Summer of Code - Getting Started: Difference between revisions

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The following is largely distilled from the [[Projects]] page for the benefit of potential [https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com Google] and [https://socis.esa.int/ ESA] Summer of Code (SoC) students. Although students are welcome to attempt any of the projects in that page or any of their own choosing, here we offer some suggestions on what good student projects might be.
{{Note|GNU Octave [https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/organizations/5849336744771584/ has been selected] as mentoring organization for GSoC 2021.}}


You can also take a look at last years [[Summer of Code]] projects for inspiration.
Since 2011 the GNU Octave project has mentored 38 students in [[Summer of Code]] (SoC) programs by [https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/ Google] and [https://socis.esa.int/ ESA].  Those programs aim to advertise open-source software development and to attract potential new Octave developers.


= Steps Toward a Successful Application =
= Steps toward a successful application =


== Help Us Get To Know You ==
# 😉💬 '''We want to get to know you. Communicate with us.'''
* If you aren't communicating with us before the application is due, your application will not be accepted.
#* Join [https://octave.discourse.group/ '''Octave Discourse'''] or our [https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#octave '''IRC channel'''].
*:* '''Join the [https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/octave-maintainers maintainers mailing list]''' or read the archives and see what topics we discuss and how the developers interact with each other.
#* We are interested in you as motivated developer 💻  There is no need to present an overwhelming CV with prestigious universities 🏰 and programming contest awards 🏆 in it.  We are very fine if you just communicate using a nickname with us.  
*:* '''Hang out in our [https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#octave IRC channel]'''. Ask questions, answer questions from users, show us that you are motivated and well-prepared. There will be more applicants than we can effectively mentor, so do ask for feedback on your public application to increase the strength of your proposal!
#* If your first question is "Hi I'm new to Octave. What should I do?" '''you are out''' 🤦
* '''Do not wait for us to tell you what to do'''
# 📝💡 '''Tell us what you are going to do.'''
*: You should be doing something that interests you, and should not need us to tell you what to do. Similarly, you shouldn't ask us what to do either.
#* When you contact us for the first time, do not write just to say in what project you're interested in. Be specific about what you are going to do, post many links 🔗, show us you know what you are talking about 💡, and ask many [http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html smart questions] 🤓
*:* When you email the list and mentors, do not write just to say in what project you're interested. Be specific about your questions and clear on the email subject. For example, do not write an email with the subject "GSoC student interested in the ND images projects".  Such email is likely to be ignored.  Instead, show you are already working on the topic, and email "Problem implementing morphological operators with bitpacked ND images".
#* Remember, '''we are voluntary developers and not your boss''' 🙂
*:* It is good to ask advice on how to solve something you can't, but you must show some work done.  Remember, we are mentors and not your boss.  Read [http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html How to ask questions the smart way]: <blockquote>''Prepare your question. Think it through. Hasty-sounding questions get hasty answers, or none at all. The more you do to demonstrate that having put thought and effort into solving your problem before seeking help, the more likely you are to actually get help.''</blockquote>
# 👩‍🔬 '''Get your hands dirty.'''
*:* It can be difficult at the beginning to think on something to do.  This is nature of free and open source software development.  You will need to break the mental barrier that prevents you from thinking on what can be done.  Once you do that, you will have no lack of ideas for what to do next.
#* We are curious about your programming skills ⌨️
*:* Use Octave.  Eventually you will come across something that does not work the way you like.  Fix thatOr you will come across a missing function.  Implement it. It may be a hard problem (they usually are). While solving that problem, you may find other missing capabilities or smaller bug fixes. Implement and contribute those to Octave.
#** Try to [https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=octave fix Octave bugs] or [https://savannah.gnu.org/patch/?group=octave submit patches] '''before''' the end of the application deadline.
*:* Take a look at the [[Short projects]] for something that may be simple to start with.
#** Take a look at the [[Short projects]] for simple bugs to start with.
#* '''Use Octave!'''
#** If you come across something that does not work the way you like ➡️ try to fix that 🔧
#** Or you come across a missing function ➡️ try to implement it.
# 📔 '''Prepare your proposal with us.'''
#* GSoC, for example, [https://google.github.io/gsocguides/student/writing-a-proposal requires to submit a proposal].
#* If we see your proposal for the first time after the application deadline, you can easily imagine that it might contain ambiguities or some paragraphs are not fully clear to us. We easily get doubts if you are capable of working on your project 😓
#* Try to show us as early as possible a draft of your proposal 👍


==  Find Something That Interests You ==
= How do we judge your application? =
*: It's '''critical''' that you '''find a project that excites you'''.  You'll be spending most of the summer working on it (we expect you to treat the SoC as a job).
*: Don't just tell us how interested you are, show us that you're willing and able to '''contribute''' to Octave. You can do that by [https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?group=octave fixing a few bugs] or [https://savannah.gnu.org/patch/?group=octave submitting patches] well before the deadline, in addition to regularly interacting with Octave maintainers and users on the mailing list and IRC. Our experience shows us that successful SoC students demonstrate their interest early and often.
== Prepare Your Proposal With Us ==
*: By working with us to prepare your proposal, you'll be getting to know us and showing us how you approach problems. The best place for this is your Wiki user page and the [https://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#octave IRC channel].
==  Complete Your Application ==
*: Fill out our '''''public''''' application template.
*:* This is best done by '''[[Special:CreateAccount|creating an account at this wiki]]''', and copying the '''[[Template:Student_application_template_public|template]]''' from its page.
*:* You really only need to copy and answer the '''''public''''' part there, there is no need to showcase everything else to everybody reading your user page!
*: Fill out our '''''private''''' application template.
*:* This is best done by copying the '''[[Template:Student_application_template_private|template]]''' from its page and '''adding the required information to your application at Google (melange)''' or at '''ESA'''.<br>
*:* Only the organization admin and the possible mentors will see this data.  You can still edit it after submitting, until the deadline!


== Things You'll be Expected to Know or Quickly Learn On Your Own ==
Depending on the mentors and SoC program there are varieties, but typically the main factors considered would be:


Octave is mostly written in C++ and its own scripting language that is mostly compatible with Matlab. There are bits and pieces of Fortran, Perl, C, awk, and Unix shell scripts here and there. In addition to being familiar with C++ and Octave's scripting language, successful applicants will be familiar with or able to quickly learn about Octave's infrastructure. You can't spend the whole summer learning how to build Octave or prepare a changeset and still successfully complete your project.
* '''You have demonstrated interest in Octave and an ability to make substantial modifications to Octave'''
*: The most important thing is that you've contributed some interesting code samples to judge your skills. It's OK during the application period to ask for help on how to format these code samples, which normally are Mercurial patches.


* '''The Build System'''
* '''You showed understanding of your topic'''
*: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_build_system The GNU build system] is used to build Octave.
*: Your proposal should make it clear that you're reasonably well versed in the subject area and won't need all summer just to read up on it.
*: While you generally don't need to understand too much unless you actually want to change how Octave is built, you should be able to understand enough to get a general idea of how to build Octave.
*: If you've ever done a {{Codeline|./configure && make && make install}} series of commands, you have already used the GNU build system.
*: '''You must demonstrate that you are able to build the development version of Octave from sources before the application deadline.''' Linux is arguably the easiest system to work on. Instructions:
*:* [[Building]]
*:* [https://octave.org/doc/interpreter/Installation.html Octave Manual on Installing Octave]
* '''The Version Control System'''
*: We use [https://www.mercurial-scm.org/ Mercurial] (abbreviated hg).
*: Mercurial is the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Version_Control_System distributed version control system] (DVCS) we use for managing our source code. You should have some basic understanding of how a DVCS works, but hg is pretty easy to pick up, especially if you already know a VCS like git or svn.
* '''The Procedure for Contributing Changesets'''
*: You will be expected to follow the same procedures as other contributors and core developers.
*: You will be helping current and future Octave developers by using our standard style for changes, commit messages, and so on.  You should also read the same [[Contribution guidelines | contribution]] [https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/etc/HACKING.md guidelines] we have for everyone.
*: [[Hg_instructions_for_mentors#Mercurial_Tips_for_SoC_students | This page]] describes the procedures students are expected to use to publicly display their progress in a public mercurial repo during their work.
* '''The Maintainers Mailing List'''
*: We primarily use [https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/octave-maintainers mailing lists] for communication among developers.
*: The mailing list is used most often for discussions about non-trivial changes to Octave, or for setting the direction of development.
*: You should follow basic mailing list etiquette. For us, this mostly means "do not [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Top-posting top post]".
* '''The IRC Channel'''
*: We also have [http://webchat.freenode.net?channels=octave the #octave IRC channel in Freenode].
*: You should be familiar with the IRC channel.  It's very helpful for new contributors (you) to get immediate feedback on ideas and code.
*: Unless your primary mentor has a strong preference for some other method of communication, the IRC channel might be your primary means of communicating with your mentor and Octave developers.
* '''The Octave Forge Project'''
*: [https://octave.sourceforge.io/ Octave Forge] is a collection of contributed packages that enhance the capabilities of core Octave. They are somewhat analogous to Matlab's toolboxes.
* '''Related Skills'''
*: In addition, you probably should know '''some''' mathematics, engineering, experimental science, or something of the sort.
*: If so, you probably have already been exposed to the kinds of problems that Octave is used for.


== Criteria by which applications are judged ==
* '''Well thought out, adequately detailed, realistic project plan'''
*: "I'm good at this, so trust me" isn't enough.  In your proposal, you should describe which algorithms you'll use and how you'll integrate with existing Octave code.  You should also prepare a project timeline and goals for the midterm and final evaluations.
 
= What you should know about Octave =


These might vary somewhat depending on the mentors and coordinators for a particular Summer of Code, but typically the main factors considered would be:
GNU Octave is mostly written in C++ and its own scripting language that is mostly compatible with Matlab. There are bits and pieces of Fortran, Perl, C, awk, and Unix shell scripts here and there. In addition to being familiar with C++ and Octave's scripting language, you as successful applicant will be familiar with or able to quickly learn about Octave's infrastructure. You can't spend the whole summer learning how to build Octave or prepare a changeset and still successfully complete your project 😇


* '''Applicant has demonstrated an ability to make substantial modifications to Octave'''
You should know:
*: The most important thing is that you've contributed some interesting code samples to judge you by. It's OK during the application period to ask for help on how to format these code samples, which normally are Mercurial patches.
# How to build Octave from it's source code using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_build_system the GNU build system].
#* Read in this wiki: [[Developer FAQ]], [[Building]]
#* Tools to know: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection gcc], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_(software) make]
# How to submit patches (changesets).
#* Read in this wiki: [[Contribution guidelines]], [[Mercurial]]
#* Tools to know: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercurial Mercurial (hg)], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git git]


* '''Applicant shows understanding of topic'''
= Suggested projects =
*: Your application should make it clear that you're reasonably well versed in the subject area and won't need all summer just to read up on it.


* '''Applicant shows understanding of and interest in Octave development'''
The following suggested projects are distilled from the [[Projects]] page for the benefit of potential SoC students.  You can also look at our [[Summer of Code|completed past projects]] for more inspiration.
*: The best evidence for this is previous contributions and interactions.


* '''Well thought out, adequately detailed, realistic project plan'''
{{Note|Do you use Octave at your university or do you have some numerical project in mind?  You are always welcome to '''propose your own projects'''. If you are passionate about your project, it will be easy to find an Octave developer to mentor and guide you.}}
*: "I'm good at this, so trust me" isn't enough. You should describe which algorithms you'll use and how you'll integrate with existing Octave code. You should also prepare a full timeline and goals for the midterm and final evaluations.


= Suggested projects =
== ode15{i,s} : Matlab Compatible DAE solvers ==


The following projects are broadly grouped by category and probable skills required to tackle each. Remember to check [[Projects]] for more ideas if none of these suit you, and your own ideas are always welcome. You can also look at our [[Summer of Code|completed past projects]] for more inspiration.
An initial implementation of Matlab compatible Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE) solvers, {{manual|ode15i}} and {{manual|ode15s}}, based on [https://computing.llnl.gov/projects/sundials SUNDIALS],
was done by [https://gsoc2016ode15s.blogspot.com/ Francesco Faccio during GSoC 2016].  The code is maintained in the main Octave repository and consists mainly of the following three files: [https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/libinterp/dldfcn/__ode15__.cc {{path|libinterp/dldfcn/__ode15__.cc}}], [https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/scripts/ode/ode15i.m {{path|scripts/ode/ode15i.m}}] and [https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/scripts/ode/ode15s.m {{path|scripts/ode/ode15s.m}}].


{{Note|These are suggested projects but you are welcome to propose your own projects provided you find an Octave mentor}}
The {{manual|decic}} function for selecting consistent initial conditions for ode15i can be made more Matlab compatible by using [https://faculty.smu.edu/shampine/cic.pdf another algorithm].  Another useful extension is to make ode15{i,s} work with datatypes other than double and to improve interpolation at intermediate time steps.


== Numerical ==
* '''Required skills'''
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; familiarity with numerical methods for DAEs
* '''Potential mentors'''
: Francesco Faccio, Carlo de Falco, Marco Caliari, Jacopo Corno, Sebastian Schöps


These projects involve implementing certain mathematical functions, primarily in core Octave.
== Using Python within Octave ==


=== ode15{i,s} : Matlab Compatible DAE solvers ===
[[Pythonic]] allows one to call Python functions and interact with Python objects from within Octave .m file code and from the Octave command line interface.  Pythonic may eventually not be a separate package, but rather a core feature of Octave.  This project aims to improve Pythonic with the goal of making the package more stable, maintainable, and full-featured.


An initial implementation of a Matlab compatible ode15{i,s} solver,
Based on a previous summer project related to Pythonic, this work will consist of fast-paced collaborative software development based on tackling the [https://gitlab.com/mtmiller/octave-pythonic/issues Pythonic issue list]. You would also be expected to participate in software design decisions and discussion, as well as improve documentation, doctests, and unit tests. As an example of the sorts of decisions being made, note that Octave indexes from 1 whereas Python typically indexes from 0; in which cases is it appropriate to make this transparent to the user?
based on [http://computation.llnl.gov/projects/sundials SUNDIALS],
was done by Francesco Faccio during
GSOC 2016.
The blog describing the work is [http://gsoc2016ode15s.blogspot.it/ here].
The resulting code has been pushed into the main Octave repository in the development branch and
consists mainly of the following three files
[https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/libinterp/dldfcn/__ode15__.cc __ode15__.cc],
[https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/scripts/ode/ode15i.m ode15i.m] and
[https://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/file/tip/scripts/ode/ode15s.m ode15s.m].
The list of outstanding tracker tickets concerning this implementation can be found
[https://savannah.gnu.org/search/?Search=Search&words=ode15&type_of_search=bugs&only_group_id=1925&exact=1&max_rows=25#options here]


Possible useful improvements that could be done in a new project include:
* '''Required skills'''
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++, Python
* '''Potential mentors'''
: Mike Miller, Colin B. Macdonald, Abhinav Tripathi


* Implement a better function for selecting consistent initial conditions compatible with Matlab's decic.m. The algorithm to use is described [http://faculty.smu.edu/shampine/cic.pdf here]
== Improve TIFF image support ==


* make ode15{i,s} work with datatypes other than double
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIFF Tag Image File Format (TIFF)] is the de facto standard for scientific images.  Octave uses the [http://www.graphicsmagick.org/ GraphicsMagic] (GM) C++ library to handle [http://www.graphicsmagick.org/formats.html TIFF and many others image formats]. However, GM still has several limitations:


* improve interpolation at intermediate time steps.
* GM has build option {{codeline|quantum}} which defines the bitdepth to use when reading an image:
** Building GM with '''high quantum''' means that images of smaller bitdepth will take a lot more memory when reading.
** Building GM with '''low quantum''' will make it impossible to read images of higher bitdepth. It also means that the image needs to always be rescaled to the correct range.
* GM supports unsigned integers only, thus incorrectly reading files such as TIFF with floating-point data.
* GM hides details of the image such as whether the image file is indexed.  This makes it hard to access the real data stored on file.


* general code profiling and optimization
This project aims to implement better TIFF image support using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libtiff libtiff], while leaving GM handle all other image formats.  After writing a [https://octave.org/doc/v6.1.0/classdef-Classes.html classdef] interface to libtiff, improve the Octave functions {{manual|imread}}, {{manual|imwrite}}, and {{manual|imfinfo}} to make use of it.


Other tasks, not strictly connected to ode15{i,s} but closely related, that could be added
to a possible project plan would be improving documentation and tests in odepkg and removing
overlaps with the documentation in core Octave.
* '''Required skills'''
* '''Required skills'''
: C++; C; familiarity with numerical methods for DAEs; Basic knowledge of makefiles and/or autotools.
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
* '''Difficulty'''
: Medium.
* '''Potential mentors'''
* '''Potential mentors'''
: Francesco Faccio, Carlo de Falco, Marco Caliari, Jacopo Corno, Sebastian Schöps
: Carnë Draug


== Adding functionality to packages ==
== PolarAxes and Plotting Improvements ==


Octave currently provides supports for polar axes by using a Cartesian 2-D axes and adding a significant number of properties and callback listeners to get things to work.  What is needed is the implementation of a dedicated "polaraxes" object in C++.  This will require creating a new fundamental graphics object type, and programming in C++/OpenGL to render the object.  When "polaraxes" exists as an object type, then m-files will be written to access them, including polaraxes.m, polarplot.m, rticks.m, rticklabels.m, thetaticks, thetaticklabels.m, rlim.m, thetalim.m.  This relates to bug {{bug|49804}}.


=== EPA hydrology software suite ===
* '''Required skills'''
Create native interfaces to the EPA software suites.
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; optional experience with OpenGL programming
* '''Potential mentors'''
: Rik


Starting points
== Table datatype ==
* [https://forja.cica.es/projects/epanet-octave/ epanet-octave].
* [https://github.com/OpenWaterAnalytics/ Open Water Analytics]


* '''SWMM'''
In 2013, Matlab introduced a [https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/tables.html new table datatype] to conveniently organize and access data in tabular form.  This datatype has not been introduced to Octave yet (see bug {{bug|44571}}).  However, there are two initial implementation approaches https://github.com/apjanke/octave-tablicious and https://github.com/gnu-octave/table.
** [https://www.epa.gov/water-research/storm-water-management-model-swmm Official page]
** Check work done in [https://github.com/water-systems/MatSWMM MatSWMM] [http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/132982/1/MatSWMM.pdf article]


* '''EPANET'''
Based upon the existing approaches, the goal of this project is to define an initial subset of [https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/tables.htmlMatlab's table functions], which involve sorting, splitting, merging, and file I/O and implement it within the given time frame.
** [https://www.epa.gov/water-research/epanet Official page]


* '''Required skills'''
* '''Required skills'''
: m-file scripting, C, C++, API knowledge, file I/O, classdef (optional).
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
* '''Potential mentors'''
: [[User:siko1056|Kai]]


* '''Difficulty'''
== Jupyter Notebook Integration ==
: easy/medium


* '''Mentor'''
<q>The [https://jupyter.org Jupyter Notebook] is an open-source web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and narrative text.</q>
: [[User:KaKiLa|KaKiLa]]


===  FullSWOF overland flow simulator ===
To interactively work with Octave code within Jupyter Notebooks, there already exists an [https://github.com/Calysto/octave_kernel Octave kernel for Jupyter].
Create scripting tools for (optional: native interfaces).


Starting points
'''This project''' aims to support the '''opposite direction''': running (and filling) Jupyter Notebook within GNU Octave. This would enable Jupyter Notebook users to evaluate '''long running Octave Notebooks''' on a computing server without permanent browser connection, which is [https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/issues/1647 still a pending issue].  To achieve this, different strategies are possible:
* [https://www.idpoisson.fr/fullswof/ The FullSWOF Project].
* [https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.3210 FullSWOF: A software for overland flow simulation]
* [https://bitbucket.org/binello7/fswof2d Initial work on Bitbucket]


* '''Required skills'''
# Synchronize an internal Octave data structure (e.g. classdef object) with the Jupyter Notebook.  Probably the safest approach, but does not enable any interactivity from the Octave GUI.
: m-file scripting, C, C++, API knowledge, file I/O, classdef (optional).  
# Import/export a Jupyter Notebook as Octave script (translate non-code sections to comments and vice versa).  Files can be edited from the Octave GUI, but probably conversion losses might occur (e.g. embedded graphics).
# A synthesis of both approaches?


* '''Difficulty'''
In general a [https://nbformat.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ Jupyter Notebook] is a plain JSON document, which will be supported in Octave 7 (current development version) or through the [https://gnu-octave.github.io/pkg-index/package/pkg-json JSON package] for older Octave versions.
: easy/medium


* '''Mentor'''
* '''Required skills'''
: [[User:KaKiLa|KaKiLa]]
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
* '''Potential mentors'''
: [[User:siko1056|Kai]]


=== TISEAN package ===
== Adding functionality to packages ==


[http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/Tisean_3.0.1/index.html TISEAN] is a suite of code for nonlinear time series analysis. It has been [[TISEAN package | partially re-implemented]] as libre software. The objective is to integrate TISEAN as an Octave Forge package, as was done for the Control package.
=== OCS package ===
[[TISEAN_package | A lot has been completed]] but [[TISEAN_package:Procedure | there is still work left to do]].


There are missing functions to do computations on spike trains, to simulate autoregresive models, to create specialized plots, etc. Do check [[TISEAN_package:Procedure#Table_of_functions|the progress of the project]] to see if you are interested.
The [[Ocs package | OCS package]] is a circuit simulator. The objective of this project is to increase compatibility with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPICE SPICE] and improve compatibility with other Octave packages, e.g. the [[Control package]].  Please study the [https://octave.sourceforge.io/ocs/overview.html available functions] of this package.
* [http://octave.sourceforge.net/tisean/overview.html Package help at source forge.]  
* [https://sourceforge.net/p/octave/tisean/ci/default/tree/ Package repository at source forge.]  


* '''Required skills'''
* '''Required skills'''
: m-file scripting, C, C++, and FORTRAN API knowledge.
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; FORTRAN API knowledge
* '''Difficulty'''
* '''Potential mentors'''
: easy/medium
: Sebastian Schöps, Carlo de Falco
* '''Mentor'''
: [[User:KaKiLa|KaKiLa]]


=== Symbolic package ===
=== Symbolic package ===


Octave's [https://github.com/cbm755/octsympy Symbolic package] provides symbolic computing and other [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_algebra_system computer algebra system] tools.  The main component of Symbolic is a pure m-file class "@sym" which uses the Python package [https://www.sympy.org SymPy] to do (most of) the actual computations.  The package aims to expose the full functionality of SymPy while also providing a high level of compatibility with the Matlab Symbolic Math Toolbox.  The Symbolic package requires communication between Octave and Python.  A GSoC2016 project successfully re-implemented this communication using the new [[Pythonic|Pythonic package]].
The [[Symbolic package]] provides symbolic computing and other [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_algebra_system computer algebra system] tools.  The main component of Symbolic is a pure m-file class "@sym" which uses the Python package [https://www.sympy.org SymPy] to do (most of) the actual computations.  The package aims to expose the full functionality of SymPy while also providing a high level of compatibility with the Matlab Symbolic Math Toolbox.  The Symbolic package requires communication between Octave and Python.  In 2016 another GSoC project successfully re-implemented this communication using the new [[Pythonic|Pythonic package]].


This project proposes to go further: instead of using Pythonic only for the communication layer, we'll use it throughout the Symbolic project.  For example, we might make "@sym" a subclass of "@pyobject".  We also could stop using the "python_cmd" interface and use Pythonic directly from methods.  The main goal was already mentioned: to expose the *full functionality* of SymPy.  For example, we would allow OO-style method calls such as "f.diff(x)" instead of "diff(f, x)".
This project proposes to go further: instead of using Pythonic only for the communication layer, we'll use it throughout the Symbolic project.  For example, we might make "@sym" a subclass of "@pyobject".  We also could stop using the "python_cmd" interface and use Pythonic directly from methods.  The main goal was already mentioned: to expose the ''full functionality'' of SymPy.  For example, we would allow OO-style method calls such as <code>f.diff(x)</code> instead of <code>diff(f, x)</code>.


* '''Required skills'''
* '''Required skills'''
: OO-programming with m-files, Python, and possibly C/C++ for improving Pythonic (if needed).
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++, Python; object-oriented programming (OOP) in Octave
* '''Difficulty'''
* '''Potential mentors'''
: easy/medium
* '''Mentors and/or other team members'''
: Colin B. Macdonald, Mike Miller, Abhinav Tripathi
: Colin B. Macdonald, Mike Miller, Abhinav Tripathi


=== OCS ===
=== TISEAN package ===


[[Ocs package | OCS]] is a circuit simulator for Octave. The objective of this project is to update the code to use modern features of Octave (e.g. classdef), [https://savannah.gnu.org/search/?Search=Search&words=%28ocs%29&type_of_search=bugs&only_group_id=1925&exact=1&max_rows=25#options fix open bugs], increase compatibility with SPICE and improve compatibility with other Octave packages (odepkg, control etc).
The [[TISEAN package]] provides an Octave interface to [https://www.pks.mpg.de/~tisean/Tisean_3.0.1/index.html TISEAN] is a suite of code for nonlinear time series analysis.  In 2015, another GSoC project started with the work to create interfaces to many TISEAN functions, but [[TISEAN_package:Procedure | there is still work left to do]].  There are missing functions to do computations on spike trains, to simulate autoregresive models, to create specialized plots, etc.  Which are of importance for many scientific disciplines involving statistical computations and signal processing.
   
   
* [http://octave.sourceforge.net/ocs/overview.html Package help at source forge.]
* '''Required skills'''
* '''Required skills'''
: m-file scripting, C, C++, and FORTRAN API knowledge.
: Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; FORTRAN API knowledge
* '''Difficulty'''
* '''Potential mentors'''
: easy/medium
: [[User:KaKiLa|KaKiLa]]
* '''Mentor'''
: Sebastian Schöps, Carlo de Falco
 
== Infrastructure ==
 
=== Using Python within Octave ===
 
[[Pythonic]] allows one to call Python functions and interact with Python objects from within Octave .m file code and from the Octave command line interface.  Pythonic may eventually not be a separate package, but rather a core feature of Octave.  This project aims to improve Pythonic with the goal of making the package more stable, maintainable, and full-featured.
 
Based on a previous summer project related to Pythonic, this work will consist of fast-paced collaborative software development based on tackling the [https://gitlab.com/mtmiller/octave-pythonic/issues Pythonic issue list].  You would also be expected to participate in software design decisions and discussion, as well as improve documentation, doctests, and unit tests.  As an example of the sorts of decisions being made, note that Octave indexes from 1 whereas Python typically indexes from 0; in which cases is it appropriate to make this transparent to the user?
 
* '''Mentors'''
: Mike Miller, Colin B. Macdonald, Abhinav Tripathi, others?
 
== Improve TIFF image support ==
 
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIFF Tag Image File Format (TIFF)] is the de facto standard for scientific images.  Octave uses the [http://www.graphicsmagick.org/ GraphicsMagic] (GM) C++ library to handle [http://www.graphicsmagick.org/formats.html many image formats], including TIFF. However, GM still has several limitations:
 
* GM has build option {{codeline|quantum}} which defines the bitdepth to use when reading an image. Building GM with high quantum means that images of smaller bitdepth will take a lot more memory when reading, but building it too low will make it impossible to read images of higher bitdepth. It also means that the image needs to always be rescaled to the correct range.
* GM supports unsigned integers only, thus incorrectly reading files such as TIFF with floating point data.
* GM hides details of the image such as whether the image file is indexed.  This makes it hard to access the real data stored on file.
 
This project aims to implement better TIFF image support, which is the de facto standard for scientific images, while leaving GM handle all other image formats.
 
* implement the Tiff class, which is a wrapper around libtiff, using classdef. To avoid creating too many private __oct functions, this project could also create a C++ interface to declare new Octave classdef functions.
* improve {{manual|imread}}, {{manual|imwrite}}, and {{manual|imfinfo}} for tiff files using the newly created Tiff class
* clean up and finish the dicom package to include into Octave core
* prepare a Matlab-compatible implementation of the FITS package for inclusion in Octave core
 
* '''Required skills'''
: Knowledge of C++ and C, since most libraries are written in those languages.
* '''Difficulty'''
: Medium.
* '''Potential mentor'''
: Carnë Draug
 
== Graphics ==
 
=== PolarAxes and Plotting Improvements ===
 
Octave currently provides supports for polar axes by using a Cartesian 2-D axes and adding a significant number of properties and callback listeners to get things to work.  What is needed is the implementation of a dedicated "polaraxes" object in C++.  This will require creating a new fundamental graphics object type, and programming in C++/OpenGL to render the object.  When "polaraxes" exists as an object type, then m-files will be written to access them, including polaraxes.m, polarplot.m, rticks.m, rticklabels.m, thetaticks, thetaticklabels.m, rlim.m, thetalim.m.  This relates to {{bug|35565}}, {{bug|49804}}, {{bug|52643}}.
 
* '''Minimum requirements'''
: Ability to read and write C++ code.  Ability to read and write Octave code.  Experience with OpenGL programming is optional.
* '''Difficulty'''
: Medium.
* '''Mentor'''
: Rik


<noinclude>
[[Category:Summer of Code]]
[[Category:Summer of Code]]
[[Category:Project Ideas]]
[[Category:Project Ideas]]
</noinclude>

Revision as of 06:17, 10 March 2021

Info icon.svg
GNU Octave has been selected as mentoring organization for GSoC 2021.

Since 2011 the GNU Octave project has mentored 38 students in Summer of Code (SoC) programs by Google and ESA. Those programs aim to advertise open-source software development and to attract potential new Octave developers.

Steps toward a successful application

  1. 😉💬 We want to get to know you. Communicate with us.
    • Join Octave Discourse or our IRC channel.
    • We are interested in you as motivated developer 💻 There is no need to present an overwhelming CV with prestigious universities 🏰 and programming contest awards 🏆 in it. We are very fine if you just communicate using a nickname with us.
    • If your first question is "Hi I'm new to Octave. What should I do?" you are out 🤦
  2. 📝💡 Tell us what you are going to do.
    • When you contact us for the first time, do not write just to say in what project you're interested in. Be specific about what you are going to do, post many links 🔗, show us you know what you are talking about 💡, and ask many smart questions 🤓
    • Remember, we are voluntary developers and not your boss 🙂
  3. 👩‍🔬 Get your hands dirty.
    • We are curious about your programming skills ⌨️
    • Use Octave!
      • If you come across something that does not work the way you like ➡️ try to fix that 🔧
      • Or you come across a missing function ➡️ try to implement it.
  4. 📔 Prepare your proposal with us.
    • GSoC, for example, requires to submit a proposal.
    • If we see your proposal for the first time after the application deadline, you can easily imagine that it might contain ambiguities or some paragraphs are not fully clear to us. We easily get doubts if you are capable of working on your project 😓
    • Try to show us as early as possible a draft of your proposal 👍

How do we judge your application?

Depending on the mentors and SoC program there are varieties, but typically the main factors considered would be:

  • You have demonstrated interest in Octave and an ability to make substantial modifications to Octave
    The most important thing is that you've contributed some interesting code samples to judge your skills. It's OK during the application period to ask for help on how to format these code samples, which normally are Mercurial patches.
  • You showed understanding of your topic
    Your proposal should make it clear that you're reasonably well versed in the subject area and won't need all summer just to read up on it.
  • Well thought out, adequately detailed, realistic project plan
    "I'm good at this, so trust me" isn't enough. In your proposal, you should describe which algorithms you'll use and how you'll integrate with existing Octave code. You should also prepare a project timeline and goals for the midterm and final evaluations.

What you should know about Octave

GNU Octave is mostly written in C++ and its own scripting language that is mostly compatible with Matlab. There are bits and pieces of Fortran, Perl, C, awk, and Unix shell scripts here and there. In addition to being familiar with C++ and Octave's scripting language, you as successful applicant will be familiar with or able to quickly learn about Octave's infrastructure. You can't spend the whole summer learning how to build Octave or prepare a changeset and still successfully complete your project 😇

You should know:

  1. How to build Octave from it's source code using the GNU build system.
  2. How to submit patches (changesets).

Suggested projects

The following suggested projects are distilled from the Projects page for the benefit of potential SoC students. You can also look at our completed past projects for more inspiration.

Info icon.svg
Do you use Octave at your university or do you have some numerical project in mind? You are always welcome to propose your own projects. If you are passionate about your project, it will be easy to find an Octave developer to mentor and guide you.

ode15{i,s} : Matlab Compatible DAE solvers

An initial implementation of Matlab compatible Differential Algebraic Equations (DAE) solvers, ode15i and ode15s, based on SUNDIALS, was done by Francesco Faccio during GSoC 2016. The code is maintained in the main Octave repository and consists mainly of the following three files: libinterp/dldfcn/__ode15__.cc, scripts/ode/ode15i.m and scripts/ode/ode15s.m.

The decic function for selecting consistent initial conditions for ode15i can be made more Matlab compatible by using another algorithm. Another useful extension is to make ode15{i,s} work with datatypes other than double and to improve interpolation at intermediate time steps.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; familiarity with numerical methods for DAEs
  • Potential mentors
Francesco Faccio, Carlo de Falco, Marco Caliari, Jacopo Corno, Sebastian Schöps

Using Python within Octave

Pythonic allows one to call Python functions and interact with Python objects from within Octave .m file code and from the Octave command line interface. Pythonic may eventually not be a separate package, but rather a core feature of Octave. This project aims to improve Pythonic with the goal of making the package more stable, maintainable, and full-featured.

Based on a previous summer project related to Pythonic, this work will consist of fast-paced collaborative software development based on tackling the Pythonic issue list. You would also be expected to participate in software design decisions and discussion, as well as improve documentation, doctests, and unit tests. As an example of the sorts of decisions being made, note that Octave indexes from 1 whereas Python typically indexes from 0; in which cases is it appropriate to make this transparent to the user?

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++, Python
  • Potential mentors
Mike Miller, Colin B. Macdonald, Abhinav Tripathi

Improve TIFF image support

Tag Image File Format (TIFF) is the de facto standard for scientific images. Octave uses the GraphicsMagic (GM) C++ library to handle TIFF and many others image formats. However, GM still has several limitations:

  • GM has build option quantum which defines the bitdepth to use when reading an image:
    • Building GM with high quantum means that images of smaller bitdepth will take a lot more memory when reading.
    • Building GM with low quantum will make it impossible to read images of higher bitdepth. It also means that the image needs to always be rescaled to the correct range.
  • GM supports unsigned integers only, thus incorrectly reading files such as TIFF with floating-point data.
  • GM hides details of the image such as whether the image file is indexed. This makes it hard to access the real data stored on file.

This project aims to implement better TIFF image support using libtiff, while leaving GM handle all other image formats. After writing a classdef interface to libtiff, improve the Octave functions imread, imwrite, and imfinfo to make use of it.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
  • Potential mentors
Carnë Draug

PolarAxes and Plotting Improvements

Octave currently provides supports for polar axes by using a Cartesian 2-D axes and adding a significant number of properties and callback listeners to get things to work. What is needed is the implementation of a dedicated "polaraxes" object in C++. This will require creating a new fundamental graphics object type, and programming in C++/OpenGL to render the object. When "polaraxes" exists as an object type, then m-files will be written to access them, including polaraxes.m, polarplot.m, rticks.m, rticklabels.m, thetaticks, thetaticklabels.m, rlim.m, thetalim.m. This relates to bug #49804.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; optional experience with OpenGL programming
  • Potential mentors
Rik

Table datatype

In 2013, Matlab introduced a new table datatype to conveniently organize and access data in tabular form. This datatype has not been introduced to Octave yet (see bug #44571). However, there are two initial implementation approaches https://github.com/apjanke/octave-tablicious and https://github.com/gnu-octave/table.

Based upon the existing approaches, the goal of this project is to define an initial subset of table functions, which involve sorting, splitting, merging, and file I/O and implement it within the given time frame.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
  • Potential mentors
Kai

Jupyter Notebook Integration

The Jupyter Notebook is an open-source web application that allows you to create and share documents that contain live code, equations, visualizations and narrative text.

To interactively work with Octave code within Jupyter Notebooks, there already exists an Octave kernel for Jupyter.

This project aims to support the opposite direction: running (and filling) Jupyter Notebook within GNU Octave. This would enable Jupyter Notebook users to evaluate long running Octave Notebooks on a computing server without permanent browser connection, which is still a pending issue. To achieve this, different strategies are possible:

  1. Synchronize an internal Octave data structure (e.g. classdef object) with the Jupyter Notebook. Probably the safest approach, but does not enable any interactivity from the Octave GUI.
  2. Import/export a Jupyter Notebook as Octave script (translate non-code sections to comments and vice versa). Files can be edited from the Octave GUI, but probably conversion losses might occur (e.g. embedded graphics).
  3. A synthesis of both approaches?

In general a Jupyter Notebook is a plain JSON document, which will be supported in Octave 7 (current development version) or through the JSON package for older Octave versions.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++
  • Potential mentors
Kai

Adding functionality to packages

OCS package

The OCS package is a circuit simulator. The objective of this project is to increase compatibility with SPICE and improve compatibility with other Octave packages, e.g. the Control package. Please study the available functions of this package.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; FORTRAN API knowledge
  • Potential mentors
Sebastian Schöps, Carlo de Falco

Symbolic package

The Symbolic package provides symbolic computing and other computer algebra system tools. The main component of Symbolic is a pure m-file class "@sym" which uses the Python package SymPy to do (most of) the actual computations. The package aims to expose the full functionality of SymPy while also providing a high level of compatibility with the Matlab Symbolic Math Toolbox. The Symbolic package requires communication between Octave and Python. In 2016 another GSoC project successfully re-implemented this communication using the new Pythonic package.

This project proposes to go further: instead of using Pythonic only for the communication layer, we'll use it throughout the Symbolic project. For example, we might make "@sym" a subclass of "@pyobject". We also could stop using the "python_cmd" interface and use Pythonic directly from methods. The main goal was already mentioned: to expose the full functionality of SymPy. For example, we would allow OO-style method calls such as f.diff(x) instead of diff(f, x).

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++, Python; object-oriented programming (OOP) in Octave
  • Potential mentors
Colin B. Macdonald, Mike Miller, Abhinav Tripathi

TISEAN package

The TISEAN package provides an Octave interface to TISEAN is a suite of code for nonlinear time series analysis. In 2015, another GSoC project started with the work to create interfaces to many TISEAN functions, but there is still work left to do. There are missing functions to do computations on spike trains, to simulate autoregresive models, to create specialized plots, etc. Which are of importance for many scientific disciplines involving statistical computations and signal processing.

  • Required skills
Knowledge of Octave, C/C++; FORTRAN API knowledge
  • Potential mentors
KaKiLa