Re: Willing to work for octave.

[Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso]

On Thu, 2014-01-09 at 18:56 -0800, fgnievinski wrote:
 
> On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 12:34 AM, Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso-2 [via Octave] <
> address@hidden> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2014-01-09 at 18:24 -0800, msander wrote:
> > > could you suggest a few functions for which tests should be written.
> > > some tips on what should be tested for each, at least as a starting
> > > point, would be helpful.
> >
> > Compile Octave and run the test suite with "make check". 

> This assumes a C/C++ programmer.

I'm not sure what part "this assumes" refers to, but if you are
referring to compiling Octave, that does not require a C++ programmer
(C and C++ are different languages, and we no real C to speak of in
Octave, only some from gnulib).

Compiling Octave does, however, assume a non-Windows programmer or an
expert Windows programmer, because Windows is a difficult environment
for compiling Octave in. That's why we have MXE, because it's actually
easier to cross-compile Octave into Windows from GNU/Linux than to
install GNU tools on Windows in order to make it usable for Octave.
But that's ok for GSoC students, because there's a bigger pool of
possible mentors for our GSoC students if without Windows.

You don't have to know C++ in order to compile Octave, but you do
need to work with the dev version if you're to be working for GSoC.
Even if you're only writing m-code, you need to work with the
Mercurial version. Ideally, since GSoC is also about learning,
acquiring some C++ knowledge is also desirable.

Lastly, C++ is not *that* hard to learn. It's possible to quickly
learn enough C++ to do some basic Octave hacking. I know it's possible
because I have seen relatively inexperienced students do it, for
example, Benjamin Lewis in 2012.

- Jordi G. H.