Dedicated in loving memory of my Aunt, Dr. Mrs. S. S. Kodimani (1945-2009).
Contents
This book has been written to help students and professionals as well to work on free and open source software (F/OSS) projects. These software projects are released under a freely distributable license which allow you to use, copy, make changes, and distribute the software. This is different from proprietary software, where you only receive an executable under a restrictive license, and the source code is not provided to you. The book teaches you the methodology to be followed when working with F/OSS projects and similar programs. This will help you to become a valuable contributor to these projects, and get wide recognition as an individual.
Topics covered in this book:
"I think, put this book in hands of every student that passes out of college and looks for a job. Or probably if you're hiring freshers in your company, give them this book on joining. I did attend a few talks of Shakthi Kannan, and he hits the nail head on as to what is missing in new developer skillsets."
- Srikrishna Das, Founder, Toonheart Studios
"Shakthi Kannan has the rare ability to inspire and teach people in a way that makes learning fun and interesting - he is able to teach even the most complex topics in a way that makes it simple to follow up and that is encouraging to expand on the subject."
- Joerg Simon, Board Member Emeritus, Fedora Project, Head of Audit Service, HIC AG
"Shakthi's knowledge on F/OSS is wide and touches many functional areas. He always amazes me with his insight in many subject matters whenever I have interacted with him at conferences and online forums. I have found him very helpful to people who seek knowledge and are willing to put in the extra effort to learn things the 'right way'."
- Arun Khan, Director, Silver Arc Solutions (India) Pvt. Ltd.
"Shakthi Kannan takes F/OSS to the masses, not by pontification but by projecting the practical implications. A good educator and technologist with deep knowledge, his book is a great boon, particularly to the student community."
- Dr. Srinivasan Sundararajan, Faculty, M.Sc. (CS-FOSS), Anna University
This is explained in the Preface section of the book.
I have retained the publishing rights for the book for the following reasons:
The book is written to be kept handy (print edition) so that you can refer it whenever you work (online and offline) with free and open source software projects, or read it whenever you need motivation.
Yes. You can view the first chapter on Mailing List Guidelines.
The cost of the book is the price of a movie ticket and a fast food meal. While the movie ticket and food can delight you for few hours, the book is a life changer.
You can write to me at author at shakthimaan dot com.