User:Alisha

Contact Information

Name: Alisha Jain

E-mail Address: jain.alisha14@gmail.com

IRC Handle: alisha

Blog: jainalisha14.wordpress.com

Github Account: https://github.com/alishajain

Location: Ludhiana, Punjab, India

Typical Working Hours:-GMT+5.30, Typical working hours will be 11AM to 2AM on working days and full time on weekends. I can devote 40 - 50 hours per week and more if required. My graduation will end by the mid of May. I will be after that. I can spare ample time from my college timings for my project. My working hours for the internship will be flexible and subject to the requirements of the project.

About me

I am an undergraduate 4th year Computer Science student at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana. I have formidable learning in C++, PHP and MySQL. I have a strong affinity for Mathematics which keeps my inquisitiveness alive for learning more about numerical functions and their implementation through programming. I am also passionate for programming.

Heard about this program

I got to know about this program from the word of mouth from my friends who too were participants in GSOC 2014.

Experiences with other FOSS projects

As a user I have experienced many other FOSS projects like Linux, OpenScad and Flex & Bison.

Previous projects

I have worked upon writing DXF files using C++. Below is the link to it:-

https://github.com/alishajain/dxfwentities

I have been also working on parser using Flex & Bison. You can check it here:-

https://github.com/alishajain/Xcad-Ecad-Converter

https://github.com/alishajain/Std-Flt-Converter

Interested project

Because of my affinity for mathematics, I have my keen interest in 'Generalised_eigenvalue_problem' project [1]. I want to explore myself more in the field of matrices.

Project Details

Introduction to Project

This project deals with the file conversion of various file formats. The Translate extension has been developed for this purpose. The extension is made supportive for various file formats but the work for only specific format of the input files. The data is read from the input file and stored in the arrays (in the form of key-value pair for JSON file format) and then written in the output file following the file format specifications of the output file format.

Synopsis

This project will make the extension robust so that it can handle even the exceptional cases of the input file format. Moreover, a proper documentation will be maintained for the different file formats. I will be mainly focusing on AndroidXML, Qt ts and JSON file formats.

Present state of project

After carrying out the scrutiny of present working code I found the following limitations:- Lack of proper documentations, unable to handle abnormal cases, only specific format of input file is translated, lack of robust programming and code is not secure.

Project partition

Based on the different file formats I will be working on my project will be partioned in the following three parts:- AndroidXML QT ts JSON

Timeline - December 9, 2014 to March 9, 2015

November 1 to December 9

• Setup the extension
• Communicate with the community members and get involved in it
• Work on a micro-task to get familiar with the extension
• Study the file format specifications
• Study the corner cases

December 10 to December 20

• Work on reading the AndroidXML file
• Examine the corner cases while reading the file

December 21 to December 31

• Work on writing the AndroidXML file

January 1 to January 10

• Testing on AndroidXML files for abnormalities
• Proceed with the decoding of the JSON files

January 11 to January 20

• Proceed with the decoding of the JSON files
• Robust the code

January 20 to January 31

• Testing on JSON files for the accuracy
• Study on the specifications of QT ts file format

February 1 to February 10

• Work on reading the QT files
• Examine the exceptional cases while reading the file

February 11 to February 20

• Work on writing the QT files
• Testing the code with aberrant cases of the file format

February 21 to february 28

• Testing and enhancing the code
• Fixing all the bugs

March 1 to March 9

• Documentation
• Mediawiki coding conventions

Other Commitments

Till mid of May, I would be having my final exams. But after that I would be completely free to devote all my time to GSoC. So I will be comfortably able to manage to fulfill my tasks within the specified time.

Objective of joining Mediawiki

As I loved the very concept of open source development from the moment I learned about it, it would be a matter of honour for me to be a part of such a splendid crew. Also I have a firm belief that I will excel tremendously in my area of interest and nurture my skills by working ardently. Mediawiki being an paradigm of its field enticed me to work with it and learn manifold new things.

Why me?

Being highly assiduous and fervent for my work I would love to contribute to the open source development since it is like a holy grail to me. I had been into coding environment from quite a time and I wish to apply my whole coding-impetus to a point. I have joined the #mediawiki and #mediawiki-i18n channels on IRC a few days ago and I am feeling good to interact there and I have already got some valuable suggestions . This is the real blessing for the young saplings in the garden of programming to grow in the guidance of the sublime mentors. I am so much self-obliged and excited to work with dexterous developers across the globe and be a part of the legacy.

Contact

• Please state the (unique and identical where possible) nick you use on IRC and any other communication channel related to Octave.

AsmaZLK

• Which time zone do you live in?

UTC+1 April-Oct

• Please state the timeframe (in UTC+0) when you feel most comfortable working during GSoC. Where are your time buffers?

As a rough guide, 1600 till late. But I am flexible. :)

Coding experience

This part is one of the more important ones in your application. You are allowed to be as verbose as you want, as long as you stay on topic ;-)

• Please describe your experience with C++, Octave or Matlab m-scripts, OpenGL and Qt.

Matlab. A lot. Throughout graduate and post graduate. Communications/Signal Processing/Optimization/Math.

Octave. See [2] and [3]

• Please describe your experience with other programming languages.

C/Verilog. AES encryption.

• Please describe your experience with being in a development team.

Undergraduate group assignments/final project. Involved Digital Design implementation in Verilog.

• Please describe the biggest project you have written code for and what you learned by doing so. Also describe your role in that project over time.

AES Encryption implementation on Cypress Programmable System on Chip (PSoC) 3 [4] The PSoC has a unique architecture and uses a combination of C/RTL blocks for implementing designs. I was hired during my masters for implementing designs on the PSoC and publish how its architecture enhances implementations of designs. See [5] and [6]

This was mostly a solo task in terms of implementation. The actual documentation was collaborative.

• Please state the commits and patches you already contributed to Octave.

quadprog in Optim package [7]

lsqlin in Optim package [8]

Feeling fine

• Please describe (in short) your experience with the following tools:

• • IRC and mailing lists

Can use them.

• • Mercurial or other source code management systems

Won't need help

• • Mediawiki or other wiki software

Easy.

• • make, gcc, gdb or other development tools

Will need to learn more for them. But might not need these.

• What will make you actively stay in our community after this GSoC is over?

Being better positioned to practically contribute further to Octave.

Only out of interest

• Did you ever hear about Octave before?

Sometimes as a MATLAB alternative.

• • If so, when and where? How far have you been involved already?

Before GSoC. No.

• • If not, where would you expect or advise us to do advertising?

MATLAB alternative is a big advertisement. Closer compatibility.

Better windows installer is coming soon. That was a big barrier to entry.

• What was the first question concerning Octave you could not find an answer to rather quickly?

Difference between Octave and Octave Forge can be a bit confusing at first. Optim(forge)/Optimization(core). etc.

Prerequisites

• Please state the operating system you work with.

Windows, Linux Mint.

• • If you have access to more than one, please state them and the conditions under which you are granted this access.

Windows only in university lab. Windows/Linux at home.

• Please estimate an average time per day you will be able to (if separated) access
  • an internet connection
  • a computer
  • a computer with your progressing work on

24/7

• Please describe the degree up to which you can install new software on computers you have access to.

Portable software on Windows in Lab. Admin rights on home PC/laptop.

Self-assessment

• Please describe how useful criticism looks from your point of view as committing student.

I like feedback rather than silence. I prefer constructive criticism. :)

• How autonomous are you when developing?

After initial direction, I can be mostly autonomous.

• • Do you like to discuss changes intensively and not start coding until you know what you want to do?
  • Do you like to code a proof of concept to 'see how it turns out', modifying that and taking the risk of having work thrown away if it doesn't match what the project or original proponent had in mind?

more on the code/see how it turns out.

Your task

• Did you select a task from our list of proposals and ideas?

yes

• • If yes, what task did you choose? Please describe what part of it you especially want to focus on if you can already provide this information.

http://wiki.octave.org/Summer_of_Code_Project_Ideas#Nonlinear_and_constrained_least_squares

http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/GSoC-2015-Optimization-Package-Non-linear-and-constrained-least-squares-lsqcurvefit-lsqlin-lsqnonlin-tt4668777.html

• Please provide a rough estimated timeline for your work on the task.

GSoC Application period

'quadprog' wrapper around 'qp'

'lsqlin' wrapper around 'qp'

Start of GSoC (May)

'lsqnonlin' wrapper around 'nonlin_residmin'

'lsqcurvefit' wrapper around 'nonlin_curvefit', 'nonlin_residmin', or 'lsqnonlin',

'fmincon' wrapper around 'nonlin_min',

Midterm

instead of wrappers for top-level functions like qp. Call back-end function (__qp__) to be able to extract lambda.

See [9]

Stretch Goals Implement another back-end algorithm/add variant.