Contributing

Contributions are very welcome; please contact us by email or by filing an issue in our repository. All contributors must abide by our Code of Conduct.

Setup and Operation

• Install uv
• Create a virtual environment by running uv venv in the root directory
• Activate it by running source .venv/bin/activate in your shell
• Install dependencies by running uv pip install -r pyproject.toml
• This project uses McCole to generate HTML and check the project's structure
• Run make on its own to see a list of common commands

Structure

• Lessons are in nn_slug directories
  • nn is two-digit sequence number
  • slug is short mnemonic
• Each lesson must have:
  • index.md: lesson content
  • Makefile: re-run tasks
    • Should include ../common.mk to get common tasks
  • Symbolic links data, migrations, and static to the ./data, ./migrations, and ./static directories in the project root
  • Lessons may have a slides.md file containing slides
  • Diagrams should be SVG files created with draw.io
• bibliography.md has the bibliography as a definition list
  • Citation keys have IDs for linking
  • Use an inline HTML link b:key in files to create links
• glossary.md has the glossary as definition list
  • Reference keys have IDs for linking
  • Use an inline HTML link g:key in files to create links
• The static directory contains static files
  • page.css: CSS for website pages
  • slides.css and slides.js: simple HTML slides
  • Other CSS and JavaScript files used in lessons
• The templates directory contains Jinja templates used to generate HTML
  • page.html: template for website pages
  • slides.html: template for simple HTML slides

Please use Conventional Commits style for pull requests by using change:, feature:, fix:, or task: as the first word in the title of the commit message. You may also use publish: if the PR just rebuilds the HTML version of the lesson.

FAQ

Do you need any help?

Yes—please see the issues in our repository.

What sort of feedback would be useful?

Everything is welcome, from pointing out mistakes in the code to suggestions for better explanations.

Can I add a new section?

Absolutely, but please reach out before doing so.

Why is this material free to read?

Because if we all give a little, we all get a lot.

Contributors

• Greg Wilson is a programmer, author, and educator based in Toronto. He was the co-founder and first Executive Director of Software Carpentry and received ACM SIGSOFT's Influential Educator Award in 2020.