On Mon, Mar 16, 2009 at 7:15 PM, asmeurer <asmeu...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Great! Is there anything that I should do before the 18th when the > mentoring organizations are accepted (assuming you get to reply by
You can get involved more with the sympy project, more below. > then :) ). Google does not have the information on applying up yet, > so I am not exactly sure what I will need. From what I've read an > various websites linked to on the main gsoc page, I will need some > kind of application for the idea, as well as some kind of a résumé. Yes, you will be writing an application. Search archives of this list to find examples of applications from 2008 and 2007. > > Also, some sites that I have looked at recommend proposing a couple of > ideas. Would you recommend that? There is little on the ideas page > that I would feel qualified doing, as most of it involves higher math > than I have taken yet. There are some that I could do (such as Maple > integration, as I own Maple and am somewhat decent with it), but the > differential equation one looks the most interesting and fun to me by > far. I am also currently taking Basic Concepts of Math (352), > Discrete Math and Formal Logic (221), and Vector Analysis (332), and > have taken up to Calc. 3, if you think I missed something. There are lots of things that you can do with your level of math that are very needed. For example code generation to C needs improvements and testing. Or just search through our issues: http://code.google.com/p/sympy/issues/list and easy to fix issues: http://code.google.com/p/sympy/issues/list?q=label:EasyToFix to get an idea which areas of sympy need improvements. > > Lastly, some sites mentioned that some mentoring organizations require > a timeline. Will you be wanting that? Like I said, with this > project, I could do a lot or a little and still add useful code to the > project, and I really have no idea how long any of this will take for > me to code. And depending on how I do it, I could complete different > amounts of things. For example, I could focus on different methods of > substitution that convert a differential equation into a type that can > be solved, or I could focus on implementing as many different distinct > types of differential equations as possible. Yes, we do. We also require each applicant to post at least one patch to sympy, that gets reviewed and accepted, so that we can see that you will be able to learn how to contribute. I suggest you pick some differential equation that sympy cannot solve and send us a patch fixing it (you will have to do it anyway). That way you will see first hand how much work it is and then you can estimate how much time you need for the whole project. As to the project, I suggest you pick some algorithm (that could be used to solve lots of differential equations) that you could implement and test. One example is variation of constants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_variation_of_parameters And there are others. Then you would build your project around such algorithm, e.g. it would be the core part of it and you would make sure it works and then implement some special cases. Another approach is to go through your differential equations textbook and think what algorithms you need to implement to be able to solve all equations. In general, you are given a free hand at what to propose. We (not just sympy but I think gsoc in general) are looking for projects that we can see that you will be able to finish in the summer, e.g. that it is not just words, but you can actually deliver the result. Some working prototype is a big plus. So my suggestion is -- dive in right now and try to implement some solvers. Ondrej --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sympy" group. To post to this group, send email to sympy@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to sympy+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sympy?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
