User:Timotei21/Questionaire

Questionnaire

Basics

Write a small introduction to yourself.

My name is Timotei Dolean, 21 years old and I'm from Cluj, Romania. I'm one of the best students in my year, and I've decided to participate in another GSoC. I'm also very passionate about programming, doing it my spare time and also having fun with other people/my friends.

State your preferred email address.

timotei_cluj [at] yahoo.co.uk

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

timotei,timotei21 - IRC, timotei - forums

Why do you want to participate in summer of code?

I have participated last year and it was an awesome experience. I've learn a lot of new things, and I've made friends as well. Provided that, I shall go again for a GSoC experience. Also, another reason would be the one that I really wish to finish the work started last summer, so the eclipse plugin will be polished and much stable, so it can become "de facto" for developing UMC content. Since the summer will be holiday for me, GSoC will help me use the holiday at its fully extend, by flipping bits not burgers :P, and the stipend will be very good to have.

What are you studying, subject, level and school?

I'm currently 2st year undergraduate at the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Computer Science.

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

I'm from Romania, Eastern Europe (Timezone: UTC +2). Usually I'm available for about 2-8 hours a day, but in the day-time - I better sleep in the night, so I can start earlier the next day. In general, based on my current schedule I'll be available: Monday: 18-22 UTC+2, Tuesday: 8 - 22 UTC+2, Wednesday: 16 - 22 UTC+2, Thursday: 16 - 22 UTC+2, Friday-Sunday: 8-22 UTC+2.

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

Like every student, I'll have exams in the following period: 30.05-19.06.2010, that's 3 weeks. So in that period the time for development will be slowed down a lot, to almost none - depends a lot of the time I need to dedicate for each exam. Because of that, I will start the work faster than the official time, so I can recover the "lost" time.

Experience

What programs/software have you worked on before?

• InfoCenter - application for aiding high-school students in learning the C++ language. This is the biggest project I have ever worked on. (technologies and tools used in development: Visual Studio, C#, SVN, XML, MS Access Database, ReSharper)
• Lineage 2 Launcher & Server – application for launching and updating the “Lineage 2” game from a web server, registration on the server for new users. The game was used to connect to my custom “Lineage 2 MMORPG” server (the server was developed in java by an existing open-source community - l2jserver). I modified the server adding new features, fixing bugs and making my own version of game play, not seen on other servers. ( technologies and tools used: Java, Eclipse, SVN – server; C#/.NET/MySQL - launcher)
• vLessons – prototype application for a future e-learning application. (Project done as an assignment for courses; technologies and tools used: SQLite, QTCreator, C++)
• Y! Detector – prototype application that scans a specified Yahoo! Messenger user for being offline/invisible, and retrieving his/her avatar from the Yahoo servers. (technologies and tools: VS, C#)
• Websites – built many custom websites for friends, companies and my high-school.
• XNA Game – I have worked on a XNA game with a friend, for participating in the Game Design competition at Imagine Cup; Dream-build-play contest and IGF (Independent Games Festival). (website: http://awkwardgames.wordpress.com/shade/)
• Pure Assembly Game - I have made a simple 16-bit assembly game, space invaders, just for fun an experiencing with assembly. Code: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/462510/portofolio/spaceinvaders/spacein.asm | Compiled exe runnable in DosBox: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/462510/portofolio/spaceinvaders/SPACEIN.EXE
• Battle for Wesnoth - I have created the eclipse UMC plugin as part of Google Summer of Code 2010, a fabulous tool that helps the UMC Creators to create/develop faster new addons or edit the current ones. The tools'homepage is: www.eclipse.wesnoth.org

Have you developed software in a team environment before? (As opposed to hacking on something on your own)

Yes. For the XNA Game I've worked with another friend. For an AI project, I've worked with 2 friends. Both times we used SVN to synchronize our modifications. I have also worked with another colleague for a school project. Currently I'm working with another 3 friends on a software solution for the ImagineCup competition.

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?

Yes. I have participated to GSoC last year, in 2010, as a student. My mentor was fendrin and I have worked on the Eclipse UMC plugin. The project was successful, although I haven't really finished all task I proposed.

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

Yes I am. I am developer for Battle For Wesnoth, maintainer for the Eclipse UMC Plugin. I usually fix bugs and add new features (depends on my time if that allows it). Also, about 4 years ago I worked on an open-source project (http://l2jserver.com | http://l2jfree.com) with some friends, modifing the existing files, adding new features and fixing existing bugs, so we could make our own version of the server (if you want you can take a look at an older .diff file here: http://wesnoth.pastebin.com/bGyJ87eY - this was written when my experience/coding style wasn't so good)

Gaming experience - Are you a gamer?

I like a lot playing games, especially indie ones. My first contact with video games was with a NES console. After that it followed the PC, starting with very low power configurations but increasing to better ones. So, there were games that I played in low graphics mode, but that didn't stop me from playing them. The gameplay was almost everything.

What type of gamer are you?

There are games at which I'm a master, but there are some games in which I am really bad. I know well the DoTa game - a map for Warcraft3 - I was the best in my high-school, and I play racing games in general. I go mainly for gameplay/story rather than for the graphics. In the last months I played minecraft.

What type of games?

Sorted by "I like more": Mmorpg/Indie/racing/rpg/adventure/shooters. I played too many games to enumerate them, but some of my favorites: Lineage 2, World of Warcraft, Braid, World of Goo, Warcraft3 (Dota), Need for Speed, Unreal Tournament 3, Minecraft.

What type of opponents do you prefer?

If it's AI, then I prefer an adaptive one, growing in the difficulty as the game progresses. If it's human, I like all types, including campers because even this type of opponent is good, because it forces you to develop new strategies to try take it down.

Are you more interested in story or gameplay?

It depends a lot on the mood and game type. In a fast-paced game (fighting/race/etc) I would like the gameplay to be very good. If It's an adventure for example, I would like it to have a good story.

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

Yes. I have played some parts of the campaigns. I also played on Gambit's multiplayer map "Breaking Ground" - I'd still play that because I won't get bored. I like better the multiplayer ones since they engage more people and it's more fun.

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.

Yes. I have contributed with some patches before last GSoC. After that, till now I have commit access on the SVN.

Communication skills

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

My writing in English is pretty good because I speak sometimes with other peoples, which are not Romanian. Also I spent a week with some students that came in Romania from U.S.; when I was Game Master on the L2Server I had to talk in English and try to understand every "variance" of the standard English, so I think I could understand most of the terms. Also, since when I was involved with wesnoth since last year, I can say that both my spoken and written english have improved - thanks especially to Espreon and shadowmaster who kept correcting me on each mispelled/wrong word.

What spoken languages are you fluent in?

Romanian and English.

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

I'm a very "enduring" when receiving harsh criticisms and I am well-tempered. Is it very hard to upset me. Also I know how to separate feedback (constructive criticism) and useless criticisms.

Do you give constructive advice?

Yes. Usually I tend to help people in their problems more than necessary, just to be sure of it, by providing feedback and ideas.

Do you receive advice well?

Yes.

Are you good at sorting useful criticisms from useless ones?

Yes.

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

Somehow between. It depends a lot of my knowledge in that area. If I have enough spare time to try it and know what I have/want to do, I'll do it, providing some results to support my changes. Otherwise, I would wait for the dev guys confirmation.

Project

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?

I want to work on improving the Eclipse UMC Plugin. Idea's page is: http://wiki.wesnoth.org/SoC_Ideas_Eclipse_Plugin2011. I want to focus on getting the plugin more stable so it can be used even on slower PCs.

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

I haven't invented one.

Why did you choose this project?

I chose this project because I've worked on it last summer. I know my way around and this GSoC year will give me the opportunity to finish the plugin so it can be properly used by all UMC Authors, like a tool they won't want to stop using. Of course, since the eclipse framework is written in java, the performance might won't be so good on slower PCs,but, depending on the plugin's tools/available options, it may replace even the emacs WML mode, or other tools used currently for writing UMC.

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".

See Timeline

Include as much technical detail about your implementation as you can

See Proposal Summary

What do you expect to gain from this project?

The thing I'm expecting now, is that the wesnoth community will use the plugin after the 1.9.x branch is getting stable. Aside from this, I'm expecting consolidate my java/eclipse framework knowledge and my coding skills performance-wise.

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

The people I'm working with, the friends made during the "coding" period. If there is need to enhance the plugin I did, I will continue to improve it. The knowledge I gathered directly or indirectly from other wesnoth members was very beneficial for me. Thus, I'm gonna continue being (as times allows me) a maintainer for the eclipse plugin, and if there is the need, to get my hands on other wesnoth's areas too.

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

• Subversion (used for all commits)

Yes. I used subversion for many projects. Right now I prefer using git svn wrapper instead of svn command line/tortoise svn.

• C++ (language used for all the normal source code)

Yes. I've worked with C/C++ for 3 years for different projects and programming contests.

• STL, Boost, SDL (C++ libraries used by Wesnoth)

STL: Only used small parts from it.
Boost: Didn't used it but I know what it offers.
SDL: No.

• Python (optional, mainly used for tools)

No, but I've written some scattered bits of code.

• build environments (eg cmake/autotools/scons)

CMake, Ant - basic usage.

• WML (the wesnoth specific scenario language)

I know just its syntax and some tags/attributes.

• Lua (used in combination with WML to create scenarios)

No. But wishing a lot to learn it.

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

I use Visual Studio(C#,C/C++), Expression Studio(C#, WPF), Eclipse(java, php) and (g)vim for short and fast C/C++ programs/scripts. Visual Studio is IMHO the best IDE alongside with Eclipse. The only thing why I didn't move completely from VS to Eclipse, is the enhanced debugger of VS and the very low support for C# in eclipse. Lately, I've started using gvim for more and more tasks that involve writing text. Also, for projects that need more than 2-3 days of development, I use a local git for keeping the changes.

What programming languages are you fluent in?

C#, C/C++, Java, Assembly

Would you mind talking with your mentor on telephone / internet phone? We would like to have a backup way for communications for the case that somehow emails and IRC do fail. If you are willing to do so, please do list a phone number (including international code) so that we are able to contact you. You should probably *only* add this number in the application for you submit to google since the info in the wiki is available in public. We will *not* make any use of your number unless some case of "there is no way to contact you" does arise!

I won't mind. Even though I think it won't be needed, I will provide the telephone number in the application sent to google.