6 ms·

Ruby Summer of Code

114 points by jeremymcanally 17y ago

jackowayed 17y ago
They really need to make the requirements for students a little more clear (for example, I'm a senior in HS, can I apply?). I'd assume they'll flesh that out before they open the student app. Also, from the questions for students they list there, it seems like they might get some pretty bad outcomes: >Why do you use Ruby and/or Rails? How would you like to see them improve? Outline the specific project you're proposing. Why is this important to the Ruby and/or Rails communities at large? Why is this important to you? List a clear set of goals/milestones you'll hit during the summer, along with a rough timeline. Be specific about your deliverables. What are the "unknowns" in this project for you? What kind of pitfalls could you run into? How will you measure progress? How will you handle falling behind? To liken it to startups/YC, they're asking a lot about the idea, but not at all about "the team" (the applicant). Anyone can say "I'm going to make something awesome" even if they aren't very good at writing Ruby and will almost certainly not do well. Sure, they don't give you money unless you hit milestones, but they could experience plenty of projects that technically do what they should but are so badly written that they're certain to go nowhere. That said, I'm really excited for this both as a potential participant and as a Rubyist who would love to see some cool new projects come of it. Edit: They also should make it a bit more clear what kinds of projects they want. Just things that are directly useful to ruby programmers (libraries, Rails plugins, etc)? Cool tools that are useful to developers in general (something like http://hurl.it/ http://hurl.it/)? Any piece of software that's useful to the world and written in Ruby (like some good website written in Rails)? My guess is the first 2 only, but that's just a guess.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- wifelette 17y ago
  We'll work to clarify the language, but those were a subset of the questions on the applications. We will be asking about the applicant, but that didn't seem like questions that'd need a lot of prep ;) As for suggestions for projects, we're working on them, but as with GSoC, the really good ideas will likely come from the student applicants.
- spicyj 17y ago
  Apparently it holds the same eligibility requirements as GSoC, so you probably wouldn't be able to participate. (Me neither! :()
  - jackowayed 17y ago
    That's pretty lame. I can get around that restriction because I'm taking a differential equations class at the University of Delaware, so I'm "a college student" :) But if I have to be 18 (as with GSoC), I'm out of luck, sadly.
spicyj 17y ago
Anyone have ideas as to how I might go about thinking of a project that would sound promising and be helpful to the Ruby community? I'd certainly consider myself a proficient Ruby developer, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the development of these project and what they're lacking. Where might I start?
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  Write docs for the standard library. Yeah, I know: Not sexy. Still, stuff like that would have greater benefit to the various Ruby communities than yet another Rails plugin.
- halostatue 17y ago
  I've applied to be a mentor, and I've suggested that some of my existing projects could use some love for Ruby 1.9. One, net-ldap, has some Ruby 1.9 support, but needs more overall features and development. Obviously, this is not just about maintenance, but these are ideas; you can also look for things that haven't yet been addressed and propose those. Based on my experience as a GSOC mentor, though, I think that maintenance and enhancement projects (adding new features to existing projects) are more successful in the end than greenfield projects.
blasdel 17y ago
Doesn't this only exist because the Rails project's Google Summer of Code application was denied this year?: http://twitter.com/rails/status/10685448004 http://twitter.com/rails/status/10685448004
- bphogan 17y ago
  I'd say yes, but so what? If people want to give students mentors and $5000 to work on summer projects that could ultimately help the Ruby ecosystem overall, that's pretty cool. Everyone benefits. The fact that it's sponsored by the community is even better. I'm for anything that helps students learn. Google sponsorship means very little to me when it comes to that.
- halostatue 17y ago
  No. I'm not inside of the decision loop, but this is because of a perception that Google's SOC administrators didn't want to work with Ruby Central over the last two years. I do not think that this perception is correct, but Ruby Central was not provided a mentorship spot last year and chose not to apply for a mentorship spot this year. This is a Ruby Central initiative.
  - draegtun 17y ago
    Interesting. Google have accepted other like organisations, for eg. The Perl Foundation (http://www.perlfoundation.org/google_summer_of_code_2010 http://www.perlfoundation.org/google_summer_of_code_2010), so they really should accept Ruby Central.
petercooper 17y ago
This project has been created with good intentions and I hope people get some good out of it. I'm not going to slam this well-meant project, but being modelled on the Google Summer of Code, I have some reservations. The GSOC FAQ states some primary "goals" of the program: CREATE AND RELEASE OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL Paying people to be motivated to bother to work on open source code seems odd. If someone comes along with a "I really want to do X but I need $Y to live" request (as Gregory Brown did a couple years back - http://rubymendicant.wikidot.com/proposal http://rubymendicant.wikidot.com/proposal) that's cool, because the request has come from an intrinsic motivation and you can choose to donate based on the utility of the work that will be done (and Greg did a great job on Prawn, by the way). With a GSOC-like program, there's a pitching process by students who are being provided an extrinsic motivation of $5000. Yet, this extrinsic motivator does not realistically reflect the typical motivations for contributing to open source projects. The money provides an American Idol-esque motivation of "try this out to win fame/money" rather than encouraging those who are already trying hard. INSPIRE YOUNG DEVELOPERS TO BEGIN PARTICIPATING IN OPEN SOURCE DEVELOPMENT Is offering a (monetary) reward a good way to get someone with no experience to start doing something? Perhaps, but in something like open source, does it make sense to wave money at people who aren't already intrinsically attracted towards the cause? It feels like paying your kids to do housework to me. Open source is tough enough to need serious intrinsic motivation from its participants (even if you're ultimately doing it for "fame" or to get a job). Are these new people going to stick around when there's no easy money? Looking at past GSOCs, many participants appear to be folks who were already contributing to open source development (if in a small way) but who happened to get lucky with a nice stipend to do something they were already motivated to do. That seems against the spirit of the program. PROVIDE STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WORK RELATED TO THEIR ACADEMIC PURSUITS DURING THE SUMMER (THINK "FLIP BITS, NOT BURGERS") Limiting the program to the "young" and/or "students" also strikes me as odd. Google has this educationally elitist air about it at the best of times. Is the average software engineering student flipping burgers all summer nowadays? I suspect the people flipping burgers are those who made bad decisions at a younger age and are now stuck in that world. Encouraging disadvantaged developers who aren't academically active through a program like GSOC would be awesome, because some real chances to turn people's lives around would appear rather than saving some university students from the real world. Help people who flip burgers for pocket money or help people who are stuck flipping burgers all year too? GIVE STUDENTS MORE EXPOSURE TO REAL-WORLD SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS (E.G., DISTRIBUTED DEVELOPMENT, SOFTWARE LICENSING QUESTIONS, MAILING-LIST ETIQUETTE) Again, they need to be paid to learn this stuff? If they're not familiar with these concepts and they're taking software engineering classes, we need a campaign to fix the syllabi. All that said, I know the people behind this campaign and that they mean all the best, and I hope some students get some good value from it. Good luck.
c3 17y ago
My company is (well be, soon as we get off our asses and send a check) one of the sponsors of this. Why? We already do a bunch of open source; as well as the 'giving back' factor, I'm genuinely intrigued with what will be produced. Last year's outputs were a great benefit to the scene and the community. It's the kids who are on the outside and _hungry_ who are attracted to this sort of thing, and in my opinion are more capable of providing fresh genes to the pool. Hell, 20-year-old me would've jumped at it, for the money and the fame. Actually, 20-year-old me was probably getting high in an alley, but that's a story for another day.

114 points by jeremymcanally 17y ago

They really need to make the requirements for students a little more clear (for example, I'm a senior in HS, can I apply?). I'd assume they'll flesh that out before they open the student app. Also, from the questions for students they list there, it seems like they might get some pretty bad outcomes: >Why do you use Ruby and/or Rails? How would you like to see them improve? Outline the specific project you're proposing. Why is this important to the Ruby and/or Rails communities at large? Why is this important to you? List a clear set of goals/milestones you'll hit during the summer, along with a rough timeline. Be specific about your deliverables. What are the "unknowns" in this project for you? What kind of pitfalls could you run into? How will you measure progress? How will you handle falling behind? To liken it to startups/YC, they're asking a lot about the idea, but not at all about "the team" (the applicant). Anyone can say "I'm going to make something awesome" even if they aren't very good at writing Ruby and will almost certainly not do well. Sure, they don't give you money unless you hit milestones, but they could experience plenty of projects that technically do what they should but are so badly written that they're certain to go nowhere. That said, I'm really excited for this both as a potential participant and as a Rubyist who would love to see some cool new projects come of it. Edit: They also should make it a bit more clear what kinds of projects they want. Just things that are directly useful to ruby programmers (libraries, Rails plugins, etc)? Cool tools that are useful to developers in general (something like http://hurl.it/ http://hurl.it/)? Any piece of software that's useful to the world and written in Ruby (like some good website written in Rails)? My guess is the first 2 only, but that's just a guess.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
wifelette 17y ago
We'll work to clarify the language, but those were a subset of the questions on the applications. We will be asking about the applicant, but that didn't seem like questions that'd need a lot of prep ;) As for suggestions for projects, we're working on them, but as with GSoC, the really good ideas will likely come from the student applicants.
spicyj 17y ago
Apparently it holds the same eligibility requirements as GSoC, so you probably wouldn't be able to participate. (Me neither! :()
- jackowayed 17y ago
  That's pretty lame. I can get around that restriction because I'm taking a differential equations class at the University of Delaware, so I'm "a college student" :) But if I have to be 18 (as with GSoC), I'm out of luck, sadly.

spicyj 17y ago

Anyone have ideas as to how I might go about thinking of a project that would sound promising and be helpful to the Ruby community? I'd certainly consider myself a proficient Ruby developer, but I'm not nearly as familiar with the development of these project and what they're lacking. Where might I start?

jamesbritt 17y ago
Write docs for the standard library. Yeah, I know: Not sexy. Still, stuff like that would have greater benefit to the various Ruby communities than yet another Rails plugin.
halostatue 17y ago
I've applied to be a mentor, and I've suggested that some of my existing projects could use some love for Ruby 1.9. One, net-ldap, has some Ruby 1.9 support, but needs more overall features and development. Obviously, this is not just about maintenance, but these are ideas; you can also look for things that haven't yet been addressed and propose those. Based on my experience as a GSOC mentor, though, I think that maintenance and enhancement projects (adding new features to existing projects) are more successful in the end than greenfield projects.

blasdel 17y ago

Doesn't this only exist because the Rails project's Google Summer of Code application was denied this year?: http://twitter.com/rails/status/10685448004 http://twitter.com/rails/status/10685448004

bphogan 17y ago
I'd say yes, but so what? If people want to give students mentors and $5000 to work on summer projects that could ultimately help the Ruby ecosystem overall, that's pretty cool. Everyone benefits. The fact that it's sponsored by the community is even better. I'm for anything that helps students learn. Google sponsorship means very little to me when it comes to that.
halostatue 17y ago
No. I'm not inside of the decision loop, but this is because of a perception that Google's SOC administrators didn't want to work with Ruby Central over the last two years. I do not think that this perception is correct, but Ruby Central was not provided a mentorship spot last year and chose not to apply for a mentorship spot this year. This is a Ruby Central initiative.
- draegtun 17y ago
  Interesting. Google have accepted other like organisations, for eg. The Perl Foundation (http://www.perlfoundation.org/google_summer_of_code_2010 http://www.perlfoundation.org/google_summer_of_code_2010), so they really should accept Ruby Central.

petercooper 17y ago

This project has been created with good intentions and I hope people get some good out of it. I'm not going to slam this well-meant project, but being modelled on the Google Summer of Code, I have some reservations. The GSOC FAQ states some primary "goals" of the program: CREATE AND RELEASE OPEN SOURCE CODE FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL Paying people to be motivated to bother to work on open source code seems odd. If someone comes along with a "I really want to do X but I need $Y to live" request (as Gregory Brown did a couple years back - http://rubymendicant.wikidot.com/proposal http://rubymendicant.wikidot.com/proposal) that's cool, because the request has come from an intrinsic motivation and you can choose to donate based on the utility of the work that will be done (and Greg did a great job on Prawn, by the way). With a GSOC-like program, there's a pitching process by students who are being provided an extrinsic motivation of $5000. Yet, this extrinsic motivator does not realistically reflect the typical motivations for contributing to open source projects. The money provides an American Idol-esque motivation of "try this out to win fame/money" rather than encouraging those who are already trying hard. INSPIRE YOUNG DEVELOPERS TO BEGIN PARTICIPATING IN OPEN SOURCE DEVELOPMENT Is offering a (monetary) reward a good way to get someone with no experience to start doing something? Perhaps, but in something like open source, does it make sense to wave money at people who aren't already intrinsically attracted towards the cause? It feels like paying your kids to do housework to me. Open source is tough enough to need serious intrinsic motivation from its participants (even if you're ultimately doing it for "fame" or to get a job). Are these new people going to stick around when there's no easy money? Looking at past GSOCs, many participants appear to be folks who were already contributing to open source development (if in a small way) but who happened to get lucky with a nice stipend to do something they were already motivated to do. That seems against the spirit of the program. PROVIDE STUDENTS THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO WORK RELATED TO THEIR ACADEMIC PURSUITS DURING THE SUMMER (THINK "FLIP BITS, NOT BURGERS") Limiting the program to the "young" and/or "students" also strikes me as odd. Google has this educationally elitist air about it at the best of times. Is the average software engineering student flipping burgers all summer nowadays? I suspect the people flipping burgers are those who made bad decisions at a younger age and are now stuck in that world. Encouraging disadvantaged developers who aren't academically active through a program like GSOC would be awesome, because some real chances to turn people's lives around would appear rather than saving some university students from the real world. Help people who flip burgers for pocket money or help people who are stuck flipping burgers all year too? GIVE STUDENTS MORE EXPOSURE TO REAL-WORLD SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT SCENARIOS (E.G., DISTRIBUTED DEVELOPMENT, SOFTWARE LICENSING QUESTIONS, MAILING-LIST ETIQUETTE) Again, they need to be paid to learn this stuff? If they're not familiar with these concepts and they're taking software engineering classes, we need a campaign to fix the syllabi. All that said, I know the people behind this campaign and that they mean all the best, and I hope some students get some good value from it. Good luck.

c3 17y ago

My company is (well be, soon as we get off our asses and send a check) one of the sponsors of this. Why? We already do a bunch of open source; as well as the 'giving back' factor, I'm genuinely intrigued with what will be produced. Last year's outputs were a great benefit to the scene and the community. It's the kids who are on the outside and _hungry_ who are attracted to this sort of thing, and in my opinion are more capable of providing fresh genes to the pool. Hell, 20-year-old me would've jumped at it, for the money and the fame. Actually, 20-year-old me was probably getting high in an alley, but that's a story for another day.