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List:       fop-dev
Subject:    Re: Google Summer of Code
From:       Chris Bowditch <bowditch_chris () hotmail ! com>
Date:       2012-03-05 16:32:52
Message-ID: BLU0-SMTP205F6714EFEC7CC2767BF95FB500 () phx ! gbl
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On 05/03/2012 16:18, mehdi houshmand wrote:
> Hi Alex/Glenn,

Hi guys,

I agree that there may be some good project ideas in the bug list, but I 
don't think the one Alex highlighted is a good one. Changing the layout 
algorithm is a major undertaking, probably several man years :) We need 
to find something small and well defined for a GSoC project, something 
that we know can be completed in 2-3 months.

Thanks,

Chris

> 
> Yeah that's a fair point, I think this may be a textbook case of
> Freudian projection, so my apologies if those weren't your intentions
> Glenn.
> 
> The problem is, I don't have a great deal of experience in the Layout
> Engine and I really have no grounds to put a proposal together. I've
> put forward the projects that I know about and think are interesting.
> If you want to put a project proposal forward please do, if no one
> else steps forward as a mentor and an applicant takes an interest,
> I'll make the effort to learn the code.
> 
> Mehdi
> 
> 
> On 5 March 2012 15:48, Alexios Giotis<alex.giotis@gmail.com>  wrote:
> > I don't think that Glenn's idea is that bad. FOP's open bugzilla issues are not \
> > only bugs, they also show what are the areas that FOP needs to be improved. If we \
> > start from the beginning, then 
> > > 1063|New|Nor|2001-03-21|fop does not handle large fo files
> > 
> > is a real, very interesting issue and the solution is not to increase the Java \
> > heap size. There are workarounds such as caching objects but a good solution \
> > might be deeper in FOP's  layout engine. What about checking or implementing \
> > Donald Knuth's first-fit or best-fit algorithms ? In theory, it would allow to \
> > free FO tree and layout manager objects after the end of every page. 
> > There was a recent discussion about this, see
> > http://apache.markmail.org/message/3ejv4opwcceipfpl?q=list:org%2Eapache%2Exmlgraphics%2Efop-users+total+best+fit
> >  
> > Of course there will be drawbacks, FOP is complex (more complex than it should be \
> > in my opinion, cleanup / modularization would help) and this is not a simple \
> > task. 
> > 
> > Alex Giotis
> > 
> > 
> > On Mar 5, 2012, at 4:49 PM, mehdi houshmand wrote:
> > 
> > > Haha, if only it were that simple... The projects have to be
> > > interesting and fulfilling and at least bordering on fun. They also
> > > have to be an opportunity to learn and encourage opensource
> > > development. There's little fun to be had fixing bugs hidden in the
> > > depths of FOPs fairly difficult to delve-in code base, also - probably
> > > more importantly - I can't imagine it would serve as encouragement.
> > > 
> > > Mehdi
> > > 
> > > On 5 March 2012 14:36, Glenn Adams<glenn@skynav.com>  wrote:
> > > > I would suggest whittling down the fop bug list, starting from the
> > > > beginning.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 6:35 AM, mehdi houshmand<med1985@gmail.com>  wrote:
> > > > > Because of the overwhelming popularity of this idea, I've created a
> > > > > link on the Wiki
> > > > > (http://wiki.apache.org/xmlgraphics-fop/GoogleSummerOfCode2012) for
> > > > > the GSoC proposals.
> > > > > 
> > > > > On a serious note, this is literally work for free. Google pays the
> > > > > bills and I'm happy to mentor any applicants and do the admin, all you
> > > > > have to do is provide ideas for projects. If you have a wish list or a
> > > > > list of TODOs that you think a newbie could do for a summer project (I
> > > > > do appreciate that's quite a big caveat), now's your opportunity.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Mehdi
> > > > > 
> > > > > On 1 March 2012 16:26, mehdi houshmand<med1985@gmail.com>  wrote:
> > > > > > Hi Glenn,
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > The GSoC doesn't relate directly to the ASF or FOP directly, however,
> > > > > > putting a few FOP projects as proposals would be a good way to get
> > > > > > some new interest into the project. I think it would be good for us as
> > > > > > we benefit from any work done, and it helps whomever does the work
> > > > > > learn the various skills that we as a community can impart upon them.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I've included a link to the GSoC below, but if you do some research,
> > > > > > there's plenty of information out there.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > http://code.google.com/soc/
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Mehdi
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > On 1 March 2012 16:13, Glenn Adams<glenn@skynav.com>  wrote:
> > > > > > > could you provide a link to the "Google Summer of Code Project"? how
> > > > > > > does it
> > > > > > > relate to ASF and FOP activities?
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > On Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 3:50 AM, mehdi houshmand<med1985@gmail.com>
> > > > > > > wrote:
> > > > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > We're thinking of submitting a proposal or two to the Google Summer \
> > > > > > > > of Code project and wanted to get some input from the community on \
> > > > > > > > ideas. Once we've got a few proposals I'll create a wiki page and put \
> > > > > > > > all the ideas on there, but for now I just wanted to gauge interest.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > In terms of mentoring, I'm happy to be a mentor and I've registered \
> > > > > > > > as one and if any other committers fancy the job, do register, the \
> > > > > > > > more the merrier. The deadline is 9th March, so that doesn't give us \
> > > > > > > > long to bounce around ideas, but here are a few I was thinking:
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > - There have been recent discussions between Jeremias, myself and
> > > > > > > > others about extracting the Fonts packages into their own library. I
> > > > > > > > think this would be a great idea for a project because essentially it
> > > > > > > > only involves a few, well defined specifications (TTF, Type1 etc) and
> > > > > > > > doesn't expose the person to too much complexity. The way I'd suggest
> > > > > > > > this to be done, is by re-writing rather than porting, that way it
> > > > > > > > gives the person much more flexibility and also the current code \
> > > > > > > > would give them good tips and tricks on how to deal with parsing \
> > > > > > > > fonts. 
> > > > > > > > - TTF in AFP. I know we still have the TrueTypeInPostScript branch
> > > > > > > > flying around, and however much I'd like to fob that onto someone
> > > > > > > > else, I don't think it's fair to do so. I have no idea how long this
> > > > > > > > project would take, but I think FOP could really benefit from it.
> > > > > > > > Currently we're forcing users to use AFP fonts for AFP documents, a
> > > > > > > > lot of which are archaic and use EBCDIC, for those of you who haven't
> > > > > > > > been exposed to EBCDIC, count yourself lucky.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > There may be something to do with PCL?? I'm not at all familiar with
> > > > > > > > the format, but I do remember discussions about upgrading to a newer
> > > > > > > > PCL standard? I'd be happy to acquaint myself with the format if
> > > > > > > > there's interest in the idea.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Hopefully we can get a proposal together in time.
> > > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > > Mehdi
> > > > > > > 
> > > > 
> 


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