Re: [Boost-users] Attn: We need GSoC 2014 mentors for Boost!

Subject: Re: [Boost-users] Attn: We need GSoC 2014 mentors for Boost!
From: Niall Douglas (s_sourceforge_at_[hidden])
Date: 2014-02-09 08:37:43

On 8 Feb 2014 at 22:26, Antony Polukhin wrote:

> > I'm struggling to see why Boost here?
> 
> Boost is everywhere. We already have libraries that wrap around MPI,
> manipulate images using 3rd party libraries, unify multiprecision
> libraries. We have GSOC ideas for physics, databases and audio, so why not
> office?

Well, no reason I suppose. But I will say this: students tend to 
prefer very well defined work items i.e. working on nearly finished 
libraries, or extending incrementally already finished libraries. 
They tend to have substantial problems with anything too greenfield, 
they get overloaded.

You can of course propose the two greenfield projects, but if a 
student shows interest you need to be absolutely sure they understand 
fully what writing a brand new library involves. You may remember one 
project in last year's GSoC where we had very significant problems in 
one greenfield project because the student kept throwing away and 
rewriting the project, so in the end while they learned a lot and the 
GSoC was a success, they didn't actually produce much finished code.

Niall

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Boost C++ Libraries Google Summer of Code 2014 admin
https://svn.boost.org/trac/boost/wiki/SoC2014