Photo by Markus Winkler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-typewriter-12081252/

Why am I taking the Open Source course?

1.Hello everyone! My name is Anh, but you can also call me Chris, my English name. I'm currently in my 5th semester of the CPA program at Seneca College. Over the course of my studies, I've developed a strong interest in web applications and a desire to stay updated with the latest trending technologies in the field.

In my previous semester, I had the opportunity to take a Cloud Computing course taught by Professor David Humphrey. His passion for web development truly inspired me. To be honest, his class was challenging not just for me, but for many of my peers as well. However, that was what made it so valuable. Professor Humphrey emphasized using real-world technologies, giving us a foundational understanding of how projects are managed in the industry—how to publish and maintain programs, collaborate effectively on the same project, and implement best practices crucial for becoming a successful developer.

After such a positive experience in his Cloud Computing class, I decided to explore other courses he teaches and discovered his Open Source Development course. Initially, I had no idea what open source was or what role I would play in it. However, after doing some research and reading online articles, my curiosity grew. I realized that open source provides an exciting opportunity to contribute to real-world projects, learn from experienced developers, and gain hands-on experience working with industry-level code.

2.After taking this course, I hope to gain a clearer understanding of open source development and build the confidence to work with large codebases that I didn’t write. Additionally, I’ll gain valuable experience collaborating with developers from not only Canada but around the world. This global collaboration will be instrumental in shaping my coding career.

If given the opportunity, I would love to work on a real full-stack project that integrates AI. For instance, developing an e-commerce website where clients can receive personalized product recommendations by interacting with an AI-powered chatbot would be an exciting challenge.

3.One trending repository I've been researching is Bruno—a lightweight alternative to IDEs like Postman and Insomnia. You can learn more about it here.

I chose Bruno for several reasons. First, it has gained significant attention, with a good number of stars on GitHub Trending, and is actively maintained—it was updated just 5 days ago when I began my research. What sets Bruno apart is its unique approach to handling API collections. Unlike other tools, Bruno stores your collections directly in a folder on your filesystem and uses a plain text markup language called Bru to manage API request data. This allows you to use Git or any version control system to collaborate on API collections seamlessly. Additionally, Bruno is entirely offline, meaning you don’t need to sync it with any account—your requests remain on your device, providing more control and security.