GSoC Applicant Intro - Pallav Shinghal
Pallav Shinghal
I'm an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore. I'm
quite interested in the project "Geolocation and Mapping Tools". I
started out as a competitive programmer. Doing reasonably well in that
field (I was in the Indian IOI training camp), I moved on to software
engineering. So far, I have tried to diversify my experience. I have
done some web programming (in PHP, and a little Go for fun). I've
recently been working on a project to write a modular physics engine
in JavaScript. Apart from that, I've been working on a research
project in the field of wireless sensor networks, involving
programming for the TelosB platform. I have no prior experience
working with mapping tools, but I'm a quick learner. I learned PHP in
the process of writing code for a friend's start-up. Here at NUS, I
took the accelerated introductory programming module, taught in Scheme
(following the guidelines of SICP). From my competitive programming
experience, my primary languages are C++ and Java, but I consider
myself a multi-lingual programmer, in that I think I've worked on most
different types of languages.
There are two main reasons I want to work with Raxa: one, I'd like to
be able to do something socially productive (I believe open-source, in
general, is quite socially productive, even more so the way Raxa
applies it); second, I'm interested in learning how to work with
mapping tools, and the best way to do that is by experience. In fact,
a friend and I have been working on an idea for social enterprise
(basically, a way to simplify (and indirectly, promote) travelling
together (to be distinguished from public transport)), that initially
piqued my curiosity about the different ways in which mapping
technology can be applied.
Regards,
Pallav Shinghal