User:Othman

A: An introduction

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

I am pursuing a Computer Engineering degree at Grenoble in France. My main area of study are multithreading programming,software engineering and networking.

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

Participating to GSOC is a unique experience that can introduce us, students to the world of Open Source. It's a real bridge to begin working with this amazing community.

• Why are you choosing Octave?

I have a high interest in mathematics and programming. Octave make it possible working simultaneously on those two areas. All the more, Octave is an open source project. This is mainly why I want to contribute to Octave development.

C: Contact

my nickname on IRC is darrazo. My timezone during the GSOC will be UTC + 2.

I can code around 8.00 to 19.30. it can be modulated. 

E: Coding experience

• Please describe your experience with C++, Octave or Matlab m-scripts, OpenGL and Qt.

I have experience of object oriented object as C++ and Java. I use C++ on daily basis. I am actually working on programming a multi player game using a GUI ( built with SDL). I have alrso used Qt for developing a GUI. I already used Octave and I am familiar with m-scripting. Althought, a little bit of practice may be needed to retreive the basics.

• Please describe your experience with other programming languages.

I have a strong experience with Java and also have built GUI using javaFX and Swing. I have experience using R and Scilab. I have also developed with C and ADA. One of my C project was developing a C library for building GUI.

• Please describe your experience with being in a development team.

I don't have any experience with open source or free project. I am looking forward to my first one.

• 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.

My biggest project was developing a compiler for a subset of an advanced language. This project was interesting because we have worked on various processes of software engineering from designing to validation.

• 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.

For now, I haven't contributed in any commit or patches but I've seen how to use Mercurial and how to export patches and send them.

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 don't use it on regular basis. But I a have used it before.

• • Mercurial or other source code management systems

I mainly use Git. Mercurial is quite similar. I completed the tutorial referred in the wikipage.

• • Mediawiki or other wiki software

no real experience.

• • make, gcc, gdb or other development tools

I use make gcc and gdb on regular basis.

• 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 enjoy coding. And being a part of open source community would one of my biggest achievement.

O: Only out of interest

I have heard of Octave. I never used for a big project yet since a didn't have an occasion of working on a math-related project.

• 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, …

How to make QtScintilla work.

P: Prerequisites

My operating system is Ubuntu. I have access 24/24 to an Internet connection and a computer with my progressing work on. I have root access.

S: Self-assessment

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

Criticism is very important for us student who want to learn more. With criticism we manage to improve our way to make code.

• How autonomous are you when developing?

I am quite autonomous when its comes to development. In case I am facing a hurdle, my first step is to google it.

• Do you like to discuss changes intensively and not start coding until you know what you want to do?

I think that discussion before coding is mandatory when it is about adding a new feature or making a consequent change in the actual code. The deeper is this discussion the easier would be to code and also to maintain.

• 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 rather prefer discuss it first with colleagues and other developers. This kind of solution can be proposed only in extreme case. But I think that deep discussion allow us to avoid this kind of situation.

Y: Your task

• Did you select a task from our list of proposals and ideas?

I want to work on the GUI part. More precisely the part of implementing a Qt Widget for manipulating plots. As I have understand the first step is integrating QtHandles code to core Octave. I am able to work roughly 40 hours during the 12 weeks of the project.