Ask HN: What exciting open-source science projects can one contribute to?

The mooltipass project actually is looking for contributors for its next gen device! If you'd like to work on hardware (low power measurements, rf design), firmware (https://mooltipass.github.io/minible/) or software (https://github.com/mooltipass/moolticute) do not hesitate to drop us a message :).

I co-maintain CellProfiler. Contributions are always welcome!

https://github.com/CellProfiler/CellProfiler

I've always loved blender, it is open source and I'm sure they would love any contributions.

Airflow is a fun one. Currently in incubator phase with Apache so there is plenty of stuff to do especially if you like working with Python, Docker, JavaScript, web apps, etc.

https://github.com/apache/incubator-airflow

I'm working on an open source pure functional programming language called Lambda Zero that aims to be a simple and elegant base language from which to derive more advanced languages and eventually a foundation of mathematics. Like Haskell, it is basically just the lambda calculus with a bunch of syntactic sugars, so it's more a process of discovering the foundations of computation than inventing an arbitrary new language.

There is currently a bootstrap interpreter written in C that is under 2000 lines of code, a self-interpreter (~1200 lines), and a static type inferencer written in Lambda Zero (~400 lines). I'm currently implementing pattern matching lambdas and algebraic data types and I have a long roadmap of things to do. It would be great if someone was interested in writing an optimizing compiler for Lambda Zero in Lambda Zero.

https://github.com/clark800/lambda-zero

Great question. Anything that furthers the field and does not risk becoming irrelevant in 6 months would be an excellent bet.

+ Utilities for computers and disks are always useful and don't need much maintenance for long-term function/feasibility.

+ web frameworks that make web designing/dev easier (clojure[script], rails, python+django are all popular choices)

+ Look for a tool you commonly use or a service that's commonly requested.

Open worm is attempting to simulate C. elegans: a very simple multi-cellular organism completely. Atom by atom, cell by cell, neuron by neuron. Really cool project.

http://openworm.org/ https://github.com/openworm

VTK - Visualization ToolKit - strongly recommended if you want to work on a widely used, probably defacto, scientific visualization library, a great 3D domain to work on IMHO.

Backed by a ton of resources, documentation and excellent community; that will be fun.

https://www.aosabook.org/en/vtk.html, is a good start.

WordPress may be old news but the new Gutenberg editor has the potential to disrupt the most popular CMS on earth. Helping make this a success isnt sexy but it is meaningful.

I think the best and most exciting projects to contribute to are the ones you actually use and want to help make better.