LibreFoodPantry

I found it interesting how thorough the Code of Conduct was. The lists of encouraged and unacceptable behavior as well as the tiered consequences for violating the Code of Conduct made me think that there have been lots of instances of poor behavior in this community in the past. I may be completely wrong about this, but if not, it really makes me think about how or why people would join or be invited to this community dedicated to a good cause only to spread hate and negativity. 

Thea’s Pantry

Despite working with Thea’s Pantry for quite a while now, I have not put much research into it at all. I knew it was a place for students and people to get help with food insecurities but I didn’t really know where it was or how it worked for those people. The User Stories give me a great sense of how the pantry works as a guest and some insight into how staff manage it. I liked the listed step-by-step process for the various interactions that make the pantry what it is. I find that following instructions is much nicer than figuring things out on my own so having these stories of how the pantry is intended to work makes me feel comfortable should I ever be in one of the scenarios.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Kyler's Blog by kylerlai and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Because of the fact that my entire capstone experience at Worcester State will be helping develop software for LibreFoodPantry, it seemed only right for me to review the website and try to discover things that will be helpful for me this semester. I first visited https://librefoodpantry.org/#/ and read over the main page as well as the smaller tabs such as About, Licensing, and What’s new. A section that I found interesting was on the main page when I learned that this whole project we are working on is generally new and should be changing a lot as we go along. It is quoted saying, “currently we have built prototypes of specific features for specific clients, but as of yet no software has been deployed for a client. This means we are in the very early phases of development and much about our software, processes, and tools are in flux. Please be prepared for change.” Nothing has been deployed yet and everyone is relatively new to the idea we are trying to create. This could be frustrating in the future if we get stuck or if we have to change things on the fly. However, it could also be exciting because we could be the first to get it to work properly and successfully! I am extremely excited for this semester and this capstone, and working on a project for LibreFoodPantry is the perfect process for teaching me what I may be needing to do in the real world after college.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tim Drevitch CS Blog by timdrevitch and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

What I found interesting about the website was the mission statement and how it exemplifies that software is a tool that can be used for good to help people out. A food pantry is great humanitarian work to help those in need and software can help make it easier for the whole process. I believe it is important to show that you care and the mission really showed true motive behind the project. Also in the aspect of the website, I personally found the design to be user friendly. I know that when I stumble upon new websites, the design is important and navigating the website was easy to do. Also the dark mode is a feature, especially for websites that is very underrated and needs to be used a lot more so that was a nice touch.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Roller Coaster Coding Journey by fbaig34 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

One thing that I liked about the website is the content under the vision and mission subheadings on the Libre Food Pantry About page. I like and find it interesting that it both teaches and helps the community by enhancing computer science education while providing free software for local food pantries. All while showing that free open source software can be used for social good and help society. The new website is easier to use than the old one and looks better as well. The layout looks cleaner and it is easier to find things. I find the switch for changing night and day mode in the top right corner useful/enjoyable.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Austins CS Site by Austin Engel and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

As previously mentioned on this blog, I will be working with the LibreFoodPantry project to develop FOSS software for food pantries.

After reading through all the documentation and information available on the website (https://librefoodpantry.org/#/) and taking a look at the redesign of the website (https://librefoodpantry.gitlab.io/website/) for the project, something I found helpful was the linked information regarding FOSSisms (https://opensource.com/education/14/6/16-foss-principles-for-educators). Being new to working in FOSS development, it was beneficial to learn about the various principles associated with FOSS project development.

Specifically, the idea that contributors should “Ask Forgiveness, not Permission” was helpful for me. As someone who can sometimes be a perfectionist, I tend to not want to publish something if I feel it has potential to derail or cause problems with other parts of a project. I will strive to consider this idea as I make contributions.

Sources Referenced:

https://librefoodpantry.org/#/

https://librefoodpantry.gitlab.io/website/

https://opensource.com/education/14/6/16-foss-principles-for-educators

From the blog CS@Worcester – CodeRoad by toomeymatt1515 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I just wanted to make this quick post about the Agile values posted in the LibreFoodPantry about section. This sections focuses on defining the principles that will be used when developing this site. I chose this as these values might not be what people traditionally associate with software development. For example,”Individuals and interactions over processes and tools,” show that, despite this being a lot of programming, there is more to keep in mind than just clean and functional code. To be a successful software development team must be able to collaborate with your client to make working changes when necessary to ensure they receive exactly what they want.

On a bit of a side-note, the new design for the LibreFoodPantry looks great! The user interfaces is very clean and I always love the addition of a built in dark mode function.

From the blog CS@Worcester – My Bizarre Coding Adventures by Michael Mendes and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

After reading about the LibreFoodPantry I am thoroughly impressed by the ambitions it has and its aims to provide a much needed to service to food pantries in northeastern America. As a student at WSU, I think the project is not only an intrinsically positive venture but am grateful that it doubles as a practical opportunity to get hands-on programming experience as an undergraduate student.

An ability to participate in a multistate collaborative software project is a substantial driver of my interest but certainly it cannot be discounted that the humanitarian aims are just as enticing. The new site looks hip and modern and I can’t wait to see the entire project come to fruition!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Cameron Boyle's Computer Science Blog by cboylecsblog and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For the project LibreFoodPantry, although it is pretty new, its main page already includes a lot of useful information about the project as well as related topic such as licensing, code of conduct, and the change log, which I think is really important for users, and developers, establishing professionalism.

From the blog #Khoa'sCSBlog by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I enjoyed reading about the FOSSisms because it is all about starting to work on your first open-source piece with others. Since this is my first time working collaboratively to this extent on open-source software I found that it was quite useful to read in order to better adapt to the upcoming challenges. I really enjoyed the particular FOSSism about being productively lost. This means that you will not always know the entire scope of the open-source project you are working on. This means you should take it upon yourself to research deeper Into the project while helping strengthen your skills in the areas you already know well. I wrote about this one because too many times I have been lost in a project and felt hopeless but by taking a deeper dive into each individual component, it allowed for me to grasp the concept.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Journey Through Technology by krothermich and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.