We ❤️ Open Source Software

Open source software powers the world around us today. The majority of digital products, services and infrastructure you interface with were built off the backs of open source software. The Internet we know and love today wouldn’t exist without it!

It goes without saying then, that open source software is a critical part of our society. In tribute to it, here are a few OSS projects we know and love; some were even used to build this site.

Gatsby JS

A web framework for developing fast websites in ReactJS. At the heart of Gatsby is its build system that generates static files intended to be cached and delivered via a CDN. This technique is commonly referred to as static site generation and allows the initial load of your site to be almost instantaneous.

React JS

If you have been in the web development profession for at least the last five years you’ve either wanted to use React or you already are using it. React is a JavaScript library used to build declarative user interfaces using composable and reusable components. The intuitive nature of the declarative UI approach could be the biggest influence in React’s rise to fame. There have since been other declarative UI libraries developed since React. However, the principles of declarative, composable and event-driven UI remain the same.

Ink

We first learned about this project from a blog post written by Twilio discussing how they built a CLI using React. From the post we discovered that Ink is a library similar to react-dom but for the command line. It enables developers to create declarative UI components in the same way they would for the web, allowing for component sharing across the platforms.

Rust

Rust is a systems programming language with memory-safety and a state of the art compiler developed from everything the industry has learned from decades of security vulnerabilities and common runtime bugs. If you enjoy systems programming (or any kind of low-level programming) Rust may be your next challenge to take on.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is a state of the art container orchestration system. If you work in web technologies it’s likely that you have at least heard of Kubernetes in the last few years. It was originally developed internally by Google but is now open-source and part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

OpenSSL

OpenSSL is the toolkit that provides the security layer on the web with the majority of sites using it to encrypt data transfer. It also doubles as a general-purpose cryptography library that can be used to encrypt and decrypt information locally (among other functions).

OpenJDK

OpenJDK is the open source implementation of the Java Platform. More specifically, it includes the open source implementation of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and the development toolkit (JDK) that allows developers to write and compile Java code. It is distributed with the GPLv2 license which makes it perfect for small businesses or individuals using Java in a production system. Although there are some minor differences between OracleJDK and OpenJDK, freedom for the Java Platform via the GPL license will ensure that it lives a long and prosperous life.

Linux

It’s unlikely that the Internet would exist at the scale it does today without the Linux kernel. The majority of cloud infrastructure runs on an OS that uses the Linux kernel at it’s core. You also likely use the Linux kernel daily if you are part of the 72% of mobile owners worldwide that has an Android phone. Nearly every Internet user will come across the Linux kernel in some form, usually without even knowing it.

And Every Other Open Source Project

It would be impossible to even cover 0.1% of all the open source projects that are available around the globe. Invariably these projects power the world we know today. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to find a corporation or company that does not make use of open source software in some way. If you can, try support a project you enjoy or use by contributing back or providing financial assistance to ensure they prosper for the years to come.