Andromeda,

One way to get started is to improve documentation. Try out a library
and send in a pull request for the README with what you've learned the
hard way. Read the code and add some documentation for classes or
methods. By reading code you'll learn lots. By submitting a
documentation pull request you'll become familiar with the workflow
for sending patches to the project and show that you understand the
code well enough for the project owners to accept a more substantive
patch from you. Oh, and it will be very much appreciated.

You can take a look at the github repositories of someone you know and
see if anything is interesting:
https://github.com/jronallo?tab=repositories
Look especially under "Sources" (instead of All or Forks) to see the
ones that originated with the person. Probably better at this point to
look at ones that appear to be under the most active development as,
if they are anything like me, the developer is more likely to take
pull requests for current projects. Also look and see if there is a
TODO section to the README or open issues.

So you know what kind of impact you might be making, you can see if
any of the gems are actually being used here:
http://rubygems.org/profiles/jronallo

Jason

On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 4:38 PM, Andromeda Yelton
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> OK, y'all convinced me; I want to commit something to my very first
> big-girl open source project.
>
> Now, which?
>
> * I primarily speak Python (plus Django). I know a little jQuery. I could
> dust off a tiny bit of PHP (though I'd rather not) and am not averse to an
> excuse to learn (more than four hours of) Ruby.
>
> * I don't work for a library so I don't have access to, e.g., most ILSes; I
> need to be able to assemble the development environment from open-source
> parts.
>
> * Big ++ if the project has good documentation (not just of the code but of
> how to set up the dev environment, run tests, shave all the yaks, etc.)
>
> * friendly people ++ too.
>
> Andromeda
> (and her "copious spare time". ha.)

On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 4:38 PM, Andromeda Yelton
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> OK, y'all convinced me; I want to commit something to my very first
> big-girl open source project.
>
> Now, which?
>
> * I primarily speak Python (plus Django). I know a little jQuery. I could
> dust off a tiny bit of PHP (though I'd rather not) and am not averse to an
> excuse to learn (more than four hours of) Ruby.
>
> * I don't work for a library so I don't have access to, e.g., most ILSes; I
> need to be able to assemble the development environment from open-source
> parts.
>
> * Big ++ if the project has good documentation (not just of the code but of
> how to set up the dev environment, run tests, shave all the yaks, etc.)
>
> * friendly people ++ too.
>
> Andromeda
> (and her "copious spare time". ha.)