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Octave's application for GSoC 2014.
Octave's application for GSoC 2014.


=== Organization ID ===
=== Organization description ===
 
Octave
 
=== Organization name ===
 
GNU Octave
 
=== 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. [[User:jwe|John W. Eaton]] began the project in 1992 and remains the primary maintainer.  Development is quite active with more than 20 volunteers currently involved.  Octave is also widely used in teaching, industry, and research.  It has gained attention as the recommended tool for a number of distributed online courses such as Stanford's machine learning course (https://www.coursera.org/course/ml).
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 computations
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functions.
functions.


Recent and ongoing improvements include a GUI and just-in-time compilation capabilities, both of which started as GSoC projects.
Recent and ongoing improvements include a GUI and just-in-time compilation capabilities.
 
=== Tags ===
 
c++, mathematics, math, numerical, matlab, mercurial, scientific, computing


=== Organization home page url ===
=== Organization home page url ===


http://www.octave.org
http://www.octave.org
Logo: http://hg.savannah.gnu.org/hgweb/octave/raw-file/155d8e90ee1f/doc/icons/octave-logo.png
Blog: http://planet.octave.org/
Feed: http://planet.octave.org/atom.xml


=== Main organization license ===
=== Main organization license ===
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=== 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? What do you hope to gain by participating? ===


Octave has participated during the last three years as part of the GNU project. Due to the success of those experiences, where many
Octave has participated during the last three years under the 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 to enter GSoC as a participating organization.
members of the Octave community helped mentor the students, we are trying again to enter GSoC as a participating organization.


We hope to establish collaborations with talented new contributors. We also want to raise awareness of
We hope to get good code from interested students and ideally establish new continuing collaborations. 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 bring new perspectives to the Octave community. As a somewhat older project, we benefit from having new and younger contributors among our developers.  Our past record of retaining GSoC participants as contributors to the Octave project is mixed but we hope to improve in the future by engaging more effectively with students during both the application and mentoring processes, setting clear standards for what is required for acceptance, and maintaining those standards throughout the project.
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. ===
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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 (https://mailman.cae.wisc.edu/listinfo/octave-maintainers)
maintainers@octave.org


=== What is the main IRC channel for your organization? ===
=== What is the main IRC channel for your organization? ===


irc://irc.freenode.net/octave
<tt>#octave</tt> in Freenode
 
=== How many potential mentors do you have for this year's program? What criteria did you use to select them? ===


We have about 10 contributors have mentored previous summer projects and continue to be active participants in the Octave community
=== What criteria did you use to select your mentors for this year's program? Please be as specific as possible. ===


Each project will include at least one core Octave developer as mentor. These
Each project includes at least one core Octave developer as mentor. These
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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mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. The vast
mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. The vast
majority of our mentors have been involved in Octave development
majority of our mentors have been involved in Octave development
for several years, and new mentors with be paired with more experienced ones.
for several years, and new new mentors with be paired 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 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. As participants in the mailing lists and bug tracker, students get the feeling of doing
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, many GSoC students will likely use Octave during their academic
In addition, students are likely required to use Octave during their academic
year and in during their professional careers. As such, they are prone to
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.
Finally, we organize a developers' summit during the summer and have in previous
years provided help for GSoC students to attend. This strengthens the
relationships between community members and the new students. While only one of
the previous GSoC students is currently a core developer, several continued with
occasional contributions and most remain available to help us with any problems related to the code they wrote for the project.


=== 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.
[[Category:Summer of Code]]
[[Category:2014]]
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