Open-source is a term that is very common to people most especially developers and other computer specialists. Again it is a very confusing term when it comes to people who are just starting in the tech industry, so what is it? Well, don't worry because we're going to answer that question in this article.
Before we dive into it please note that this is just the beginning of my Open-source Blog series which is to break down the whole subject of how open-source works, why it is important, and many other aspects including how it can make you stand out as a developer.
Back to business! "Open-source refers to any program whose source code is made available for use, modification, or even duplication where users or other developers see fit."
Let's break this down:
It is simply source code available to everyone so they can see it and play with it as much as they want. To understand this we're going to look at an example:
Let's say you created an app on your phone that says "Morning" to you every day, this app is so cool that in addition to saying "Morning", it tells you when you've woken up.
At this moment, since you're the one who created this cool app you're the only one in the world who has the source code for your app. Your source code is now called "closed-source code".
Closed-source code is also known as "Proprietary software" which is any software that is copyrighted and bears limits against use, distribution, and modification that are imposed by its publisher, vendor, or developer.
So after some time, you realize you want people to see your app and note how cool it is. Well, you would publish it on the internet via a platform like Google Play Store or the App Store for Apple so that the world can see its cool features which is a great move but your app is not yet open source even if it is published on the internet for people only to see and use.
Until you decide to add some privileges to the users that in addition to seeing and using the app they're also capable of:
Copying the source code you used to write the app.
Modifying the code according to preference or where they see necessary.
Now, your app is open-source software and this is because it's not only for people to see and use but also for them to edit, modify, copy, etc.
But wait for a second, you might be asking yourself:
"Why on earth would I make a beautiful app like that and let it out to the world for the people to copy and modify as much as they want? They're going to steal the show right?
Not Likely, but this is exactly what is going to be discussed in the next article where we are going to answer the question "How does open-source work?" which also will dive into how exactly you make software open-source and many other stuff so stay tuned for that.
Wrapping up
Well done! You have reached the end of this tutorial :) Hopefully, this has helped you gain a better understanding of what open-source is. As always, you are welcome to leave comments with suggestions, questions, corrections, and any other feedback you find useful.
Thank you for reading!