SummerOfCodeProposal Kahowell

This page is related to Summer of Code 2010

See the list of Summer of Code 2010 Ideas

This is a Summer of Code 2010 student page

Description

Making the Wesnoth Input Framework More Flexible

This would involve learning about the current state of the Wesnoth input system, and creating an input layer which is highly portable between different sorts of devices. Since Wesnoth already uses SDL, this project would mainly involve creating a subsytem to enumerate input devices and create a default configuration. I will look into different ways of identifying input devices (hopefully cross-platform), and perhaps create a database of default configurations (most likely just a collection of files).

IRC

kahowell

Questionnaire

1. Basics

1. 1. Write a small introduction to yourself.

My name is Kevin Howell. I'm a computer science student (third year) at a liberal arts university in the United States. I'm interested in game programming as a hobby.

1. 1. State your preferred email address.

kevin.adam.howell (at) gmail (dot) com

1. 1. If you have chosen a nick for IRC and Wesnoth forums, what is it?

IRC: kahowell

1. 1. Why do you want to participate in summer of code?

I'm looking for a way to start participating in FOSS.

1. 1. What are you studying, subject, level and school?

I am a student at the College of William & Mary in the city of Williamsburg, VA. I'm a 3rd year computer science major.

1. 1. What country are you from, at what time are you most likely to be able to join IRC?

United States. I will most likely be able to join around 4 PM EDT (GMT - 5).

1. 1. Do you have other commitments for the summer period ? Do you plan to take any vacations ? If yes, when.

At the current moment I have no other commitments for the summer.

1. Experience

1. 1. What programs/software have you worked on before?

I've not worked on anything in the real world. However, my school projects have included a ray tracer written from scratch in C++ and a networked battleship server/client.

1. 1. Have you developed software in a team environment before?

No, I have not, though I am familiar with SVN and CVS. (and a little familiar with git).

1. 1. Have you participated to the Google Summer of Code before? As a mentor or a student? In what project? Were you successful? If not, why?

No, I have not.

1. 1. Are you already involved with any open source development projects? If yes, please describe the project and the scope of your involvement.

I am not at the moment.

1. 1. Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?

1. 1. 1. What type of gamer are you?

I play games for leisure.

1. 1. 1. What type of games?

I really like Japanese tactical/strategy RPGs (ex. Disgaea, Final Fantasy Tactics).

1. 1. 1. What type of opponents do you prefer?

I prefer to play games with my friends.

1. 1. 1. Are you more interested in story or gameplay?

Generally, I am more interested in story; though I would say, there must be somewhat of a balance of both.

1. 1. 1. Have you played Wesnoth? If so, tell us roughly for how long and whether you lean towards single player or multiplayer.

I have played, but the first couple of single player levels. (I tend to play single player first before I jump into multiplayer games.)

1. 1. If you have contributed any patches to Wesnoth, please list them below. You can also list patches that have been submitted but not committed yet and patches that have not been specifically written for GSoC. If you have gained commit access to our SVN (during the evaluation period or earlier) please state so.

1. Communication skills

1. 1. Though most of our developers are not native English speakers, English is the project's working language. Describe your fluency level in written English.

I am a native (American) English speaker.

1. 1. What spoken languages are you fluent in?

I am only fluent in English, though I know some Japanese (I've taken 5 semesters of Japanese at college).

1. 1. Are you good at interacting with other players? Our developer community is friendly, but the player community can be a bit rough.

In general I take a pacifistic/avoidant attitude when dealing with aggression. (I tend to ignore agression).

1. 1. Do you give constructive advice?

Yes.

1. 1. Do you receive advice well?

Yes, as long as the advice is understandable; otherwise, I'll ask for clarification.

1. 1. Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?

Yes, I can tell when someone is simply criticizing methodology and when they are

1. 1. How autonomous are you when developing ? Would you rather discuss intensively changes and not start coding until you know what you want to do or would you rather code a proof of concept to "see how it turn out", taking the risk of having it thrown away if it doesn't match what the project want

1. Project

1. 1. Did you select a project from our list? If that is the case, what project did you select? What do you want to especially concentrate on?

1. 1. If you have invented your own project, please describe the project and the scope.

1. 1. Why did you choose this project?

1. 1. Include an estimated timeline for your work on the project. Don't forget to mention special things like "I booked holidays between A and B" and "I got an exam at ABC and won't be doing much then".

1. 1. Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can

1. 1. What do you expect to gain from this project?

I expect to gain experience in working with developers in the FOSS community.

1. 1. What would make you stay in the Wesnoth community after the conclusion of SOC?

I would be likely to stay in the community if I felt I could make regular, meaningful contributions to Wesnoth.

1. Practical considerations

1. 1. Are you familiar with any of the following tools or languages?

   * Subversion - Yes.
   * C++ - Yes.
   ** STL - Yes.
   ** Boost - No.
   ** SDL - Yes.
   * Python - Yes.
   * build environments - Not any of the ones listed, but I'm pretty familiar with make.
   * WML (the wesnoth specific scenario language) - No.
   * Lua (used in combination with WML to create scenarios) - No.

1. 1. Which tools do you normally use for development? Why do you use them?

I tend to use Netbeans or KDevelop. I like Netbeans because it is cross-platform, but I like the code browsing in KDevelop. For quick programs, I'll just use KATE sometimes.

1. 1. What programming languages are you fluent in?

I am proficient in C, C++, Java, Python, PHP. I am also familiar with bash scripting, awk, sed, and perl.

1. 1. Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone?

I would not mind.