Looking at a Wide Variety of Open Source Projects

Throughout the course of this week, we looked a variety of different open source projects and then we did a deep dive on one specific with the help of a group. The project evalutations I looked at were Pygame, Pytorch, and Musescore. I think my own personal criteria is that the open source project I choose to work on ideally should be Python-based, will have an active community, and will be a project focused on music creation or design. I know there were some bigger projects that groups talked about, but I prefer to view projects that have a smaller, more active commmunity. Additionally, I chose to focus on Python-driven projects because I feel like the most confident working in Python, as that is my primary programming language.

Reflection on In-Class Activity

This in-class activity gave me important insight into the kinds of projects I gravitate towards and it also forced to reconsider what my personal requirements are. After reviewing the class’ project evaluations, I was quite surprised how difficult to find a project that truly matches all of my criteria. It seemed like almost all groups had a hard time finding an ideal project that is accepting of beginners. When my group was evaluating LMMS, it seemed like there were so many pros (an active community, quick responses, etc), but when we got to the last step, my groups members and I all had an incredibly hard time trying to launch the project on on our own computers.

Potential Challenges

I think the biggest challenge right now is finding a project that’s the right fit for me. I have some experience with Pygame from a group project I worked on before, so it’s one open-source tool I already feel comfortable with. I also didn’t realize how many open-source tools exist for music creation, which is really exciting since music is something I’m also passionate about. To tackle this, I want to explore projects similar to the ones we’ve seen in class and see what aligns best with my skills and interests. Another challenge I can already see is getting involved with the community—which is such a huge part of open-source work. I’ll definitely make an active effort to engage more, whether that’s through discussions, contributing to issues, or just getting familiar with how things work. Overall, I want to focus on finding something that excites me while also pushing myself to get more involved in the open-source space.