Catalinvasile

A: An introduction

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

I'm a 3rd year student in Computer-Science which has a 4 year bachelor program. I'm mostly interested in computer architecture, low level programming and computer networks. I'm currently a junior Cisco instructor, a teaching assistant on course named "Computer Architecture and Assembly Language" and I'm contributing with teaching materials for a course named "Communication Protocols".

• • Which languages do you speak?

I speak Romanian(my maiden language), English(good skills in conversation and writing as well) and a little bit of French.

• • What's your overall background? The general field you work in or are studying, e.g. computer science, physics, artificial intelligence, control theory...

My overall background is computer architecture, computer networks, low level programming and communication protocols.

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

I'm trying to make my first baby steps in Open Source programs and I'm also trying to grasp what it means to actually develop software within a team.

• • Please also describe your previous experience with the GSoC, if any.

I have no previous experience with GSoC

• Why are you choosing Octave?

I'm choosing Octave mainly because it's a well developed project and because of the subproject that I'm looking forward: "Improve MPI package". I've had a good grasp of Distributed Algorithms in a course from the past semester, and I also feel qualified as I have good knowledge in computer networks and communication protocols.

C: Contact

• Please state the (unique and identical where possible) nick you use on IRC and any other communication channel related to Octave. We really want unique nicks. You might want to bold it.

catalinvasile

• Which time zone do you live in? Will that change over GSoC duration? Perhaps DST adjustment or a relocation. Note that both UTC and GMT are not aware of daylight saving time! Please state UTC+x or -x.

I live in the Eastern European Time Zone (UTC+02:00), Bucharest, Romania. Currently I'm not having any plans of leaving my country this summer.

• Please state the timeframe (in UTC+0) when you feel most comfortable working during GSoC. Where are your time buffers? Example: I usually code around 9.00 to 18.00 and could also try to start earlier (~7.00) for few days ;-)

I would usually start codding at 17.00 and go to sleep at around 2.00-3.00 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.

I'm very good with C, and I have some knowledge of C++ concepts. I've had a course in Numerical Methods and I had a good grasp of Octave. I know some OpenGL, but I'm not looking forward into it. I've never made Qt applications.

• Please describe your experience with other programming languages.

For the project that I'm interested in, I'm quite familiar with OpenMPI, as I've had course on Distributed Algorithms.

• Please describe your experience with being in a development team. Do you have experience working with open source or free projects?

Sorry, I don't have any experience with being in a development team :(

• 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

I've been using mailing lists to communicate inside a local Open Source community, named ROSEdu. I haven't used IRC too much.

• • Mercurial or other source code management systems

none

• • Mediawiki or other wiki software

I've written tutorials related to assembly language, using a dokuwiki platform.

• • make, gcc, gdb or other development tools

I have a lot of college homework, which most make us provide a Makefile and use the gcc compiler. I usually use valgrind for debugging.

• 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 :-)

I would stay actively in your community after GSoC if I could contribute to more network related projects.

O: Only out of interest

• Did you ever hear about Octave before?

Yes

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

I've heard about it because I had a course in Numerical Methods which used Octave for labs and homeworks.

• • 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, …

If I can do parallel programming. I then found it was overly optimized for computing.

P: Prerequisites

• Please state the operating system you work with.

Linux Mint 15 Olivia 64bit KDE version

• • 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

Every second of the day

• • a computer

Every second of the day(if having my smartphone with me counts)

• • a computer with your progressing work on

50%

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

I'm the owner of my computer. I have complete access on it.

S: Self-assessment

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

It depends. If we refers only to grades, I don't think it actually reflects the complete skills of a student. But related constructive criticism I'm always open for it.

• 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?

Kind of, but I usually do my research and listen carefully, and don't have a lot of questions.

• • 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?

I've had some experience with this. When it's garbage, you have to admit it, and not try to around it. I prefer throwing 2 days of work and start from the begging, then working 7 days and then realize I can't control my project.

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.

Yes, I'm interested in the "Improve MPI package" task. I'm currently interested in implementing MPI specific functionality, such as MPI_Irecv, MPI_Isend and the Broadcast, Scatter, Gather group of functions. http://wiki.octave.org/Summer_of_Code_Project_Ideas#Improve_MPI_package

• • 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.

I can't start working until 15 June, because of my exams session. The summer itself will be combined with a summer job, as I must fulfill the task of doing a summer internship in order to get into the 4th year. I think I can manage working and doing after-work codding.