Create CONTRIBUTING.md

.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

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+See the [Scientific Python Developer Guide][spc-dev-intro] for a detailed
+description of best practices for developing scientific packages.
+
+[spc-dev-intro]: https://scientific-python-cookie.readthedocs.io/guide/intro
+
+# Quick development
+
+The fastest way to start with development is to use nox. If you don't have nox,
+you can use `pipx run nox` to run it without installing, or `pipx install nox`.
+If you don't have pipx (pip for applications), then you can install with with
+`pip install pipx` (the only case were installing an application with regular
+pip is reasonable). If you use macOS, then pipx and nox are both in brew, use
+`brew install pipx nox`.
+
+To use, run `nox`. This will lint and test using every installed version of
+Python on your system, skipping ones that are not installed. You can also run
+specific jobs:
+
+```console
+$ nox -s lint  # Lint only
+$ nox -s tests  # Python tests
+$ nox -s docs -- serve  # Build and serve the docs
+$ nox -s build  # Make an SDist and wheel
+```
+
+Nox handles everything for you, including setting up an temporary virtual
+environment for each run.
+
+# Setting up a development environment manually
+
+You can set up a development environment by running:
+
+```bash
+python3 -m venv .venv
+source ./.venv/bin/activate
+pip install -v -e .[dev]
+```
+
+If you have the
+[Python Launcher for Unix](https://github.com/brettcannon/python-launcher), you
+can instead do:
+
+```bash
+py -m venv .venv
+py -m install -v -e .[dev]
+```
+
+# Post setup
+
+You should prepare pre-commit, which will help you by checking that commits pass
+required checks:
+
+```bash
+pip install pre-commit # or brew install pre-commit on macOS
+pre-commit install # Will install a pre-commit hook into the git repo
+```
+
+You can also/alternatively run `pre-commit run` (changes only) or
+`pre-commit run --all-files` to check even without installing the hook.
+
+# Testing
+
+Use pytest to run the unit checks:
+
+```bash
+pytest
+```
+
+# Coverage
+
+Use pytest-cov to generate coverage reports:
+
+```bash
+pytest --cov=caustics
+```
+
+# Building docs
+
+You can build the docs using:
+
+```bash
+nox -s docs
+```
+
+You can see a preview with:
+
+```bash
+nox -s docs -- serve
+```
+
+# Pre-commit
+
+This project uses pre-commit for all style checking. While you can run it with
+nox, this is such an important tool that it deserves to be installed on its own.
+Install pre-commit and run:
+
+```bash
+pre-commit run -a
+```
+
+to check all files.