A newcomer’s introduction to OSS contributions.
PyCon UK 2018, Cardiff, Wales
Pyladies NorthWest UK
Newly created group to support and empower women and members of the LGBTQ++ community across the NorthWest region of the UK
- Meetups
- Mentoring
- Sprints
- Workshops
Follow us at @PyLadiesNWUK
What is this session about?
- Learn more about open source
- Maybe start contributing to OSS
- Meet people
- Have fun
🤷🏻♀️ Why this session?
There are many many reasons
Let's explore the Python community
And throw in some numbers...
And again...
Oh wait... it is getting better
Although the community is vast and diverse we are losing diversity
all the way up.
Which means we also lose the opportunity to have more varied ideas and proposals for our community.
The anatomy of an OSS contribution
Step-by-step guide to getting started
They all roughly follow the same steps
- Make a GitHub account
- Choose a project and issue to work on
- Fork the repository (fancy word for copy)
- Clone the copy (a.k.a download)
- Make a branch
- Do the work and document it
- Test
- Submit the work
- Be patient (you might need to revisit some steps)
- Your work has been accepted 🎉
Git/GitHub terms
- Repository: a project where all your files are online or on your computer (e.g. https://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas)
- Version control: tools that allow you to track the progress of your code/work over time
Imagine you are working on the following project
Git/GitHub terms
- Commit: saving a version of a file
You get much more info like: who, when, why
Git/GitHub terms
- Fork: create a copy of someone else's work
- Clone: copy a repository to your local computer
- Pull Request: request to add your changes to the original of a repository
Why are version control and GitHub important?
Things happen!
Why are version control and GitHub important?
Collaboration
Collaborating in GitHub
A.K.A your first Pull Request
2. Fork repository
2. Fork repository
2. Fork repository
3. Create new file
3. Create new file
4. Commit changes
4. Commit changes
(add meaningful comments)
5. Open a Pull Request
5. Open a Pull Request
5. Open a Pull Request
6. Wait for someone to check your changes
7. Merge successful! 💃🏻
8. Celebrate! 🤩🎉
Real world example
The one where Nikoleta shines
Choose a project
Looking at the issues
Clone!
- branch
- write code
- write test
Open PR!
Discussion
SUCCESS!
Hack time!
The one where you get to use what you've learned
Finding issues to work on
- Up for grabs: https://up-for-grabs.net/#/tags/python
- Twitter: first-timers-only https://twitter.com/first_tmrs_only?lang=en
- GitHub: project issues search for
help-wanted,good first issuehttps://github.com/pandas-dev/pandas/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22 - Projects with maintainer (Leonardo) in the room: punch cookiecutter
Still a bit confused?
Other suggestions
- Documentations are the best place to make your first contribution (yes, they are valuable contributions and people really appreciate them 😎)
- Think about those packages you already use
- Come chat to us!
Pair-up and have some fun!
Stand up time
The one where you all shine ✨
Celebrate
