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Discussion on: [On-Demand Talk] There's More to Open Source than Code

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Angela Mitchell

For developers who would be new to open source, would contributing to a project via documentation be better as a first step into open source? What are tips of writing documentation for code that does not contain unit tests?

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hola_soy_milk profile image
Ramón Huidobro

Thank you for your question and @rafaelbpires for your great reply!

The advice on reading good documentation is great. After all, documentation is supposed to help us solve problems with the project we're using/contributing to. So our fresh perspective is super valuable!

I have a book recommendation! It's called Docs for Developers:
link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978...

Really helped me understand how to not just write but appreciate good documentation.

But absolutely, any questions, concerns or issues you might have are highly appreciated by maintainers that care about good developer experience :)

Wish you all the best!

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Rafael B. Pires

In my experience Angela, that's a good way to start 'cause, even if you do know how to code, maybe you get insecure in the beginning... so, contributing with docs, fixing typos or translation, for instance, could help you get used to the routine of contributing and overcome some apprehensions you may have. In other words, is a great way to settle in!

That said, I'm a newbie myself, but.. IMO, I guess the best way to get to know good documentation is to start reading good documentation yourself haha 😅 I mean, pick up a great and well-known project (it could be sth you're studying) and start reading it, picking up the structure, the language, the style... What do you think?