This session is aimed at those who feel anxious about open source software (OSS), thinking, “Isn’t OSS something perfect, leaving no room for a novice programmer like me to contribute easily?” As a second-year Rust programmer, I will share my experiences of overcoming these fears and taking on the challenge of contributing to OSS. I will discuss the aspects of Rust that supported me, the points where I stumbled, and the difficulties and joys I encountered after starting my OSS activities.

First, I will share what aspects of OSS used to scare me in the past and how the reality turned out after gaining some experience, with the goal of lowering the barriers to participating in OSS. Next, I will explain some features of Rust, such as its rich type system with Result and Option, and how immutability and mutability are explicitly defined by types. This will hopefully spark interest in Rust among those who are either trying OSS for the first time or have yet to work with Rust.

Then, I will introduce common stumbling blocks for beginners. For example, Rust’s references include immutable (shared) references &T and mutable (exclusive) references &mut T, but in the case of data structures with internal mutability, even &T may not guarantee immutability. Additionally, I’ll share problems beginners might encounter, like the risk of deadlock when passing a Mutex directly to an if let. By sharing these issues, I aim to help reduce potential obstacles.

Finally, I will introduce my own crate. This crate is designed to improve runtime safety and provide efficient validation in Rust, and as my first self-made OSS project, I am excited to showcase it.