I have heard the term “open source” very frequently in my years studying Computer science but I never looked up or fully knew the definition of it. Initially, what comes to mind is that the code of the software is available to the public and I assumed that since it is accessible to anyone then it must be free. Some advantages of open source vs. closed source is the level of transparency associated with open source software. With more eyes on the product, greater levels of innovation could be acheived. There may also be a higher moral standing with open source since it must be freely accessible and not cost more than its reproduction costs. Some potential drawbacks of open source is the difficulty of getting it right with anyone accessing the source code. Security may also be a disadvantage as although many good developers will have access to the source code, some malicious actors will too. I enrolled in this class about open source software development because it seemed like it would be useful as a developer and just as a person. Contributing to open source projects will not only help you develop your skills but also allow you to make an impact on causes that you care most about.

Some open source projects I use regularly or have been inspired by are:

1. Visual Studia code - my goto code editor
2. Node.js - used this environment for all of my major web projects
3. React - have made a couple of school and personal projects using this library for the frontend
4. GIMP(image editor) - while I do not edit images often, when I do GIMP is the best open source image editing tool