Skip to main content
Back to news

A student's journey into open source

· 2 min read
Yuheng Ma

Personal Information​

Name: Yuheng Ma GitHub: https://github.com/hengyuss Email: hengyuss@apache.org

My First Encounter with Apache ShenYu Gateway​

One afternoon, I asked AI which open-source project I could contribute to. Apache ShenYu was the top recommendation, so I opened GitHub, downloaded the source code, and tried to run it.

While exploring the codebase, I found a TODO comment that I could address. As I recall, it was about adding validation support for URI matching rules. I fixed it and submitted my first pull request.

Community Participation and Growth​

In the ShenYu community, my ideas and questions always receive feedback, and community members are always willing to offer guidance. As a student, I have gained knowledge and experience that I could not have learned at school.

The community members are very kind and have given me a great deal of help. I would especially like to express my gratitude to Aias00. He has provided me with valuable guidance on both technology and career development.

Suggestions for Open-Source Developers​

Open GitHub, download the source code, and try to run the software you are interested in. You can choose a simple feature from the documentation, debug it, and then read the related code. I believe this is one of the most effective ways to learn.

Just do it, and do not be afraid of making mistakes.

Conclusion​

I will continue along this path and keep contributing to open source.