User:Urathai: Difference between revisions

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== A: An introduction ==
== A: An introduction ==
* Please describe yourself in three sentences, one of them regarding your current studies.
* Please describe yourself in three sentences, one of them regarding your current studies.
*: My name is Joel Dahne and I am a first year student at the master program in mathematics at Uppsala University, Sweden, where I also did my bachelor in matematics. I am from Sweden, so naturally speak Swedish, but all my current studies are in english so I am used to that as well. Apart from mathematics I have a great intereset in computer science which always is a motivation when taking new courses in mathematics.
*: My name is Joel Dahne and I am a first year student at the master program in mathematics at Uppsala University, Sweden, where I also did my bachelor in matematics. I am from Sweden, so I naturally speak Swedish, but all my current studies are in English so I am used to that as well. Apart from mathematics I have a great interest in computer science which is always a motivation when taking new courses in mathematics.


* Why do you want to participate in the Google Summer of Code? What do you hope to gain by doing so?
* Why do you want to participate in the Google Summer of Code? What do you hope to gain by doing so?
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== C: Contact ==
== C: Contact ==
* Please state the (unique and identical where possible) nick you use on IRC and any other communication channel related to Octave.
* Please state the (unique and identical where possible) nick you use on IRC and any other communication channel related to Octave.
*: The nick I will be using is '''Urathai''' and you can find me on other channels with that as well, for example GitHub [[https://github.com/urathai]].
*: The nick I will be using is '''Urathai''' and you can find me on other channels with that as well, for example GitHub [https://github.com/urathai].


* Which time zone do you live in? Will that change over GSoC duration?
* Which time zone do you live in? Will that change over GSoC duration?
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* Please describe your experience with C++, Octave or Matlab m-scripts, OpenGL and Qt.
* Please describe your experience with C++, Octave or Matlab m-scripts, OpenGL and Qt.
*: I have quite a lot of experience with C++, especially in terms of scientific computing. This comes mainly from my bachelor thesis where I implemented a program for isolating zeros to systems of two analytic functions, more about that further down.
*: I have quite a lot of experience with C++, especially in terms of scientific computing. This comes mainly from my bachelor thesis where I implemented a program for isolating zeros to systems of two analytic functions, more about that further down.
*: I first came accross Matlab in my Scientific Computing courses were I learned the basics. After I have used it several times for calculations and plotting in smaller projects. Since about a year ago I switched from using Matlab to Octave. I am aware of some of the pros and cons with the language, for example that if you want any kind of performance you should use vectorized functions instead of for-loops.
*: I first came across Matlab in my Scientific Computing courses were I learned the basics. After I have used it several times for calculations and plotting in smaller projects. Since about a year ago I switched from using Matlab to Octave. I am aware of some of the pros and cons with the language, for example that if you want any kind of performance you should use vectorized functions instead of for-loops.
*: For OpenGL and Qt I have no experience but I know the basics of what they are supposed to do and how.
*: For OpenGL and Qt I have no experience but I know the basics of what they are supposed to do and how.


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* Please describe your experience with being in a development team.
* Please describe your experience with being in a development team.
*: Most of my programming have been personal projects so I have little experience from being in a development team, though this is something I really would like to do. On any larger project you are several people working together and I want to learn more about how I function in such situations.
*: Most of my programming has been personal projects so I have little experience from being in a development team, though this is something I really would like to do. On any larger project you are several people working together and I want to learn more about how I function in such situations.


* 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 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.
*: The biggest project I have worked on is, as mentioned, my bachelor thesis. It was my first big project and I have learned very much from it. I started on the project last spring and my object was to build a program that could isolate zeros to a system of two analytic functions. Since I am a mathematics student the goal was to have it generate validated results, both on the number of zeros and their locations. It was done using interval methods with the C-XSC package [[http://www2.math.uni-wuppertal.de/~xsc/]]. This was my first project were I used version control in a serious way. I did many mistakes at first, for example keeping track of binary files and making to large commits, but I learned a lot. I learned about optimizing and parallelizing. For some problems the program ran for several days on multiple computers, so performance was very important. At first I wrote the program for myself only, no documentation and weird input and output. Later on I realized I also wanted other people to be able to use the program. This made me rewrite the whole input and output so that it would be easier to understand and use. Now, whenever I start a new project, even if it is just for me at the moment, I think about how I can make using the program easier for other people. The latest version of the project is available at GitHub, https://github.com/Urathai/generateZeros.
*: The biggest project I have worked on is, as mentioned, my bachelor thesis. It was my first big project and I have learned very much from it. I started on the project last spring and my object was to build a program that could isolate zeros to a system of two analytic functions. Since I am a mathematics student the goal was to have it generate validated results, both on the number of zeros and their locations. It was done using interval methods with the C-XSC package [http://www2.math.uni-wuppertal.de/~xsc/]. This was my first project were I used version control in a serious way. I did many mistakes at first, for example keeping track of binary files and making to large commits, but I learned a lot. I learned about optimizing and parallelizing. For some problems the program ran for several days on multiple computers, so performance was very important. At first I wrote the program for myself only, no documentation and weird input and output. Later on I realized I also wanted other people to be able to use the program. This made me rewrite the whole input and output so that it would be easier to understand and use. Now, whenever I start a new project, even if it is just for me at the moment, I think about how I can make using the program easier for other people. The latest version of the project is available at GitHub, https://github.com/Urathai/generateZeros.


* Please state the commits and patches you already contributed to Octave.
* Please state the commits and patches you already contributed to Octave.
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* What will make you actively stay in our community after this GSoC is over?
* What will make you actively stay in our community after this GSoC is over?
*: I think that the one thing that would make the most difference regarding if I stay or not is if people use the code I write. If people make use of it, ask questions and do bug reports I think I will have no problem finding motivation to continue. Also making new new friends and finding people to discuss with would probably get me to stay.
*: I think that the one thing that would make the most difference regarding if I stay or not is if people use the code I write. If people make use of it, ask questions and do bug reports I think I will have no problem finding motivation to continue. Also making new friends and finding people to discuss with would probably get me to stay.


== O: Only out of interest ==
== O: Only out of interest ==
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*: Yes!
*: Yes!
** If so, when and where? How far have you been involved already?
** If so, when and where? How far have you been involved already?
**: The first time I encountered Octave was during a conference last summer, SWIM2016 [[https://swim2016.sciencesconf.org/]], were Oliver Heimlich presented his interval package. Since then I have been using it instead of Matlab but I have not contributed anything before this.
**: The first time I encountered Octave was during a conference last summer, SWIM2016 [https://swim2016.sciencesconf.org/], were Oliver Heimlich presented his interval package. Since then I have been using it instead of Matlab but I have not contributed anything before this.


* What was the first question concerning Octave you could not find an answer to rather quickly?
* What was the first question concerning Octave you could not find an answer to rather quickly?
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== S: Self-assessment ==
== S: Self-assessment ==
* Please describe how useful criticism looks from your point of view as committing student.
* Please describe how useful criticism looks from your point of view as committing student.
*: I think that the most important part of useful criticism is explaining why they think something should or should not be done in a particular way and what they base that on. If I do not know why I do something I first of all wont remember it and secondly might not like it. When it comes to criticism over mail or other more static channels I think it is extra important to give references when possible. That way I can look up things myself if I need any more information.
*: I think that the most important part of useful criticism is explaining why they think something should or should not be done in a particular way and what they base that on. If I don't know why I do something I first of all won't remember it and secondly might not like it. When it comes to criticism over mail or other more static channels I think it is extra important to give references when possible. That way I can look up things myself if I need any more information.


* How autonomous are you when developing:
* How autonomous are you when developing:
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== Y: Your task ==
== Y: Your task ==
* Did you select a task from our list of proposals and ideas?
* Did you select a task from our list of proposals and ideas?
*: Sort of. My main interests lies in improving the interval package. The are a couple of listed possible projects, all of which sound interesting. I have have also thought about a different project, implementing Taylor arithmetic in Octave. I think that for the interval package to really shine it needs access to automatic differentiation, which could be done in the form of Taylor arithmetic. I have implemented a proof-of-concept for how this could work [[https://github.com/Urathai/octave-taylor-POC]]. Though I am not sure if it is reasonable to implement a whole new Octave-forge package during GSoC and I am not sure who could mentor such a project, if this is interesting please let me know.
*: My main interest lies in improving the support for doing validated numerics in Octave. I think that validated numerics will grow, we get access to more and more computing power and  we can in many cases shift our focus from quickly generating results to generating guaranteed correct results. The interval package is intended for exactly this and I would like to improve on that. I am also interested in implementing Taylor arithmetic, a method for calculating arbitrary order derivatives, in Octave which I think would be a addition for the interval package in particular. I have implemented a proof-of-concept for how this would work [https://github.com/Urathai/octave-taylor-POC]. I would be very work with this during GSoC but I am not sure if it is reasonable to implement a whole new Octave-forge package during GSoC and I am not sure who could mentor such a project, if this is interesting please let me know.
*: The project I have looked most at is the one about implementing support for N-dimensional arrays of vectors. I think that this projects is important if we want to make working with intervals as natural as working with floating points in Octave. Below I give a rough possible time line for this.
*: As mentioned I am also very interested in improving the interval package. There are several possible projects listed and I could work on anyone of them. The one I have thought most about is about implementing support for N-dimensional vectors. This would be a very important step to allow for, for example, implementation of higher dimensional Taylor arithmetic. It would also make the transition from non-validated to validated numerics easier which I think is very important. Below is a rough time line for this project.


*: '''Community Bonding''' (May 4-30)
*: '''Community Bonding''' (May 4-30)
*: Become more comfortable with the interval package by reading through the full documentation and try using it more.
*: '''First Term''' (May 30 - June 30)
*: '''First Term''' (May 30 - June 30)
**: '''Week 1''' (May 30 - June 2): Identify all functions that will need to be changed to support N-dimensional arrays.
**: '''Week 1''' (May 30 - June 2): Identify all functions that will need to be changed to support N-dimensional arrays.
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