Re: google summer of code

[BALATON Zoltan]

I think this would be a great opportunity for the project to get more
developers who can work on writing code. I hope that they let us take part 
via the GNU umbrella.

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006, Adrian Robert wrote:
> The list of ideas on the wiki looks pretty good, though some are less 
> well-defined.  The clearest-cut appear to be:
>
> - printing support
> - finish Cairo [it would be nice if completing unfinished aspects of Xlib and 
> Art backends could be included here]
> - WebCore
> - Bindings / KVO
>
> I would add:
>
> - .nib compatibility
>
> 'Windows support' might be able to be refined to some good projects as well. 
> I wish there were some way to put together a general "finish GUI" project, 
> though most likely that is more a hodge-podge of miscellaneous tasks than 
> something suitable for a student project.  Another source of projects is 
> applications:
>
> - ProjectCenter (if Serg were willing to mentor)
> - the PDFKit and viewer
> - completing / polishing the various image viewer projects
> - finish Emacs.app (what do people think of this.. is it central enough to 
> GNU/GNUstep)?
> - refactor Emacs.app code to make emacs editor panel widget

Here is my list of ideas:

- Implement the CoreGraphics API on top of Cairo (this brings a common
  base for the Cairo backend, PDFKit and viewer tasks above)
- Maybe try to implement CoreImage on top of OpenGL and raster image code
  in back (this may not be an easy task, but for someone who is dedicated
  enough and has a whole summer may be feasible)
- Bring together and consolidate code from gui/base and GWorkspace into a
  library similar to LaunchServices
  (http://www.cocoadev.com/index.pl?LaunchServices)
- Overhaul and optimise the text system in GUI
- Improve or write any app (e.g. add debugging support to Project Center,
  graphical EOModeller for gdl, etc.)
- Implement a way for binary packaging and distribution (akin to Apple's
  Installation private framework) + command line installer + GUI
  Installer.app and put together a binary distribution (this would also
  include MultiArch Binary emulation via non-flattened directory layout,
  possibly flattened during installation)
- Might have tasks together with the GCC project too concerning the
  Objective C runtime (e.g. exception handling, objc++ improvements if
  any needed)

Some of the above tasks might not be easy but I think they sould be 
challanging enough to find good candidates for implementing them. A 
warning similar to that of the wine project put on their pages might be 
appropriate in some cases but there are easier tasks as well so we might 
be able to give an appropriate task for anyone applying.

I would probably be able to help mentoring a task but I'm not sure I can 
dedicate enough time and my schedule can change anytime without notice so 
that I'm not available for a few weeks so I'm not promissing anything at 
this point.

Regards,
BALATON Zoltan