I want to learn to be an open source developer. Where should I start?
September 2nd, 2010 | 
Author: I want to learn to be an open source software programmer. Where should I begin my study? I figure I need to know the most used languages, platforms, etc. and what the industry standards are. Thanks!
Posted in Q&A | 
Tags: languages, Open Source Developer, open source software, platforms, software programmer
PHP is arguably the most popular open source web scripting language. There are many resources to help learn this as well. Python, PERL are others.
If your goal is to learn how to program to improve the projects themselves, e.g. to add tot he functionality of PHP, Python, Linux, etc. etc. then you’ll probably be better off learning C and C++ as a foundation. These are more advanced languages, but they are used to create higher level languages like PHP.
If your goal is just to use a scripting language that is popular and is built on OSS b/c you don’t want to have to purchase a license every time you do a project, I’d look into PHP, Ruby on Rails or Python, or even Java, which is now technically open I believe.
There are very strong opinions on which is better, etc. I’m not going to wade into that debate though.