GitHub improvements Ideas

GitHub_Improvement_Ideas

Inspired by GitHub plugins like ZenHub and OctoTree, I thought of the following ideas to make the GitHub ecosystem better:

1. Karma Points:

Problem:
Some people create a lot of GitHub projects with very little code of their own and most of it being boilerplate. Their commit history also shows only insignificant changes.

There is a need for a proper points system in GitHub that reflects your true skill. More like StackOverflow points.

Possible solution:
Make wise use of data points like stars received, pull requests accepted, number of commits, diffs, etc. The solution could be based on human factors too, e.g. people gifting each other points, like Reddit Gold.

“Hey, that was an awesome piece of code! Here, have some GitHub Gold!”


2. Reading code:

Problem:
Reading code tremendously improves your understanding but amateur developers rarely read code. This is because it is usually difficult to find the essence of the code until you read dozens of lines.

Reading code should be made as interesting as viewing Instagram pictures.

Possible solution:
Problem with existing solutions like Codestagram is that mass-adoption can’t be gained until the whole process becomes interesting.

- Integrate with GitHub to get feedback on code and improve it. Everyone gets to contribute to open source.
- Tag each code snippet with a description and probably, hashtags. Readers go deeper into the code only if they like the description.
- How about inventing a different way to read code, that doesn’t take much time? It should ensure glancing through code, easy & quick.
- By doing this, amateur developers get to learn, contribute to and appreciate good code.


3. Plugin Ecosystem:

Problem:
We have to rely on browser plugins for GitHub. And they aren’t available for all browsers.

Possible solution:
Have a plugin marketplace on GitHub itself. This will ensure you get all those features on every browser.

Plugin creators can sell or give-away plugins that work with GitHub. This will improve discoverability and conversions.