Google are running their Summer of Code again this year. If you're not
familiar with it, see:
https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/
Last year was very successful and I think we probably want to apply
again this year, assuming there are a sufficient number of people
interested in mentoring to make it worthwhile.
Org application open on 19th (this Thursday) though the deadline
is February 9th, so we have a little time to sort ourselves out.
The main priorities right now are:
* Identifying potential mentors - currently 3 people (including myself)
have indicated willingness for this year, but I've not actively asked
around yet.
If you're interested, talk to James Aylett or me. You certainly
don't need to understand all of Xapian in detail to usefully mentor
- any questions you can't answer can be directed to others, and a lot
of it is helping students with learning more generic skills - for
example what a good commit looks like, automated testing, etc.
I'd particularly encourage previous GSoC students to consider
mentoring - it's a great way to get more involved, and having seen
the process from the other side is very helpful.
* Refreshing the list of project ideas. James and I have done some
cleaning up, but the better the breadth and depth of ideas we have,
the more likely we are to be selected:
https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoCProjectIdeas
Ideas do *NOT* have to be for work on Xapian itself - projects
related to Xapian in other software are within scope (e.g.
integrating Xapian into a framework, or adding Xapian search to an
application). You'll need to provide mentoring related to the
other software, but we can help out with Xapian-specific questions.
Ideas don't need to be fully planned out - we expect the students to
do some research, planning and to discuss the project as part of
getting from the project idea to their proposal. But we do need to
clearly say what the aims are, give some pointers to useful
resources, and a list of required or beneficial skills. And the
scope needs to be suitable for taking a student developer about 12
weeks of full time work to complete and get merged.
If you have a suitable idea, feel free to add it to the page, or
raise it for discussion here or on IRC.
This list is one of the key things the GSoC team look at when
reviewing org applications, so we want it to be in great shape by
February 9th. You can still add or improve ideas after then, but
it's less likely to make a difference to us being selected.
* Talking to the students who've started to appear.
If you are a student eligible for GSoC and interested in working on
Xapian, please feel free to get in touch. You don't have to choose from
the ideas on the list - you're welcome to propose your own project
ideas.
If you want to discuss being a mentor or a student, or a project idea,
you can do so on the mailing list or on #xapian on freenode (if you
aren't already an IRC user, see https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoC_IRC for
links to a web IRC client).
There's also a general GSoC IRC channel - #gsoc on freenode.
Cheers,
Olly
Hello, I am Abado Jacob Mtulla, a 3rd year Computer Science student. I would love to implement the Go bindings for Xapian. On 01/16/2017 05:55 AM, Olly Betts wrote:> Google are running their Summer of Code again this year. If you're not > familiar with it, see: > > https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/ > > Last year was very successful and I think we probably want to apply > again this year, assuming there are a sufficient number of people > interested in mentoring to make it worthwhile. > > Org application open on 19th (this Thursday) though the deadline > is February 9th, so we have a little time to sort ourselves out. > > The main priorities right now are: > > * Identifying potential mentors - currently 3 people (including myself) > have indicated willingness for this year, but I've not actively asked > around yet. > > If you're interested, talk to James Aylett or me. You certainly > don't need to understand all of Xapian in detail to usefully mentor > - any questions you can't answer can be directed to others, and a lot > of it is helping students with learning more generic skills - for > example what a good commit looks like, automated testing, etc. > > I'd particularly encourage previous GSoC students to consider > mentoring - it's a great way to get more involved, and having seen > the process from the other side is very helpful. > > * Refreshing the list of project ideas. James and I have done some > cleaning up, but the better the breadth and depth of ideas we have, > the more likely we are to be selected: > > https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoCProjectIdeas > > Ideas do *NOT* have to be for work on Xapian itself - projects > related to Xapian in other software are within scope (e.g. > integrating Xapian into a framework, or adding Xapian search to an > application). You'll need to provide mentoring related to the > other software, but we can help out with Xapian-specific questions. > > Ideas don't need to be fully planned out - we expect the students to > do some research, planning and to discuss the project as part of > getting from the project idea to their proposal. But we do need to > clearly say what the aims are, give some pointers to useful > resources, and a list of required or beneficial skills. And the > scope needs to be suitable for taking a student developer about 12 > weeks of full time work to complete and get merged. > > If you have a suitable idea, feel free to add it to the page, or > raise it for discussion here or on IRC. > > This list is one of the key things the GSoC team look at when > reviewing org applications, so we want it to be in great shape by > February 9th. You can still add or improve ideas after then, but > it's less likely to make a difference to us being selected. > > * Talking to the students who've started to appear. > > If you are a student eligible for GSoC and interested in working on > Xapian, please feel free to get in touch. You don't have to choose from > the ideas on the list - you're welcome to propose your own project > ideas. > > If you want to discuss being a mentor or a student, or a project idea, > you can do so on the mailing list or on #xapian on freenode (if you > aren't already an IRC user, see https://trac.xapian.org/wiki/GSoC_IRC for > links to a web IRC client). > > There's also a general GSoC IRC channel - #gsoc on freenode. > > Cheers, > Olly >
On 16 Jan 2017, at 04:55, Abado Jack Mtulla <abadojack at gmail.com> wrote:> I am Abado Jacob Mtulla, a 3rd year Computer Science student. I would love to implement the Go bindings for Xapian.Hi Abado. Hopefully you've had a chance to both check out and build xapian-core, and to have a look at Marius' work on a proof of concept. It's possible the POC no longer works with the most recent version of go, since it was done a while ago. However looking through what was done there should help you come up with a plan for what will actually need doing. You need to answer questions such as: * what would a natural interface for using Xapian from go look like? * what was missing from the work Marius did? * what can be adapted and updated from the POC, compared to what needs writing from scratch? * what automated tests will be appropriate for the Go bindings? As the project description notes, you'll also need to convert to go the examples in the getting started guide, and doing one or more of these in advance can help figure out what how the go bindings should work to feel natural to go programmers. Note that there are a few people interested in Go bindings, and I'd strongly recommend you act as a community in trying to figure out what the best approach is. Do this in public, so other members of the Xapian community can also help. J -- James Aylett devfort.com — spacelog.org — tartarus.org/james/