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==[http://cs.senecac.on.ca/index.php?outline=DPS909 Subject Description]==
This course introduces students to the technological, social, and pragmatic aspects of developing open source software through direct involvement in the Mozilla, Eclipse WTP and OpenOffice.org projectsproject. Students will learn to use the tools, techniques, and strategies of open source developers. This is a project-based programming course. The Mozilla, Eclipse WTP and OpenOffice.org projects have project has been chosen as examples of an open source projects project because of their its maturity, breadth and depth of technology, and strong community.
==Course Outcomes==
* Use the tools of open source development, for example: distributed revision control; documentation tools; automated build and test systems; debuggers; source code utilities; tracking systems; on-line resources, etc.
* Work with a pre-existing large source code base
* Write software that integrates and interacts with one of the following open source domains: Mozilla or Eclipse WTP or OpenOffice.org code. For example: add-ons; bug fixes; new features; etc.* Work collaboratively with fellow students and members of one or more of the following open source communities: Mozilla, Eclipse WTP, OpenOffice.orgcommunity.
==Major Project==
This is a project course, and the majority of each student’s mark will come from work done on a real development project. The primary goal of this project is to get students involved in the Mozilla/OpenOffice.org/Eclipse WTP development community and codebase. Through this experience students will learn about the processes, tools, and practices involved in developing software as part of a large open source community.
===Philosophy===
Second, consider the typical restrictions on peer-collaboration. In this project students are encouraged to work together, to help one another, to look at each other's code, etc. Open source collaboration is about leveraging the collective knowledge of a community to help solve the problems of the individual.
Third, consider the sharp dividing line between student projects in most programming courses. For the most part, students are evaluated on their ability to do a particular project or to solve a particular problem on their own. The outcome is measured against peer outcomes. However, in this course students are not in competition with their peers; rather, they are all working on one large project (i.e., Mozilla or OpenOffice.org or Eclipse WTP) with many sub-projects within it. As a result, there is no clean line to divide one student’s work from another, or even student work from that of the open source community. This means that collaboration between students and even other members of the open source community is acceptable practice.
To summarize, students should:
