Google Code-In 2012
Could your module or project benefit from having someone
- fix a specific bug
- add a test for a specific feature
- improve test coverage by 5%
- write a tutorial
- create a screencast for beginners
- write an example program
- create a homepage for the module
?
If so, you could be in luck. These are all potential tasks for students in this year's Google Code-In.
Following on from our success last year, The Perl Foundation is hoping to take part in the Google Code-In again this year. GCI is a programme similar to the Google Summer of Code, but aimed at students between the ages of 13 and 17. Students complete short well defined tasks for open source projects, and the two top students from each organisation will be invited to visit Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California for a five-day trip.
This is a wonderful opportunity that we have to get young students involved in open source software in general and Perl in particular. One of the aims of the GCI programme is to find those who will become long-term contributors and ensure the future of open source projects. So if you want to help ensure the long-term viability of Perl, or find a new developer for your project, then please get involved with GCI.
This year only ten organisations will take part in GCI. To back up our application we need to prepare some tasks for the students. If you are a module author, or you are involved in a Perl project, WE NEED YOUR HELP! But you can also benefit, so this is a win-win proposition.
We need a set of tasks to make available to students, along with mentors willing to help students with the tasks. We need tasks in the following five categories:
- Code: Tasks related to writing or refactoring code
- Documentation/Training: Tasks related to creating/editing documents and helping others learn more
- Outreach/Research Tasks related to community management, outreach/marketing or studying problems and recommending solutions
- Quality Assurance: Tasks related to testing and ensuring code is of high quality
- User Interface: Tasks related to user experience research or user interface design and interaction
Please take a look at the wiki for more information and take ten minutes to sign up as a mentor or add one or more tasks to the list. We need these lists populated as soon as possible to support our application.
Thank you!
I don't really blog about Perl.
Unfortunately we were not successful in our application to be a part of GCI in 2012. Google received many more applications for the program than they are able to accommodate.
Many thanks to everyone who submitted tasks or who volunteered to be a mentor. We have been encouraged to reapply in the future so with luck we will take part in another year.