Finalize contributions document

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -44,14 +44,148 @@ If you are proposing a feature:
 Development Prerequisites
 -------------------------
 
-To set up `envector`, you need the following prerequisites
+To set up `envector` on your local host for development, you only need the Git application. You can download Git using
+your distributions preferred method (dnf, yum, apt-get, brew) or using GitHub Desktop. 
+
+The following are optional, but recommended.
 
-* Git
 * The CPython interpreter version 3.12
    * You can install it using official binaries, pyenv, or any Anaconda-like distribution 
-* The [PDM](https://pdm-project.org/latest/) application installed.
+* The [PDM](https://pdm-project.org/latest/) application for locking, building, and testing.
+* Dedicated IDE like PyCharm, Spyder, or [VSCodium](https://vscodium.com/) to name a few. These allow more flexible git
+  control.
 
 
 Development Steps
 -----------------
 
+1. [Fork envector on GitHub](https://github.com/mhogan-nwra/envector)
+
+2. Clone your fork locally. Using the command line would be:
+
+   ```shell
+   git clone git@github.com/<USER>/envector.git
+   ```
+
+3. Create a branch for local development. Using the command line would be:
+
+   ```shell
+   git checkout -b name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature
+   ```
+   Now you can make changes and commit them.
+
+4. When you're done making changes, run all the checks to ensure that nothing
+   is broken on your local system. To run tests locally, you should install a PDM virtual environment 
+   first
+
+   ```shell
+   pdm use -i 3.12  # Automatically searches for Python3.12
+   pdm use /path/to/python3.12  # Instead specify path to Python3.12
+   pdm install -L pdm_<PLATFORM>.lock  # Replace <PLATFORM> with linux, windows
+   ```
+
+    Now you can run tests
+
+    ```shell
+    pdm run pytest 
+    ```
+
+   If you have multiple Pythons installed to your path (3.9+), then you can use nox
+
+   ```shell
+   pdm run nox
+   ```
+
+5. Run any linting or style compliance program. Currently `envector` does not have any, but a suggestion would be 
+appreciated.
+
+6. Update/add documentation (in ``docs``), if relevant.
+
+7. Add your name to the ``AUTHORS.rst`` file as an author.
+
+8. Commit your changes. Using the command line would be:
+
+   ```shell
+   git add <FILE1> <FILE2> ... <FILEN>
+   git commit -m "TAG: Brief description. Longer description later."
+   ```
+
+   The `envector` package does not follow any development workflows at this time, but one should be adopted like NumPy
+   workflow with tags.
+
+9. Once you are happy with the local changes, push to GitHub:
+
+   ```
+   git push origin name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature
+   ```
+
+   Note that each push will trigger the Continuous Integration workflow. Check the ``Actions`` tab on your fork 
+   repository home like github.com/<USER>/envector/actions
+
+10. Submit a pull request through the GitHub website. Pull requests should be
+    made to the ``main`` branch (subject to change).  Note that automated tests will be run on
+    GitHub actions, but these must be initialized by a member of the team.
+
+
+Pull Request Guidelines
+-----------------------
+
+If you need some code review or feedback while you're developing the code, just
+make a pull request. Pull requests should be made to the ``main`` branch (subject to change).
+
+For merging, you should:
+
+1. Include an example for use
+2. Add a note to `CHANGELOG.rst` about the changes
+3. Update the author list in `AUTHORS.rst` if applicable
+4. Ensure that all checks passed (current checks include GitHub Actions)
+
+If you don't have all the necessary Python versions available locally or have
+trouble building all the testing environments, you can rely on GitHub Actions
+to run the tests for each change you add in the pull request. Because testing
+here will delay tests by other developers, please ensure that the code passes
+all tests on your local system first.
+
+Project Style Guidelines
+------------------------
+
+The `envector` project follows the 
+[Napoleon NumPy style](https://sphinxcontrib-napoleon.readthedocs.io/en/latest/#google-vs-numpy) with type-hinting. 
+A good example is the following:
+
+```python
+def add_function(x1: int, x2: float) -> float:
+    """Adds two numbers
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    x1 : int
+        An integer value
+    x2 : float
+        A floating-point value
+    
+    Returns
+    -------
+    float
+        The sum of the inputs.
+        
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> add_function(
+    ...     1,
+    ...     2.
+    ... )
+    3.
+    """
+    return x1 + x2 
+```
+In the case you cannot type-hint, try to be as descriptive in the docstrings as possible. Try to add docstring
+examples using the `>>>` and `...` notation. 
+
+Other choices include: 
+
+* Block and inline comments should use proper English grammar and punctuation
+  except with single sentences in a block, which may then omit the
+  final period.
+
+Further stylistic choices will be evaluated later.