GSoC 2014 - Introduction (Hi everyone!)

[Zach Rogers]

Hi there everyone! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to the community, and to hopefully get to know some of you :D

My name is Zach Rogers, and I am a first year computer science student at Oregon State University. I have a number of years of programming experience, and I have worked on various projects (I'll list some of them below). I hope to work on the Diagram Labeling project idea for the Android platform, as I think it would be extremely rewarding to work on an educational application that could potentially aid a student with learning.

Here is a list to some of the projects that I have worked on in the past, along with related descriptions and links:

• PyOnline - https://github.com/ZachR0/PyOnline
  PyOnline was project I worked on a few years ago during high school. It is a basic 2D RPG written in Python that has a client and server for multiplayer capabilities.
  

• EnI Game Engine - https://github.com/ZachR0/EnI
  EnI was one of my first attempts at making a game engine in C++. It uses SDL for its basic graphics library, and then interfaces with Lua scripts for actual game logic. The idea was to have a simple game engine that allows games to be created easily and quickly.
  
  

• PyVader - https://github.com/ZachR0/PyVader
     - http://www.pygame.org/project-PyVader-1747-.html
        PyVader was a python clone of Space Invaders that I made for a class project back during my Sophomore year of high school. It uses the PyGame library for graphics, and was even published on the PyGame website.
  
  

• SMB - https://github.com/ZachR0/SMB
  SMB was a simple Super Mario Bros clone that I worked on over a weekend back during high school, written in C++ using SDL. It supports original levels from the first Super Mario Bros game (designed using a map editor called Tiled).
  
  

• Elysium - https://github.com/ZachR0/Elysium
  Elysium was another game development project I worked on during high school. I spent a lot of time trying to teach myself game development, and this project was aimed to pull together everything I learned from previous projects, and to correct previous mistakes I made. The backend supports parsing maps from Tiled, a full Sprite Management system, an NPC managements system. There is also Lua scripting support, for map trigger events, as well as NPC logic and interaction. If I were to start working on any of my old gamedev projects, it would be this one.
  
  

• Android-chan  - https://github.com/ZachR0/android-chan
   - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.chan.placeholder
  Android-chan was one of my first actual Android projects that I worked on, and published. It acts as a client to some of the internet’s popular image board websites. I worked on this during my junior year of high school, and wanted to create a system that would allow me to easily add support for other image board websites. The project slowly came to a standstill when one of the main image board websites my app supported changed their website format, and created an API. Before, the app parsed information from these websites, so when the websites changed / updated their formatting of information, it broke all app functionality. I was able to implement the API from one of the main supported websites, though the backend became rather messy. I hope to get things rolling on this project sometime in the future.

• Boid App For Twitter  - https://twitter.com/boidapp
  Boid for Twitter was a very popular Twitter client alternative on the Android platform, during its prime. I got asked to join the project by one of the main developers at the time, to help them fix bugs and add features. I was apart of the project for a number of months, and managed to fix most of their major bugs, and aided with meeting the project’s deadline for its next major milestone release. However, during this time, Twitter was cracking down on third-party Twitter clients, and started limiting and even revoking API access. This brought the project to a standstill, and resorted us to ultimately drop the project. For a short time after, the Boid App code was published for the open-source community, and the project died off. Below are some articles published on various websites, showing the rise and fall of the project. I have emails and copies of my code contributions to prove that I worked on this project, email me if you would like a copy.

• http://rootzwiki.com/news/boid-a-twitter-app-that-fills-the-void/

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3MrVAGTDEU

• http://www.droid-life.com/2012/03/05/boid-for-android-twitter-application-released-built-with-ice-cream-sandwich-specifically-in-mind/

• http://twitter.about.com/od/Twitter-Apps/a/Boid-For-Twitter-Post-Mortem-Of-A-Great-App-With-Bad-Timing.htm

I believe I have some good ideas for the "Label the Diagram" project, things like instant-feedback, Google Play Games scoring and achievement integration, a standardized data format that will allow new diagrams to be easily created and loaded by the application, etc. I am currently drafting my proposal, and will be making a post over at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/buildmlearn/droaQTxy7aU/L1aQ_aJYxSUJ once my draft is completed, that way I can get some mentor feedback, as well as general feedback. Together, we can create something great! I look forward to meeting all of you, Zach Rogers

[Rahul Ahuja]

Thanks Zach, your portfolio is impressive. Please do not hesitate to ask if you have any specific questions related to 'Label the daigram'. We look forward to your draft proposal :-) 

[Zach Rogers]

Thank you!

I just posted my draft proposal for review, I'm looking forward to any feedback. :D