Please give a brief introduction of yourself

I am Kushal Das, Fedora Ambassador and contributor. I also co-ordinate Linux User Group of Durgapur. I love python and try to contribute to different FOSS projects.


What are your contributions to FOSS projects ?

I am a Fedora Ambassador and contributor. In Fedora project I worked in different sub groups. I started contributing as an Ambassador and become a package maintainer , now I maintain around 19 packages in Fedora. I also contributed the L10N project as a bengali translator, when I was in college I started working as a KDE translator. I also worked with artwork and docs team in between.

I am also upstream for sparcy, translation-filter, pony, mediascrapper. Other than Fedora I have also contributed to few more FOSS projects like  OpenPCD, Lekhonee, Jukebox, KDE, Boog.

What will your workshop be, exactly ?

In this workshop we will start from the very basics of programming and will go through Python as a general programming language. Then in the later stage we will see how easy it becomes to contribute in many big FOSS projects using Python and how students can benefit from it.


What do you hope to accomplish by conducting this workshop? What do  you expect ?

I expect to have at least one student who will keep contributing to FOSS projects.


When was your first contribution to Fedora project and what was it ?

In 2006 I started working as a Fedora Ambassador and worked on the marketing team.


What’s the most important piece of advice you would give to people working on their first contribution to any FOSS project ?

There is no “small contribution”, every contribution is big, just try to enjoy it.


Why did you chose python over other programing languages ?

Very easy to learn and support of vast set of libraries.


How do you use python in your day-to-day activities. ?

I use it for my day job to all FOSS projects I work.


What advice will you give to programmers moving from other languages to python ?

It is easy, don’t try to think as it is a very difficult thing to learn.


Have you enjoyed previous editions of gnunify ?

I never managed to attend previously :( But I know for that I am going to enjoy this time.