# Introduction

Welcome To OpenMRS

Write Code, Save Lives

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Thank you for your interest in the OpenMRS Community! We have created this book for people who are curious about becoming a developer using our software. This book serves as a quick guide for you to learn more about our history, what OpenMRS does, and understand more about how our community works.

If you find yourself eager to get started, we've also included some practical advice on specific steps you can take right away to start doing development with the OpenMRS platform.

# This is your book!

As with much of free and open source software, what you're reading is a "living" and evolving resource!

We welcome your feedback on this book. We want to know if it helps you get started as an OpenMRS developer, and what might be missing. Read about contributing to learn how to use the GitBook editor to make change requests via GitHub pull requests. If you are not up for proposing edits, you can send your feedback to community@openmrs.org or bring it up on OpenMRS Talk. We're ready to use your comments and input as we update this resource.

# Who Should Read This Book

Who are you exactly? We assume you are a software developer who is new to OpenMRS and someone who wants to learn more about the project and community that is OpenMRS. You're someone who shares our values and believes in our mission to improve health care delivery in resource-constrained environments by coordinating a global community to create and support this software. You're someone who wants to become a member of our community.

If you are not a developer and are more interested in implementation or a high level overview, then you may be more interested in the OpenMRS Implementer Guide.

Being New to OpenMRS Can Mean Different Things For Different People:

• You might be new to software development.
• You might be new to free and open source software projects.
• You might be new to health IT.
• You might just be new to OpenMRS specifically.

Regardless of what you know or how much you need to know, this book is designed for you!

# What You Will Gain

This book is designed to give you the knowledge, tools, and confidence to be an OpenMRS developer, no matter from which point you're starting. We'll give you a background and brief history of OpenMRS. We'll also talk about where we are now, and how we are working together to change the world.

At The End of This Book, You Should:

• Understand how the OpenMRS community interacts and communicates
• Have a development environment setup
• Understand the basics of the OpenMRS system
• Be able to troubleshoot OpenMRS with resources in the community.
• Know where to go to get started with your first contributions to the community.