Everyday in both private and workwise matters I encounter and utilize open source solutions. These tools and solutions are made possible by a fantastic bunch of people. Since christmas is just around the corner I want to share the joy with a few of these people.
This year I decided to donate a total of $300 to two people I think have embraced and contributed to the world of open source in a outstanding way. It ain’t that much but hopefully something.
Ryan Bates
Ryan is the author of a fanatstic resource called Railscasts. Every week a new screencast if being released where Ryan covers something from the world of Ruby on Rails which he finds interesting. By now almost 250 episodes have been released. Therefor the chance of that gem or functionality you’re seeking isn’t yet covered by Ryan is close to nonexistent.
FUEL PHP5 Framework
The FUEL framework is definitely the most promising PHP framework out there. I’ve spent quite an amount of time working with CodeIgniter during this year. Don’t get me wrong I really like CodeIgniter but once I tried Ruby on Rails I’ve been looking for something equivalent written in PHP. FUEL might be the answer to my prayers.
Almost all my work I do for my clients are based upon open source tools. Contributing back is an important matter of keeping this ecosystem healthy and fair. I’m not asking you to donate cash. But giving somekind back is a nice gesture especially since it’s christmas.
I’ve borrowed Ryan Bates list filled with ideas on how to contribute back to open source. Slightly modified.
Start of by choosing one tool or solution you’ve been using alot during the last year. Contribute back by:
- Making a donation.
- Fixing a bug.
- Adding documentation.
- Or simply thanking them.
Go out there and start contributing back to open source!
The image in this post is borrowed from Jen.