Progress Report: First Open Source Project

After four years of studying computer science in college, this is my first semester working on a group project for a class. Both challenges and positives arise when developing code in a group. Below are some thoughts about our progress so far.

The Good Open source software development requires you to communicate openly and clearly with others. I am thoroughly enjoying this new aspect of the computer science world; it is like you are finally able to climb the mountain with other people, compared to being all alone. Each member of the project is very good at talking about where they are skilled and where they can contribute.

The Bad Maintaining an organized Github repository is definitely a problem that we have run into. With each member working independently, it is important that we use a version control system to see who is contributing to each part of the project. We found that dividing up the work into small segments and pushing/pulling into the repo frequently is the best way to be organized.

My Contributions Having taken AIT (a class focused on Javascript and web development) two semesters ago, I am familiar with a lot of the coding required in this project. I was able to help another member of our project out by setting up her directories correctly in class.

What Have I Learned? I learned that I really enjoy this kind of collaborative work. My skills in communication, organization, and punctuality all work well in a group setting. Before this class, I wasn’t sure if I would love or hate the collaborative coding work required. High school group projects generally entail simple lab reports and dedicated group project work time.