[wp-hackers] [GSOC] Just apply, or talk to developers first?

[Eric Gribkoff]

Thanks for the response, Dion. I'm including a first-draft proposal here.
Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated!

  Personal Details

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   Name: Eric Gribkoff
   -

   Email: ericgribkoff at gmail.com
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   GTalk (for IM and voice chats): ericgribkoff at gmail.com

Project Proposal

I would like to expand and improve upon the WordPress User Roles system.

On my own blog, it would be useful to be able to assign category-specific
Contributor status to users. Many blogs could benefit from a similar
feature, allowing roles to only apply to a specific category or categories.

Additionally, the current roles are somewhat limited. I would like to
implement features allowing existing roles to be modified on a user-by-user
basis.

I can also see it being useful to be able to create custom roles. Rather
than creating ten users and then editing each individually to have the roles
and permissions desired, a new role with its own capabilities could be
defined and easily applied to the users.
Schedule of Deliverables

The deliverables would include a flexible, fully functioning user roles
system that allows for category-restricted user roles, user-by-user role
modifications, and custom role templates.

I would not have school obligations over the summer. I would still be
working, but less than 15 hours per week, which leaves lots of time for
coding.
Open Source Development Experience

I've contributed one plugin to the WordPress repository. It's a quote
display widget. The administrator can choose a category of quotes to
display, and on the frontend quotes are dynamically retrieved from a
database maintained on the Google App Engine. I wrote the serving
application on GAE as well, but it's very simple, doing little more than
fetching a random quote.

The quote plugin is located here:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ez-quote/stats/

Besides WordPress, I've also worked quite a bit with CodeIgniter, ZenCart,
and other open source PHP applications. But that has just been on personal
applications, and I don't (yet) have any contributions of my own released.
Work/Internship Experience

I work as a PHP developer part-time. I've been programming in PHP for over
two years, and before that used mostly Perl. I have experience installing
and customizing WordPress, ZenCart, etc., both for myself and clients.
Academic Experience

I'm studying Computer Science at Sacramento Community College in California
The Computer Science curriculum moves a little slowly for me, but the Math
coursework is excellent. I've maintained a 4.0 GPA for the last four
semesters since I began majoring in CS.

In my spare time, I do whatever I can to become a better programmer. I'm
currently working my way through an algorithms textbook from UC Berkeley. I
also enjoy Project Euler problems, particularly as they give me a chance to
try out different languages and see how the different solutions look in
alternate methodologies. Past languages used include PHP, Javascript, C,
Python, and Java.
Why WordPress

I've always wanted to contribute to open source projects, but always been a
little unsure how to start. WordPress's documentation helped me break
through that barrier over winter break last year by enabling me to write and
release my first plugin. The Summer of Code project is an opportunity to
take my contributions a step further.

The general advice I've seen on contributing to open source projects is to
find something you would like to use and “scratch your own itch”. This is
definitely a contribution that I would use and benefit from on my own blog,
and I'd like to have the opportunity to communicate with experienced
WordPress developers while making it a reality.


Thanks again,

Eric Gribkoff


On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 1:35 AM, Dion Hulse (dd32) <wordpress at dd32.id.au>wrote:

> Hi Eric,
> I'd suggest you post your entire proposal on this mailing list before
> applying, That'll allow for you to take on board other peoples suggestions
> as well as a learning experience of what else is out there and available
> currently.
>
> I know there are a lot of people wanting a improved role system, and i'm
> aware of 2 (possibly 3) people who'll write something soon if nothing comes
> to fruition..
>
> In the past, i believe posting here was one of the prerequisites, just to
> ensure that your final application is as good as it can be.
>
> Cheers
> Dion Hulse / dd32
> Contact:
>  e: contact at dd32.id.au
>  Web: http://dd32.id.au/
>
>
> On Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:23:12 +1200, Eric Gribkoff <ericgribkoff at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>  I'm interested in applying for the Google Summer of Code with WordPress.
>> The
>> Google FAQ suggests contacting the developers at the organization you're
>> interested in prior to applying. So that's what I'm trying to do here :-)
>>
>> From the Ideas page, I'm very interested in either implementing improved
>> user roles, because that's something I've wished to have on my own blog,
>> or
>> the capability to automatically migrate a WordPress installation from one
>> host to another.
>>
>> I've been a web developer using primarily PHP for a little over two years
>> now. I have experience with WordPress, and I've released one small plugin
>> @
>> http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ez-quote/. It hasn't gotten tons of
>> downloads, but it was a great learning experience.
>>
>> Is there anyone I should talk to about potentially working on WordPress
>> during the GSOC? Or should I just wait till after the 18th and submit my
>> application?
>>
>> Thanks for your time,
>> Eric Gribkoff
>>
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-- 

Eric Gribkoff
Sacramento City College
ericgribkoff at gmail.com