My Expected Role in the Group Project

For our group project, I hope to contribute mainly to the backend logic and system structure. I am interested in understanding how different parts of a system interact and how software architecture is designed. Because of my background in computer science and some exposure to cryptography and security, I am also interested in exploring how security or data integrity could be considered in system design.

One challenge that may stand in the way is understanding a new codebase. Many open source or group projects already have large structures and many files, so it takes time to understand how everything connects. Another challenge may be coordinating work among teammates and making sure our work is organized properly through Git.

However, I believe I can contribute to the group by helping with debugging, organizing our Git workflow, and writing clear documentation. I also enjoy exploring technical details and reading source code, which may help the team understand complex parts of the project.

Comment on My Small Contributions

This week I made several small contributions during the project evaluation activities. In class, my partner and I worked on evaluating the iGraph open source project. We first tried using AI tools to generate an evaluation draft and then manually verified the information by searching through the GitHub repository.

During this process, I realized that AI can help generate a basic structure, but it often makes mistakes with factual details. For example, the number of commits and contributors was sometimes incorrect, and the latest commit information seemed to have delays. Some of the links generated by AI were also inaccurate. Because of this, we had to manually check the GitHub repository to confirm the information.

I also tried to explore another open source project called Arkworks, and looked at an issue related to improving documentation for Pedersen hash functions. However, I quickly realized that contributing to this project requires stronger mathematical knowledge, especially in cryptography and elliptic curve concepts. Because of this gap, the process was challenging. I tried to read online documentation and quickly summarize the concepts to better understand the problem.

The contribution I am most proud of is that I actively tried to engage with the open source community. Even though my contributions are still small, exploring repositories, reading issues, and trying to understand real problems gave me a better understanding of how collaboration works in open source communities.

An Open Source Project I May Want to Contribute To

One open source project I am interested in contributing to is Arkworks. Arkworks is a Rust-based ecosystem that provides tools for cryptography and zero-knowledge proof systems. The project focuses on building efficient cryptographic primitives such as elliptic curves, hash functions, and proof systems that are widely used in blockchain and privacy-preserving technologies.

This project interests me because I have been studying cryptography at NYU and have learned about concepts such as hash functions, digital signatures, and secure protocols. Arkworks represents a practical implementation of many of these theoretical ideas. Contributing to such a project could help me understand how cryptographic systems are implemented in real-world software.

However, I also recognize that contributing to Arkworks will be challenging because it requires strong mathematical understanding, especially in algebra and elliptic curve cryptography. To prepare for this, I plan to spend more time reading documentation and learning the mathematical background behind these systems.

Even if my contributions start with small improvements such as documentation or clarifying explanations, participating in this project would allow me to gradually build deeper knowledge in cryptography and open source development.