5 replies to this topic

[theonejb]

I've been doing programming for some time now (around 7 years), but have never had anything big or great to work with. Till now, I've only worked on very small personal projects. I would like to change that now.
I am hoping to get into developing some Open Source software, but have no idea where to get started. I tried to read the code of a few, but honestly, they are way over my head.
So, just wanting to know if anyone here has some suggestions about an open source project that I may become a part of and that I can actually understand?

[WingedPanther]

It sort of depends on your skill level, what languages you know, etc.

Generally, I would start with a relatively small project on SourceForge.net that was written in a language you're familiar with. Many projects will be using lots of libraries beyond the standard ones. If you are familiar with C++, for example, that doesn't mean a program using wxWidgets will make much sense.

[theonejb]

Well, I am quite good with C, I know a bit of Perl, but thats about it I guess. I have till now only developed one serious program as part of a freelancing project, and that was in C using GTK+. Other than that, I have no experience what so ever.
Any suggestions?

[WingedPanther]

Generally, what I do on SourceForge is look for an interesting area, and start applying filters. Require: Programming Language: C is a good start. I tend to Exclude: Development Status: Planning, Pre-Alpha, Alpha, and Inactive. In the Education section, I thought the following looked interesting:
gnuplot homepage
Xiphos -- Open Source Bible Study Software -- Home
Xournal
SourceForge.net: Simplex OPTIMA - Project Web Hosting - Open Source Software

Speaking from experience on decoding a large project: have a GOOD text editor with cross-file search capabilities. Things get real crazy real fast.

[theonejb]

Thanks a lot for those links.

Just one last question: What text editor would you recommend on Linux (Ubuntu)?

[WingedPanther]

I like jEdit on all systems. It requires Java, but works cross-platform. I've played with gVim, but haven't spent enough time to get comfortable with it.