hey everyone, welcome to the first edition of open source explorer!

this publication will definitely evolve over time as i find my writing style and the style that feels the most like open source explorer so please bare with me as we grow together.

i’ve got some really cool things to share with you all today so lets begin…

1️⃣ 🌠 Second Me - Train your AI Self

this open source software is pretty much an AI model trained on yourself. it acts like you could and adapts the same way you would in different situations.

you’re ai is able to communicate with other people’s ai’s to solve problems or brainstorm ideas. it reflects your intelliigence, characteristics, quirks and more!

i think it would be pretty cool to have an ai version of myself when im too lazy to reply to people, what do you think?

its been built with majority python and some typescript on the front-end.

they make use of hierarchial memory modelling which is a “three-layer hierarchical structure from short-term interaction memory (immediate context) to long-term personalized cognitive memory.”

it also uses me-alignment which “transforms your scattered data into deep personalized understanding.”

you need to be using macOS to be able to contribute to the project and you’ll probably need good knowledge of python.

if you’re interested in ai and machine learning techniques this seems like a great project to work on.

2️⃣ 👋 Meet the Maintainer

usually this is an interview section but since this is the first edition it was challenging to find someone who was willing to be interviewed for a newsletter nobody knows about

however i did manage to find an interesting reddit post so that thought i’d share with you…

someone asked…

“what advice would you give to developers regarding maintaining a healthy mindset toward open source contributions?”

one of the answers were “open source becomes much more manageable and enjoyable if you remember that it's your hobby, not an unpaid job obligation.

Developers often lose sight of this, especially as their projects gain popularity and user reliance increases.

It's essential to strive for quality—fixing bugs and closing security holes—but it shouldn't become a source of undue stress or social pressure.”

i think the first part applies to more than just open source maintaining, making sure you are enjoying what you do is really important and not forgetting the reason you started doing something can really help staying consistent…

3️⃣ 🚩 First-Timers' Corner - OpenSeaDragon

this is a really simple project that is relatively simple to clone and start working on

see it in action and get started using it at https://openseadragon.github.io/.

if you’d like to start contributing to it go check out the link below which shows you step by step how to get started, this is perfect for a first issue.

https://github.com/openseadragon/openseadragon/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md

my tip of the week for contributing to oss is set to aside specific times for working on your projects, such as an hour a day or a few hours during the weekend.

blocking time specifically for getting an issue or two fixed is much better than only dedicating small amounts of time now and then

4️⃣ 🛠️ Tool of the Week - Oh My Zsh

Oh My Zsh is like a supercharged upgrade for your Zsh shell setup, it's got cool themes and plugins that put your terminal experience on steroids.

i’ve used this shell tool for ages now and i actually didn’t even know it was open source until recently.

if you want to level up your shell experience with a colourful terminals and tons of really cool plugins that integrate with vscode, git and even spotify i definitely recommend giving it a try.

5️⃣ 🧙‍♂️Bits of Wisdom

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