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− | Posted 28 Feb 2014
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− | 1) Basics
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− | 1.1) Write a small introduction to yourself.
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− | 1.2) State your preferred email address.
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− | 1.3) If you have chosen a nick for IRC and Wesnoth forums, what is it?
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− | 1.4) Why do you want to participate in summer of code?
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− | I'd like to participate in the summer of code for several reasons, and
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− | yes money is one of them. but experience is the biggest one.
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− | 1.5) What are you studying, subject, level and school?
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− | I am currently studying computer science (read programming) and networking
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− | technology. I am a Softmore in both, I am a current student at Sandhills
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− | Community College.
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− | 1.6) What country are you from, at what time are you most likely to be able to
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− | join IRC?
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− | I currently live on the east coast of the US and can be in IRC pretty
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− | much all day, either at home or school, though if at school there will
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− | be a delay if in class and not lab.
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− | 1.7) Do you have other commitments for the summer period ? Do you plan to take
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− | any vacations ? If yes, when.
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− | I have no current commitments that would impact my ability to give GSOC
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− | 40 hours a week of work and attention. But if an emergency comes up
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− | I'll find a way to make up the hours.
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− | 2) Experience
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− | 2.1) What programs/software have you worked on before?
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− | Mostly personal projects and class projects, in C, C++, C#, PHP, Python,
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− | & the Arduino. One of C++ classes was using DarkGTK (yes I know its
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− | windows only) but we used SpriteSheets, sprite collision, and mouse interaction.
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− | 2.2) Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to
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− | hacking on something on your own)
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− | I have in a class environment, but I'm usually the only one left doing
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− | the heavy lifting of coding. Though next year I'll be doing the
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− | programming capstone class where the class of 1-20 students work
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− | together to produce a program for a client, either for the college or
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− | for a community member/business. I'm both looking forward to and
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− | dreading working on a team, wondering if I'll be able to fit in and
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− | create code that is easy to maintain and follow.
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− | 2.3) Have you participated to the Google Summer of Code before? As a mentor or a
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− | student? In what project? Were you successful? If not, why?
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− | I applied last year, however, I wasn't choosen mostly because I lack
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− | good writing skills for technical documents. At least that is what I
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− | was told.
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− | 2.4) Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes,
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− | please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.
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− | None, I have submitted patches to the linux kernel but, I never
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− | bothered to see if they made it in.
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− | 2.5) Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?
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− | Sometimes, depends on my mood.
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− | 2.5.1) What type of gamer are you?
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− | Casual.
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− | 2.5.2) What type of games?
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− | 2.5.3) What type of opponents do you prefer?
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− | AI oppenents, I'm not really into the whole competetive thing.
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− | 2.5.4) Are you more interested in story or gameplay?
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− | I think BOTH have to be there for a successful game.
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− | Though to be honest I'm better at critecing story then gameplay.
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− | 2.5.5) Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether
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− | you lean towards single player or multiplayer.
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− | We do not plan to favor Wesnoth players as such, but some particular projects
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− | require a good feeling for the game which is hard to get without having played
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− | intensively.
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− | I've played Wesnoth for a year or 2, and I play exclusively single player.
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− | 2.6) If you have contributed any patches to Wesnoth, please list them below. You
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− | can also list patches that have been submitted but not committed yet and patches
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− | that have not been specifically written for GSoC. If you have gained commit
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− | access to our repository (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state
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− | so.
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− | 3) Communication skills
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− | 3.1) Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is
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− | the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English.
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− | 3.2) What spoken languages are you fluent in?
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− | English, I can understand a smattering of other languages but not enough
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− | to do anything deep or programming specific.
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− | 3.3) Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is
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− | friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.
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− | 3.4) Do you give constructive advice?
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− | I've been told I do on occasion.
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− | 3.5) Do you receive advice well?
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− | I do if its construtive and not attacking. If its yelling, screaming,
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− | and insults as well, not so much. How its given usually impacts how well
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− | I receive it.
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− | 3.6) Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?
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− | Given enough time yes, but the painfully obvious ones I usually see
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− | right away.
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− | 3.7) How autonomous are you when developing ? Would you rather discuss
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− | intensively changes and not start coding until you know what you want to do or
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− | would you rather code a proof of concept to "see how it turn out", taking the
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− | risk of having it thrown away if it doesn't match what the project want
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− | I'm usually fairly autonomous, once the design has been decided, and
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− | if it doesn't work and needs a change I sometimes seek councel on what
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− | way I should go, but sometimes just go ahead and make the change.
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− | Examples:
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− | 1) The flow needs changing as it doesn't work right, usually I'll seek
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− | help figuring it how to change the flow so it does work.
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− | 2) An array isn't giving the flexablity needed for a function but a
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− | list will, I implement the list instead. And inform whomever needs to
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− | know that I have done that change.
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− | 4) Project
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− | 4.1) Did you select a project from our list? If that is the case, what project
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− | did you select? What do you want to especially concentrate on?
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− | I selected one from the list, the implementing the SpriteSheets.
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− | I would like to concentrate on 2 tasks, 1 getting SpriteSheets to just
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− | work in wesnoth, and two, provide a script/tool/utility to allow easy
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− | converting from the old single images to the sheet (assuming certian
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− | naming conventions are followed).
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− | 4.2) If you have invented your own project, please describe the project and the
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− | scope.
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− | N/A
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− | 4.3) Why did you choose this project?
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− | I chosse it because I understand the concepts behind it, and felt it
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− | was a task that I could handle. It will also force me to learn and
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− | will provide immediate gains to all users when the version that
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− | includes the change is pushed out.
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− | 4.4) Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to
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− | mention special things like "I booked holidays between A and B" and "I got an
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− | exam at ABC and won't be doing much then".
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− | I'm still working out a timeline but I would most likely do a commit
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− | at least weekly. And break out the commits so that similar changes
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− | are only in that commit. Example, comment changes in one, (assuming
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− | no code changes), a converted set of sprites (aka the spritesheet) as
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− | one, and then code making use of it. After checking to make sure that
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− | the spritesheet works, removal of the converted individual sprite image
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− | files.
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− | 4.5) Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can
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− | At this point I think I would take 1 sprite (character) and create a
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− | spritesheet of it, and then test with that one. To allow testing I'd
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− | likely have it check for a spritesheet if it finds one it uses that,
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− | otherwise it uses the individual sprite images, in this way the game
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− | still works, until all the sprites have been turned into spritesheets.
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− | Once I have completed getting a character spritesheet to work, I'd
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− | then move on to the map sprites to spritesheets, again using the same
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− | methodology of check and if it finds a spritesheet use it otherwise,
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− | use the individual images. Though, on the grouping I'm not sure how
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− | I'd do that mordante and I'd have to discuss grouping, since a map can
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− | have any or all of the different tiles, and they are not chained like
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− | the unit/character sprites are, I'd have to group similar tiles together.
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− | Like the water images, shorelines, docks, and water villages, as one.
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− | The fields, human villages and castles in one. Swamp things together,
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− | and so on.
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− | I've heard that some devs think that a spritesheet might cause issues
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− | with larger images that don't fit in a hex, I'll intentional create some
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− | sprite sheets just for testing this purpose. I'll also see about creating
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− | some tests to check and see if the performance gains are really showing up.
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− | 4.6) What do you expect to gain from this project?
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− | Experience, learning to work on a team where most actually pull their
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− | own weight and the success of the project as a whole is not on my
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− | shoulders. This is too big a project for me to even think of that!
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− | and I'd not be able to, not in 3 months.
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− | 4.7) What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of
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− | SOC?
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− | Finding that the community is a non-hostile place to contribute, that
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− | individuals are treated with courtsey or the respect they have earned.
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− | That I'm encouraged to help other areas of the code, such as, "Aishi,
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− | the spritesheets work, do you think you could help with the transistion
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− | effects for the map?"
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− | 5) Practical considerations
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− | 5.1) Are you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?
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− | Git (used for all commits)
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− | I don't get it yet but I'm confident that I can get it.
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− | C++ (language used for all the normal source code)
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− | Its my favourite language and I'm comfortable using the language
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− | and looking up what I don't know and making it work. I'm also not
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− | afraid to ask, for help/documentation if I get stuck.
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− | STL, Boost, Sdl (C++ libraries used by Wesnoth)
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− | I've not, YET. Well I might, I never really looked into where a lib or
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− | function comes from when I use, I'll have to pay a bit more attention
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− | now. But they are no on my documentation read list, I'm confident
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− | that by the time coding begins that I'll be able to leverage them to
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− | obtain results, and be more effienent as I go. Even going back and
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− | making a section more effient if I realize that I over looked a better
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− | tool then I orginally used.
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− | Python (optional, mainly used for tools)
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− | I'm familiar enough to use it, follow it (assuming good coding
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− | conventions are followed).
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− | build environments (eg cmake/scons)
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− | I tend to use cmake and the gcc compiler, basically I use which ever
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− | build environment I have available and if its a new one I look up (via
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− | the man page or the internet) how to use it, and if the defaults
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− | settings don't work to add flags/options to get it to compile.
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− | WML (the wesnoth specific scenario language)
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− | Absolutely none before now, again on my read list
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− | Lua (used in combination with WML to create scenarios)
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− | None but I don't create senarios at this point, and if its only used
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− | in that context, it shouldn't have any barring on the project(s) I'm
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− | interested in doing at this point.
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− | 5.2) Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?
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− | Kate, as its just what I'm used to, I like how it's mimaliztic and
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− | non-intrutsive.
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− | Visual Studio for my C# class because that is what they have to work
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− | in when I turn it in.
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− | 5.3) What programming languages are you fluent in?
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− | I'm not sure what you mean by fluent, if you mean know every builtin
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− | function and every conseviable combination of calls, I doubt very many
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− | could claim to be fluent. However if you mean, comfortable, and able
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− | to figure out things you don't knoe, either by looking it up or by
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− | context then C (and its children, C++, C#, Arduino) python, and PHP.
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− | After being fluent in English doesn't mean you know every word or
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− | special rule for the language.
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− | 5.4) Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone? We
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− | would like to have a backup way for communications for the case that somehow
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− | emails and IRC do fail. If you are willing to do so, please do list a phone
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− | number (including international code) so that we are able to contact you. You
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− | should probably *only* add this number in the application for you submit to
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− | google since the info in the wiki is available in public. We will *not* make any
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− | use of your number unless some case of "there is no way to contact you" does
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− | arise!
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− | I wouldn't mind and in some cases prefer it. I'm not the most observant
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− | when it comes to my email, I usually just get notices and spam that can
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− | be ignored (high noise to signal ratio in my mailbox at the moment).
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− | Though when expecting something I check it more often at least once a
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− | day if not more.
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− | **************Comments and Suggestions**************
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− | Please place them after this line, all are appreciated and if I can't thank you
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− | personally (IE you don't attach your name to it, Thank you.
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