Why Computing Students Should Care About Open Source

This post was published 3 years 8 months 26 days ago and as such probably does not reflect my current opinions, knowledge or ability.

As I’ve mentioned before, my university has a pretty successful Linux Society. It welcomes both students and members of the public, and looking at an average meeting you’d probably agree that a decent number of people attend. That is, until you compare that number to the total amount of computing students at the university.
At this point, you’re probably thinking something like

“Linux has a less than 2% market share – why would you be surprised about how few people use it?”

Well, for the general public I wouldn’t be. Be we’re talking about computing students in particular – people who could get a lot of benefit from using Open Source software and running the Linux operating system.

Why Care About Open Source Software?

1. It gives you access to hundreds of free applications.

If you’re a student, software probably isn’t something you’ll want to spend limited funds on. Although open source software can be sold, many applications are completely free. Most people have probably heard of the big names in the open source world – the likes of Open Office, The Gimp and Firefox, but if you care to search you’ll find there is much more on offer. Whilst there are plenty of open source applications you can run under Windows and Mac, if you choose to install Linux there’s even more on offer and getting hold of them is easy too.

2. More contributers mean better software.

Since the source code of applications is available for other developers to review and modify, programs tend to become secure and high quality. Whilst some may be buggy, software tends to be updated regularly and fixes quickly become available. You can help by reporting bugs to the application’s maintainer if you come across them, or helping to fix them.
As Eric S. Raymond said in his highly recommended book The Cathedral and The Bazaar:

“Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.”

3. Find out how things work.

With a proprietary program, if you want to make a change or see why the application works, you’re out of luck. With a piece of open source software the source code is always available to you, and you’re free to modify it.

4. You can afford to contribute for free.

As a student, you’re in a great position which you might never be in again in your lifetime – you have found a way to get to university or college and hopefully have funding for the next few years. Whether you have scholarships, work part time, or have taken out a loan, you probably aren’t working full time and can afford to do something for free. If that something also helps you with the subject you are studying – all the better. While you are a student is a great time to develop for and contribute to a relevant open source project, and perhaps even apply to Google Summer of Code.

5. You can boost your coursework.

Depending on your course and your lecturer, you might be able to integrate open source software to boost your coursework. Obviously I’m not talking about plagiarism or using someone elses work as your own, but if you are allowed and declare them properly in your references, open source software and libraries can save you re-writing a working piece of code, and let you focus on more exciting parts of your project. If you can contribute and give something back in the process, even better.

6. Get experience of working with other people.

Whether you are simply getting an application working, submitting bug reports, or actually helping develop it, you’re going to have to work with other people. When much of your time at university will be spent working on your own, contributing to a project can be a great way to get some experience of developing software as part of a group. As well as aiding your communication skills and letting you learn from more experienced developers, you’ll also gain an understanding of the importance of vital resources such as source code repositories.

7. Become part of the community.

Open source has a huge community surrounding it, from end users to developers. Communicating with other people though forums, mailing lists and IRC channels is easy, letting you share help and support with others. It can also give you some great recommendations for other software to try, and aid you in finding some inspiration for your next project.

Over to you…

To what extent do you make use of open source software?
Do you have any other reasons why it’s great, or perhaps a tip for computing students (including myself)?
Check back in the next few days or subscribe to the site RSS feed to learn why computing students should consider running Linux, and for a list of recommened open source software.