User:Josiah425

Public application template

This part is answered in public on your user page. Please copy its source (edit) and then fill. Delete any examples and annotations (this markup) afterwards. Same for questions that do not apply to your situation.

A: An introduction

• I studied Automation and Robotics for 2.5 years in Krakow, Poland. I later moved to Billings, MT in the US to help take care of my grandparents. In Billings I continued my studies but changed my major to Aeronautical Science.
  • I speak Polish and English fluently.
  • During my studies in Poland I took courses on control theory, worked with Matlab/Simulink, C++ and Qt.
• I don't do a lot of programming at my studies but I still like it and that's why I wanted to participate in Google Summer of Code. I hope to learn more about how opensource collaboration efforts are managed and have some fun programming.
  • I have no previous experience with Google Summer of Code and am quite unfamiliar with how it all works.
• I had a friend back in Poland who participated in GSoC and she chose Octave and that's why I wanted to give it a try too.

C: Contact

• My Nick on IRC will be Jsoh425
• I live in UTC-06:00 and this will not change during GSoC
• During GSoC I will code between 14:00 and 23:00 in UTC+0 but can start as early as 13:00 for some time.

E: 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 ;-)

• I took part in a university project where I had to implement a few windows in Qt/C++ and tie them in to that project. The goal was to implement tools for editing diagrams, similar to flow diagrams. The functionality included drag-to-connect and other diagram operations. I used m-scripts to implement a class and some functions for a course at the same university. The goal was to try to determine how to move legs of a hexapod (spider like robot) to change his position and orientation from one to another. I have not worked with OpenGl.
• I implemented a simple "snake" in Ada using Qt.
• I worked for a semester on a project at my university in Poland. I used svn and worked closely with my professor on it. I have not participated in any open source projects.
• I worked on the project mentioned at the top. The project was developed for a couple years by a few members of faculty and afterwards, me and a few other students were invited to contribute for a semester. I don't know how many lines of code the project had but I do know it compiled in about 10 minutes when compiling for first time. As I mentioned I had to add a few windows that would edit diagrams, similar to flow diagrams, with connecting functionality and tie them in to the program. I think the most I learned from that project was the role of good documentation and taking your time to understand the code before you start adding something new.
• Please state the commits and patches you already contributed to Octave. This question (one of the most important parts by the way) is the only part of your application our wiki admins will edit for you even after the application deadline. Code sometimes speaks louder than many words do.

F: Feeling fine

• Please describe (in short) your experience with the following tools: We only use this question to determine where you need guidance, not for rating! We by no means expect you to be familiar with all of these and you'll won't necessarily need them while working with us.
  • IRC and mailing lists
  • Mercurial or other source code management systems
  • Mediawiki or other wiki software
  • make, gcc, gdb or other development tools
• What will make you actively stay in our community after this GSoC is over? You can also tell us after applications close and we'll happily try to fulfill :-)

O: Only out of interest

• When learning about Matlab I came across Octave and tried some of its features.
  • Like I stated before I only tried it as a 'user' and have not been involved in Octave as a project so far.
• What was the first question concerning Octave you could not find an answer to rather quickly? Of course more than one question can be stated. We try to improve based on this each year! Includes learning how to use it, code, website, GSoC application, …

P: Prerequisites

• Please state the operating system you work with.
  • If you have access to more than one, please state them and the conditions under which you are granted this access.
• 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
• Please describe the degree up to which you can install new software on computers you have access to.

S: Self-assessment

• Please describe how useful criticism looks from your point of view as committing student.
• How autonomous are you when developing? If you answer both subquestions with "Yes, definitely", we are a tad confused. ;-)
  • 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?

Y: Your task

• Did you select a task from our list of proposals and ideas?
  • 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. Please also wiki-link the page for your elaborated proposal here.
  • If you apply for a task you have added yourself instead, please describe this task, its scope and people you already talked to concerning it. What field of tasks did you miss on the list?
• Please provide a rough estimated timeline for your work on the task. This should include the GSoC midterms and personal commitments like exams or vacation ("non-coding time"). Optionally include two or three milestones you expect.