Changes

This summer I will change my major from Electrical Engineering to Computer Engineering. The change is happening due to my increased interest in programming and open source software. My interest in software started when I took an introductory course on C programming. In this course I successfully developed programs to act as automatic teller machines, inventory databases, etc. I came to realize how useful programming knowledge is in our time. Later in my school career I took a course on Computer Organization. This course was based more on hardware but we used programming to understand some of the concepts. Our project for this course was to develop a program to act as a MIPS processor emulator; this emulator needed to successful process different instructions based on the MIPS datapath given to us. This would be my first experience with a large and complex program.

This summer I will change my major from Electrical Engineering to Computer Engineering. The change is happening due to my increased interest in programming and open source software. My interest in software started when I took an introductory course on C programming. In this course I successfully developed programs to act as automatic teller machines, inventory databases, etc. I came to realize how useful programming knowledge is in our time. Later in my school career I took a course on Computer Organization. This course was based more on hardware but we used programming to understand some of the concepts. Our project for this course was to develop a program to act as a MIPS processor emulator; this emulator needed to successful process different instructions based on the MIPS datapath given to us. This would be my first experience with a large and complex program.

Eventually, I realized that most of my programming knowledge is based on developing engineering/scientific command line applications. So earlier this year I set a goal for myself to learn to use graphical toolkits. In order to learn the two major toolkits, Qt and GTK+, I decided to help port applications between the two toolkits. This was to become my summer project, until I heard about Google Summer of Code and the KDEEdu idea from SugarLabs.  

Eventually, I realized that most of my programming knowledge is based on developing engineering/scientific command line applications. So earlier this year I set a goal for myself to learn to use graphical toolkits. In order to learn the two major toolkits, Qt and GTK+, I decided to help port applications between the two toolkits. This was to become my summer project, until I heard about Google Summer of Code and the KDEEdu idea from Sugar Labs.  

I have already decided to dedicate myself to learning the skills needed for this idea over the summer. Nonetheless, I feel that working in a structured way with professionals would be extremely beneficial to me and the open source community. My dedication to learning these skills and help from my mentor and the community will make success for this project a reality.

I have already decided to dedicate myself to learning the skills needed for this idea over the summer. Nonetheless, I feel that working in a structured way with professionals would be extremely beneficial to me and the open source community. My dedication to learning these skills and help from my mentor and the community will make success for this project a reality.

* If your project is successfully completed, what will its impact be on the Sugar Labs community? Give 3 answers, each 1-3 paragraphs in length. The first one should be yours. The other two should be answers from members of the Sugar Labs community, at least one of whom should be a Sugar Labs GSoC mentor. Provide email contact information for non-GSoC mentors.

* If your project is successfully completed, what will its impact be on the Sugar Labs community? Give 3 answers, each 1-3 paragraphs in length. The first one should be yours. The other two should be answers from members of the Sugar Labs community, at least one of whom should be a Sugar Labs GSoC mentor. Provide email contact information for non-GSoC mentors.

With the completion of this project, Sugar Labs will have a documented procedure to port and deploy applications that are part of the KDE Education Project. This will include about twenty applications, and others that are built using Qt but are not part of KDEEdu. This will save Sugar activity developers from having to write applications that may already exist but are not built for Sugar or that don't use GTK+.  

With the completion of this project, Sugar Labs will have a documented procedure to port and deploy applications that are part of the KDE Education Project. This will include about twenty applications, and others that are built using Qt but are not part of KDEEdu. This will save Sugar activity developers from having to write applications that may already exist but are not built for Sugar or don't use GTK+.  

From homunq: KDEEdu is one of the most important set of open source educational programs. Having a demonstrated way to get those working in Sugar would help fill a number of important holes in our activity line-up, and would also help with making impressive demos.

From homunq: KDEEdu is one of the most important set of open source educational programs. Having a demonstrated way to get those working in Sugar would help fill a number of important holes in our activity line-up, and would also help with making impressive demos.

* What will you do if you get stuck on your project and your mentor isn't around?

* What will you do if you get stuck on your project and your mentor isn't around?

I would look for answers with other developers. This project is a crossroads of many greater projects (Sugar, KDE, Qt, GTK+) and so I will attempt to get answers any way I can. That includes the fundamental Google search, followed by contacting developers on IRC and mailing lists. This task of inter-compatibility between graphical toolkits is so important to open source development that there should be some great advice available.

I will look for answers with other developers. This project is a crossroads of many greater projects (Sugar, KDE, Qt, GTK+) and so I will attempt to get answers any way I can. That includes the fundamental Google search, followed by contacting developers on IRC and mailing lists. This task of inter-compatibility between graphical toolkits is so important to open source development that there will be some great advice available.

* How do you propose you will be keeping the community informed of your progress and any problems or questions you might have over the course of the project?

* How do you propose you will be keeping the community informed of your progress and any problems or questions you might have over the course of the project?

====Miscellaneous====

====Miscellaneous====

* We want to make sure that you can set up a [[DevelopmentTeam#Development_systems|development environment]] before the summer starts. Please send us a link to a screenshot of your Sugar development environment with the following modification: when you hover over the XO-person icon in the middle of Home view, the drop-down text should have your email in place of "Restart." See the image on the right for an example. It's normal to need assistance with this, so please visit our IRC channel, #sugar on irc.freenode.net, and ask for help.

* We want to make sure that you can set up a [[Development Team#Development_systems|development environment]] before the summer starts. Please send us a link to a screenshot of your Sugar development environment with the following modification: when you hover over the XO-person icon in the middle of Home view, the drop-down text should have your email in place of "Restart." See the image on the right for an example. It's normal to need assistance with this, so please visit our IRC channel, #sugar on irc.freenode.net, and ask for help.

[[Image:Yazen'sDevSkillz.png|300px]]

[[Image:Yazen'sDevSkillz.png|300px]]

* Describe a great learning experience you had as a child.

* Describe a great learning experience you had as a child.

I have always enjoyed hand-ons learning. One experience that I enjoy was making ice cream in school. The process was very simple: take the ingredients (milk, sugar, flavoring, salt) and put it all in a plastic bag. Next place the bag in a coffee can filled with ice. Now roll the can on the table (or wherever) for a while, maybe it was half an hour to an hour. Eventually, the ingredients in the bag will solidify and you will have ice cream. I think this was the first time that was able to see and participate in the process of making something I loved.  

I have always enjoyed hand-ons learning. One experience that I enjoyed was making ice cream in school. The process was very simple: take the ingredients (milk, sugar, flavoring, salt) and put it all in a plastic bag. Next place the bag in a coffee can filled with ice. Now roll the can on the table (or wherever) for a while, maybe half an hour to an hour. Eventually, the ingredients in the bag will solidify and you will have ice cream. I think this was the first time that I was able to see and participate in the process of making something I enjoyed in my daily life.  

* Is there anything else we should have asked you or anything else that we should know that might make us like you or your project more?

* Is there anything else we should have asked you or anything else that we should know that might make us like you or your project more?

I think the project sells itself. But as for me, I have been known to work on the computer for up to ten hours straight without fatigue. That's not to say that I don't get frustrated when my programs don't work as expected, but I get in the zone and I really enjoy it. My programming projects (C, Matlab, etc.) have always been my favorite assignments and always keep me distracted from my other work. But then again, that's why I'm changing majors. ;)

I think the project is important for many of the reasons I've mentioned. But as for me, I have been known to work on the computer for up to ten hours straight without fatigue. That's not to say that I don't get frustrated when my programs don't work as expected, but I get in the zone and I really enjoy it. My programming projects (C, Matlab, etc.) have always been my favorite assignments and always keep me distracted from my other work. But then again, that's why I'm changing majors. ;)

<noinclude>[[Category:2009 GSoC applications]]</noinclude>

<noinclude>[[Category:2009 GSoC applications]]</noinclude>

[[Category:GSoC]]

[[Category:GSoC]]