Editing GSoC 2014 application
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Octave's application for GSoC 2014. | Octave's application for GSoC 2014. | ||
=== Organization | === Organization description === | ||
GNU Octave (http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/) is a free numerical computing | GNU Octave (http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/) is a free numerical computing | ||
environment largely compatible with Matlab. [[ | environment largely compatible with Matlab. It was started in | ||
1992 by [[John W. Eaton]] and is used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide | |||
as a free alternative to Matlab. | |||
GNU Octave has an extensive core of functions useful for computations | GNU Octave has an extensive core of functions useful for numerical computations | ||
in several fields, such as numerical analysis, optimisation, signal and image | in several fields, such as numerical analysis, optimisation, signal and image | ||
processing, and control theory. Its sister project, Octave Forge | processing, and control theory. Its sister project, Octave Forge | ||
(http://octave.sourceforge.net/), helps in speeding up development, | (http://octave.sourceforge.net/), helps in speeding up development, increase user | ||
contributions | contributions and test code before it is included in GNU Octave's core set of | ||
functions. | functions. | ||
Recent and ongoing improvements include a GUI and just-in-time compilation capabilities | Recent and ongoing improvements include a GUI and just-in-time compilation capabilities. | ||
=== Organization home page url === | === Organization home page url === | ||
http://www.octave.org | http://www.octave.org | ||
=== Main organization license === | === Main organization license === | ||
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=== If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | === If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | ||
Yes ( | Yes (2012 and 2013). | ||
=== Why is your organization applying to participate in Google Summer of Code? What do you hope to gain by participating? === | === Why is your organization applying to participate in Google Summer of Code 2013? What do you hope to gain by participating? === | ||
Octave has participated during the last | Octave has participated during the last two years with four students under the | ||
members of the Octave community helped mentor the students, we are trying again | auspices of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many | ||
members of the Octave community helped mentor the students, we are trying again. | |||
We hope to establish | We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish a line | ||
of collaboration with them for the future. We also want to raise awareness of | |||
Octave in the free software community. | Octave in the free software community. | ||
Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to | Google Summer of Code represents a unique opportunity to improve both core Octave and domain-specific functionality. We believe the interaction with fresh minds will bring not only new code to Octave but also will augment the developers group. | ||
=== Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | === Did your organization participate in past Google Summer of Codes? If so, please summarize your involvement and the successes and challenges of your participation. === | ||
Yes, we participated in GSoC each year since 2011 under GNU | Yes, we participated in GSoC each year since 2011 under GNU. Additionally, we have been a mentoring organization for the European Space Agency (ESA) Summer of Code in Space (http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2013/). | ||
The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | ||
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students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | students interested, although we have seen lulls in their productive output a few | ||
times, which were always thankfully remedied with a little prodding. | times, which were always thankfully remedied with a little prodding. | ||
=== What is the URL for your Ideas page? === | === What is the URL for your Ideas page? === | ||
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=== What is the main development mailing list for your organization? === | === What is the main development mailing list for your organization? === | ||
maintainers@octave.org | maintainers@octave.org | ||
=== What is the main IRC channel for your organization? === | === What is the main IRC channel for your organization? === | ||
<tt>#octave</tt> in Freenode | |||
=== | === What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. === | ||
Each project includes at least one core Octave developer as mentor. These | |||
Each project | |||
are proven, veteran members of the project, active in its development, and familiar | are proven, veteran members of the project, active in its development, and familiar | ||
with the code base. | with the code base. | ||
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First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | ||
welcome. We will engage the students | welcome. We will engage the students frequenty by email and IRC, provide prompt response to student queries, | ||
and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | ||
encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | ||
with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | ||
tree, if necessary in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | tree, if necessary, in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | ||
with students in previous years. | with all students in previous years. | ||
Should this fail and the student disappears for unforeseen reasons (which we | Should this fail and the student disappears for unforeseen reasons (which we | ||
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This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | ||
mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. | mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. We are also | ||
pairing new mentors with more experienced ones. | |||
=== What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | === What steps will you take to encourage students to interact with your project's community before and during the program? === | ||
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We will encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | We will encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | ||
progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates should be done on a | progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates should be done on a | ||
blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org | blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org. | ||
Everything should be completely open. Almost all interactions with the student should | Everything should be completely open. Almost all interactions with the student should | ||
be public, e.g. contacting the mentor should happen in the public IRC | be public, e.g. contacting the mentor should happen in the public IRC | ||
channel or CC the maintainers mailing list. | channel or CC the maintainers mailing list. | ||
For some projects, there may be way to bridge them directly into industry | For some projects, there may be way to bridge them directly into industry | ||
projects. We hope that we can increase student participation this way. | projects. We hope that we can increase the student's participation this way. | ||
=== What will you do to encourage that your accepted students stick with the project after Google Summer of Code concludes? === | === What will you do to encourage that your accepted students stick with the project after Google Summer of Code concludes? === | ||
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We will constantly merge their code into our codebase, and GNU Octave is a | We will constantly merge their code into our codebase, and GNU Octave is a | ||
project with many test users that give constant feedback on new features and bug | project with many test users that give constant feedback on new features and bug | ||
reports. | reports. We will forward these to the students so they get the feeling of doing | ||
something that is being used by others, and that is useful to the community from | something that is being used by others, and that is useful to the community from | ||
the very start. | the very start. | ||
In addition, | In addition, students are likely required to use Octave during their academic | ||
year and | year and even during their professional careers. As such, they are prone to | ||
stay involved with its development, even if at a lower lever than during the | stay involved with its development, even if at a lower lever than during the | ||
summer. | summer. | ||
=== Are you a new organization who has a Googler or other organization to vouch for you? If so, please list their name(s) here. === | === Are you a new organization who has a Googler or other organization to vouch for you? If so, please list their name(s) here. === | ||
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No. | No. | ||