docs: contributing guide (#1970)

* Adds basic contributing guides.
* Simplifies Python development with a Makefile.

python/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Contributing to LanceDB Python
+
+This document outlines the process for contributing to LanceDB Python.
+For general contribution guidelines, see [CONTRIBUTING.md](../CONTRIBUTING.md).
+
+## Project layout
+
+The Python package is a wrapper around the Rust library, `lancedb`. We use
+[pyo3](https://pyo3.rs/) to create the bindings between Rust and Python.
+
+* `src/`: Rust bindings source code
+* `python/lancedb`: Python package source code
+* `python/tests`: Unit tests
+
+## Development environment
+
+To set up your development environment, you will need to install the following:
+
+1. Python 3.9 or later
+2. Cargo (Rust's package manager). Use [rustup](https://rustup.rs/) to install.
+3. [protoc](https://grpc.io/docs/protoc-installation/) (Protocol Buffers compiler)
+
+Create a virtual environment to work in:
+
+```bash
+python -m venv venv
+source venv/bin/activate
+pip install maturin
+```
+
+### Commit Hooks
+
+It is **highly recommended** to install the pre-commit hooks to ensure that your
+code is formatted correctly and passes basic checks before committing:
+
+```bash
+make develop # this will install pre-commit itself
+pre-commit install
+```
+
+## Development
+
+Most common development commands can be run using the Makefile.
+
+Build the package
+
+```shell
+make develop
+```
+
+Format:
+
+```shell
+make format
+```
+
+Run tests:
+
+```shell
+make test
+make doctest
+```
+
+To run a single test, you can use the `pytest` command directly. Provide the path
+to the test file, and optionally the test name after `::`.
+
+```shell
+# Single file: test_table.py
+pytest -vv python/tests/test_table.py
+# Single test: test_basic in test_table.py
+pytest -vv python/tests/test_table.py::test_basic
+```
+
+To see all commands, run:
+
+```shell
+make help
+```