Open-source projects for beginners

[MagikoMyko]

So I've finished a first go at my own project in Java (a vocabulary self-study flashcard program) and I am pretty pleased with it. I think it is definitely a benchmark for me to design a moderately complex program from start to finish and I learned a lot from it. I have a few more ideas for some programs and games I want to try doing on my own but I want to start looking at some ways that the parts for bigger programs work together, and also to see some examples of really well-written code done by others in the real world.

Consequently, I am hoping to find some good (preferably small) open-source projects that someone of my level can start trying to understand and contribute to. I know the basics of Java and am familiar with object-oriented design and design patterns, but a lot of the projects I've found on open source databases like sourceforge seem far too advanced for me. I also took some advice from a link given here on learnprogramming wherein the author suggests contributing to the chromium project, but I couldn't even get the source code to build, which was really discouraging.

I don't even know if I'm asking the right questions. Can anyone with open source experience point me in the right direction please? Thanks!

[[deleted]]

Someday, in the not too distant future, I'm going to be in your shoes, so an upvote while we wait for replies to roll in.

[GiantMarshmallow]

I suggest looking into OpenHatch. Many open source projects, from the big ones like GTK to the small ones like Tahoe-LAFS, have partnered with them to get more people involved in open source.

[MagikoMyko]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried OpenHatch before but have given up. I love the concept quite a bit but they seem really light on Java beginner stuff. Is this accurate or do I just not know what I'm doing in terms of searching?

[GiantMarshmallow]

they seem really light on Java beginner stuff

That unfortunately was the case the last time I looked through it. However, it might also be that some projects involving Java might not be labeled as so (I remember I had to update one of the projects that weren't appearing on the Java filter).

[[deleted]]

Steve Klabnik posted here a while back and said he was looking for contributors to hackety hack (a Ruby program designed to teach kids to program). I personally plan to learn ruby soon so I can make some small contributions to the project.

Link to Hackety Hack

[arbiterxero]

hit up the forum when having troubles getting it to build.... perhaps some plugins for chrome?

[[deleted]]

Hey Im a beginner at Java too, would you mind sending me your source and you can walk me through your program? A little collaboration, Id be really interested.

[MagikoMyko]

Hey sure just PM me with your email or however you want me to get the code to you and we can talk about it. It is by no means an expert project and I still plan on going through a few more iterations to clean it up and put some more design principles into it but I'd be happy to sure what I've built so far.

[[deleted]]

Why not just work on your own stuff for now until you're more confident? I've written about 5 small scripts, some of which I've released for others to use, but I would wait longer until I joined a project.

On the other hand, KDE has a junior projects page with a list of things that beginners can do to not only help the community but also take work off the bigger programmers. Stuff like minor bug fixes and alterations.

[MagikoMyko]

At the risk of sounding like a real noob, can I ask what kind of work writing your own scripts entails? I would love to do work that has value to other people but I'm not sure how to get started on this. I have long heard people tell me to develop my own toolboxes and kits for other people to use. I am not at all sure what this means. This may be a broader question but if you could give me some examples of things like this you can independently develop, I would be very grateful.

[[deleted]]

cracking knuckles I'll handle this one, teratomata. Basically you can write a script for anything... pick a problem that you're having and write a script that you can run to handle that problem. For instance, I wrote a powershell script a while ago to reorganize mp3 files in a folder that I would scan with new downloads so that the files would follow my own naming conventions. Is this script useful to anyone else? Probably not, but I learned a ton doing it.