The Beginning
The coding club of Indian Institute of Information Technology Kalyani has for long time been thinking of the field of open soure development.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has become an international phenomenon, moving from relative obscurity to being the latest buzzword in a few short years. However, there is still a lack of understanding about what really constitutes FOSS and the ramifications of this new concept.This was precisely why we felt that the students of this prestigious institiute should absorb this concept right from the start.
Introduction
IIIT Kalyani since long had a culture that encouraged students to take up competitive coding, but there is a another side of the coin. While competitive coding helps significantly in improving one's ability to implement complex logic in code and deepens the understanding of data structures and algorithms. It almost always after a certain level tends to move away from practicality. The work that a professional software engineer/developer does requires additional skills - learning how to contribute to open source projects, latest web technologies, modern mobile app development, robotics, operating systems, database management systems etc. are almost as essential as having a sound background in data structures and algorithms.
Goal
IIIT Kalyani Free and Open Source Community is here to bridge this gap, to create a culture that puts equal emphasis on approach to software development and the underlying implementation/algorithmic details. We regularly organise events to encourage students and promote open source softwares.Free and open source society matters, especially for students and young developers because it is real and because the students can really look into the source code, understand it, contribute to it and ultimately learn about the technology in the process. Without FOSS, anyone looking for a real world experience in contributing to the world of open source software development will face disappointment.
