PWeclewski

My application

A: An introduction

• Please describe yourself in three sentences, one of them regarding your current studies.

I am final year, masters-degree student at Warsaw University of Technology, Poland. Since 2nd year of my studies (at faculty of mechatronics majoring in robotics and automation) I became interested in mobile and space robotics. I am active student, engineer and researcher in field of my interests.

• Which languages do you speak?
  • Polish (native)
  • English

• What's your overall background?
  • robotics (mainly mobile robotics)
  • AI techniques
  • space engineering

• Why do you want to participate in the ESA Summer of Code in Space? What do you hope to gain by doing so?

I am applying to this program first time. I would like to improve my software engineering skills to work with different people and projects. Also I hope that my work could enhance and facilitate the development of robotics projects. Additionally, this program is managed by ESA what will be a good point in my references and for my future plans.

• Why are you choosing Octave?
  • Why octave software?

First time, I used Octave software for the Machine Learning course form coursera.org. I discover that Octave is a good, free and open-source alternative for Matlab with which I was working during my undergraduate studies.

• • Why Octave project?

I was surprised that in ESA Summer of Code in Space proposals I find only this one project related to robotics and only 2 more related with hardware. This project meets my interests and is related to software useful for the robotics research.

C: Contact

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

PWeclewski

• Which time zone do you live in? Will that change over SoCiS duration?
  • UTC+1 (first half of September and from October UTC+2)
• Please state the timeframe (in UTC+0) when you feel most comfortable working during GSoC. Where are your time buffers?

I usually code from 9:00 (sometimes from 7:00) to 17:00 and sometimes at night ;)

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 ;-)

• Please describe your experience with C++, Octave or Matlab m-scripts, OpenGL and Qt.
• Please describe your experience with other pro/* Public application template */ gramming languages.
• Please describe your experience with being in a development team. Do you have experience working with open source or free projects?
• 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.
• 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

• Did you ever hear about Octave before?
  • If so, when and where? How far have you been involved already?
  • If not, where would you expect or advise us to do advertising?
• 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.