[LLVMdev] GSoC: PTX Back-End for LLVM

Tobias Grosser
Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:19:37 -0000

On 03/28/2011 09:12 AM, Justin Holewinski wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am going to submit a GSoC proposal for LLVM this year, and I would
> like to first post it here to get constructive feedback before I submit
> it before the April 8 deadline.  This is the first time I have submitted
> a GSoC proposal, so please be brutal with the feedback. :)

Hi Justin,

I think this is a great idea. I am highly interested in PTX code generation.

[...Proposal...]

The proposal is nice and shows that you already have a good idea of your
project.

Here some ideas how you can further improve it:

1. Milestones / Time line

You already have a two-phase development plan. I believe it would be
nice, if you can further split it into a set of smaller milestones. Each
could include a short description of what you plan to deliver, how long
its implementation will take and when you plan to implement it during
the summer of code. Those milestones could be sorted into the time frame
you have for the GSoC. In addition, you could define "Success
Criteria"
for the midterm/final evaluation.

This will make it easy to see during GSoC, if you are on track with your
project and will allow you and your mentor to readjust your milestones
if necessary.

When developing mile stones and success criteria, better be conservative
and only add items you are confident you can implement during GSoC. You
can add additionally a set of "if time permits" milestones, where you
put the stuff that is not 100% needed, but that would be good to have.

2. It would be nice to include a description of the examples you have
already tested

3. Define the exceptions

It would be good to know what parts you definitely do not plan to
implement and best why not (Postponed, impossible, not relevant, ...).
Like this people can understand to what extend your backend will be
usable after the GSoC.

4. Phase two is currently a little short

What kind of optimizations do you plan? Have you already an idea or will
you investigate this when you get to this point? How much time do you
plan to spend on Part II? If it is more than two weeks, it would be good
to elaborate a little on what you plan to do there exactly.


So that's all for the moment. As the application was already nice, I
just did some conceptually nitpicking. ;-)

Cheers
Tobi