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Amod Mulay's Application

A: An introduction

I am a graduate student at Stony Brook University. I have a master's in Mechanical Engineering and am pursuing a second one in Computer Engineering and my primary research interest is robotics. I speak English, Hindi and Marathi. Quite honestly I wanted to contribute to a FOSS project for some time. I chose Octave because a lot of the work I do requires Matlab and Octave is the one open source alternative which is most compatible with Matlab. Participating in GSoC has the added bonus of getting paid for your work ;).

C: Contact

I usually use the nick "white" on IRC and other public forums. I live in the EST timezone(UTC-5) and will be here all of summer. I am usually more comfortable working at night but don't mind being active during the day(since most of the contributors are more active on IRC during work hours).

E: Coding experience

C/C++

C/C++ was the first programming language I learnt. Have been using it on and off for various projects for a little more than 6 years. I am fairly comfortable with C/C++ code and am familiar(not an expert/advanced user) with the GNU build system however I don't have any experience working with a large code base.

Matlab/Octave

I have used Matlab for various college projects for the last 5 years. I began using Octave as a Matlab replacement about 2 years ago. The main uses have been for simulation and image processing. I am know most of the similarities and differences between Matlab and Octave.

Python

I learnt python just for fun a few years ago. The only project that I have done using python is for my Computer Networks class. Other than that, I ported a few of my old college projects to python for practice but that's about it. I do like the language and would classify myself as an average user.

Other

Other than the above three I have used somebasic javascript & HTML. I am quite familiar with the Mediawiki framework am one of the site maintainers for the [| Cyanogenmod wiki]. I have used the CGal library for a graphics project. I have breifly dabbled with QT when we were experimenting with various frontend/interface for an embedded project which transmitted data on the serial port. I primarily used Labview for my master's Thesis.

I am a bit familiar with mercurial(thanks to Jordi) and have submitted a couple of minor patches which fix Texinfo5 compatibility issues.

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.