My Current Progress

At this point in the semester, I realized that my individual contribution to open source is still very limited.

Although our group has been exploring different projects and doing evaluations, I have not yet made a strong technical contribution on my own. Most of my work so far has been focused on understanding projects and setting up development environments.

This made me think more seriously about what I actually want to contribute to.

Decision to Work on Arkworks

For the second half of the semester, I decided to focus on contributing to Arkworks.

One reason is that I am very interested in Web3 and blockchain-related technologies. Compared to other projects, Arkworks feels more aligned with what I want to learn in the long term.

Arkworks is related to cryptography and zero-knowledge systems, which are important for many blockchain applications. I am especially curious about how these tools are used in tokenization and real-world asset (RWA) systems.

Why This Direction

Another reason for choosing Arkworks is that I want to challenge myself.

Compared to projects like pandas or freeCodeCamp, Arkworks requires more mathematical and cryptographic understanding. This makes it harder, but also more meaningful from a learning perspective.

I know that contributing to this project will not be easy. I may need to spend time reading documentation, learning new concepts, and understanding unfamiliar code.

However, I think this is exactly the kind of challenge that can help me grow.

Goals for the Second Half

My goal is to make at least one meaningful contribution that can be accepted.

To achieve this, I plan to:

• study the documentation and basic concepts behind Arkworks
• identify beginner-friendly issues or areas for improvement
• gradually understand the structure of the codebase

Even if the process is slow, I think it is important to take the first step.

Reflection

This decision also reflects a shift in my mindset.

At the beginning, I was more focused on choosing “easier” projects to contribute to. Now, I care more about whether the project aligns with my long-term interests.

Even if I fail to get a PR accepted immediately, I think the learning process itself is valuable.

Overall, this week helped me clarify my direction and set a more concrete goal for the rest of the semester.