the factual material presented. The project counts most, but if that doesn't quite work out as planned then the other things (like the exam) will be used to bring your grade up.

Starter Open-Source Projects

I'll begin with a list of sites that suggest good open-source projects for getting started:

opensource.com/life/16/1/6-beginner-open-source

See Habitica and Pinax in particular

github.com/MunGell/awesome-for-beginners

Some of these are technical, but see Java/TEAMMATES and some of the Python examples

www.firsttimersonly.com

See up-for-grabs.net

Project labels at github.com

Look for "help wanted", "up for grabs", "low hanging fruit", "first timers", "beginner issue", "starter", etc

LibreOffice: wiki.documentfoundation.org/Easy_Hacks

Getting LibreOffice set up to compile is nontrivial, but worth it.

github.com/code52

The Code52 group has a number of easy-to-get-started-on projects.

Two more "simple" java projects, from github.com/pH-7. For these, you might end up forking them, rather than contributing back to the original repository, as part of the author's goal was to create simple projects.

Simple-Java-Calculator: Make the 0 key work, organize the buttons, add more functions, add support for parentheses or Łukasiewicz notation.
Simple-Java-Text-Editor: There are lots of features one might add. Just look at emacs for some ideas. (Ok, maybe not.)

Exam Study Guide

Course calendar

This table assumes we are meeting only on Tuesdays.

Week 2: July 10