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Inderpreet Singh Parmar
Inderpreet Singh Parmar

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My Impression of Open Source

Introduction

My name is Inderpreet Singh Parmar, I am currently starting my 4th year at Seneca Polytechnic studying Software Engineering, I recently completed my first co-op as Senior CO-OP Technologist at Seneca Polytechnic where I did Software Testing and took part in Software Development in cross-functional teams.

But, this is not how it started in January 2022, when I came in Canada as an International Student, at that time I had done Java coding at my high-school till some Two-dimensional arrays or printing * patterns, my knowledge of coding was limited to that only, and I thought as a Software Engineer student at Seneca I will learn about some completely different and cool stuff, and that coding I learnt at High-School is of no use and I don't know why they taught it to me. But during the first three semesters of my Bachelors Degree, I was introduced to the same stuff I learned at my high-school just in some more detail. At that point I got disappointed that what these guys at Seneca are teaching me is not gonna benefit me in building any real software product as I had all Chemistry/Maths/Physics Courses. But, When I got in 4th Sem, then it started getting interesting when they started teaching us DSA, then I got to know about Design Patterns, System Design, and a lot of other stuff, which made me change my thoughts. Long story short, in my 7th Sem, I got the privilege of getting into this Course Named "Topics in Open-Source Development", it was bit of a struggle getting into this course as the seats were limited, but I got one fortunately after some wait. Now I think I am learning what I thought I would learn as a Software Engineering Student at Seneca, now I discovered that I always wanted to work on real world projects and those prepared assignments were not of my type.

GOALS FOR THIS COURSE

I think this DPS 909[Topics in Open Source Development] will be a good start for me, I never contributed to Open Source Before, I have heard about it alot, but never got a chance to start, it was always a question of where to start. I will give my learning the each component taught in this course and will try to develop it as a habit and I feel that it is the main motive of taking this course. I got the push which I think I needed to embark on this journey.
I will try to learn as much as I can from the process of contributing to Open Source and will follow the idea of "Learning in Public", you will see a lot of posts about my work in future so stay tuned. I think it is a chance to learn from variety of Software developers from all over the world. I understand Open Source as "Open World", from which I mean is that the learn together from the Whole World which is Open for all.

Research on Trending GitHub Repository
As this is my first blog post on dev.to, so I did some research on a trending Git Hub repository, and provide insights into its usefulness and features. I chose to explore Microsoft's PowerToys repository, which has gained significant traction in the developer community.

PowerToys is a set of utilities designed to enhance productivity for power users and developers on Windows. Built with modern technologies and supported by an active community of developers, PowerToys allows users to customize and improve their workflow through a variety of tools.

The installation process is simpleโ€”users can download the latest release from the GitHub repository or use package managers like Winget or Chocolatey to install it.

The project has a number of interesting features, including:

FancyZones: A window manager that allows users to create custom layouts, making it easy to organize their workspace.
PowerToys Run: _A fast, efficient search and launcher tool, similar to macOS's Spotlight, enabling quick access to apps and files.
_Keyboard Manager:
A tool that allows users to remap keys or create custom shortcuts, improving keyboard accessibility and productivity.
File Explorer Add-ons: Enhancements to File Explorer, such as a preview pane for SVG and Markdown files.

PowerToys has proven to be invaluable for those looking to fine-tune their Windows experience. Its open-source nature allows for continuous improvements through community contributions, making it a dynamic and evolving platform.

Conclusion

I really want to get on some industry level projects soon, and you guys will see more from my side. That is all for my first Blog Post, I hope you liked it, I wrote what I know and what I feel.

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