As far as I have studied about the code it's in java. If you wish to begin it from basic of database, you can go for installation. You should go through documentations also. Explore your interest and surf as much as you can.
All the best!
> Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2014 15:35:24 +0000
> From: djkonro35@gmail.com
> To: maria-developers@lists.launchpad.net
> Subject: [Maria-developers] Interest in contributing to MariaDB
>
> Hello
>
> My name is Djimeli Konrad and i am primarily a c/c++
> programmer with some experience in php and mysql. I am new to open
> source and would like to contribute to mariadb so i wish i could get
> some pointers on how to begin.
>
> Thanks
> konrad
>
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