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GSoC 2014 application: Difference between revisions
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as a free alternative to Matlab. | as a free alternative to Matlab. | ||
GNU Octave has an extensive core of functions useful for | GNU Octave has an extensive core of functions useful for computations | ||
in several fields, such as numerical analysis, optimisation, signal and image | in several fields, such as numerical analysis, optimisation, signal and image | ||
processing, and control theory. Its sister project, Octave Forge | processing, and control theory. Its sister project, Octave Forge | ||
(http://octave.sourceforge.net/), helps in speeding up development, | (http://octave.sourceforge.net/), helps in speeding up development, increasing user | ||
contributions and | contributions, and testing code before it is included in GNU Octave's core set of | ||
functions. | functions. | ||
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=== If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | === If you chose "new" in the dropdown above, have you applied in the past? If so, for what year(s)? === | ||
Yes ( | Yes (2011-2013). | ||
=== 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? === | ||
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=== 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. === | ||
Yes, we participated in GSoC each year since 2011 under GNU. Additionally, we have been a mentoring organization for the European Space Agency (ESA) Summer of Code in Space (http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2013/). | Yes, we participated in GSoC each year since 2011 under GNU. Additionally, we have been a mentoring organization for the European Space Agency (ESA) Summer of Code in Space (http://sophia.estec.esa.int/socis2013/). Students working with us have made valuable contributions in improving Octave's usability in functionality, undertaking such tasks as adding just-in-time compilation support, geometric integration algorithms, and finite element modeling capabilities. | ||
The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | The challenges are managing very diverse problem domains and finding | ||
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First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | First, make all reasonable efforts to accommodate the student and make them feel | ||
welcome. We will engage the students | welcome. We will engage the students frequently by email and IRC, provide prompt response to student queries, | ||
and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | and expect periodic status reports from mentors about the project status. We will also | ||
encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | encourage the student to participate in the public mailing list and IRC channel, | ||
with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | with or without the mentor. Their progress should be regularly applied to our source | ||
tree, if necessary | tree, if necessary in a feature branch. All of these have shown to be effective | ||
with | with students in previous years. | ||
Should this fail and the student disappears for unforeseen reasons (which we | Should this fail and the student disappears for unforeseen reasons (which we | ||
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This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | This situation should be infrequent and we hope to prevent it by selecting | ||
mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. We | mentors with proven involvement in Octave or other free software projects. We will also | ||
pair new mentors 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 encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | We will encourage them to join us on our IRC channel and mailing list. We will set clear expectations on the minimum frequency of email | ||
progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates should be done on a | progress updates of every two to three days. Longer updates should be done on a | ||
blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org | blog and aggregated at http://planet.octave.org | ||
Everything should be completely open. Almost all interactions with the student should | Everything should be completely open. Almost all interactions with the student should | ||
be public, e.g. contacting the mentor should happen in the public IRC | be public, e.g. contacting the mentor should happen in the public IRC | ||
channel or CC the maintainers mailing list. | channel or CC the maintainers mailing list. | ||
Our annual conference, OctConf, will be held in the summer. Students will be invited to attend and present on their work. Last year's OctConf had several such student presenters. | |||
For some projects, there may be way to bridge them directly into industry | For some projects, there may be way to bridge them directly into industry | ||
projects. We hope that we can increase | projects. We hope that we can increase student participation this way. | ||
=== What will you do to encourage that your accepted students stick with the project after Google Summer of Code concludes? === | === What will you do to encourage that your accepted students stick with the project after Google Summer of Code concludes? === | ||