[gnu-soc] Gnuastro's GSoC in HTML

[Mohammad Akhlaghi]

Dear Jose,

Since an introduction was also added above the proposed tasks, I edited 
them slightly to be more consistant, and since it was finally formatted 
in HTML, I thought it would be easier for you if I just send it to you 
in HTML.

Can you please use the attached HTML in the Gnuastro part of that page?

Thanks a lot,
Mohammad

GNU Astronomy Utilities (Gnuastro) is an official GNU package consisting of various programs and library functions for the manipulation and analysis of (astronomical) data. All the programs share the same basic command-line user interface for the comfort of both the users and developers, some complete tutorials are available to help getting started or obtaining a general view. Gnuastro is written to comply fully with the GNU coding standards so it integrates finely with the GNU/Linux operating system. This also enables astronomers to expect a fully familiar experience in the source code, building, installing and command-line user interaction that they have seen in all the other GNU software that they use.

Gnuastro's proposed projects for this summer-of-code are listed below. More generally, you can also see the full list of open tasks and open bugs (for all programs/libraries) and suggest a different project for us to consider. The preferred way to get in touch is through Gnuastro's "Support tracker" on Savannah and in particular sr #110195. You can also see previous discussions there on tips for getting started. In case you need to have private discussions, you can also contact the given email.

Improving Image Processing tools in GNU Astronomy Utilities

Gnuastro's programs already contain many image processing tools for professional (research quality) usage. However, there are still many tools that remain to be added are are necessary for a complete workflow. For example image registration (finding the warp necessary to match images), non-linear warping (for example correcting optical distortions or gravitational lensing) or de-blending tools (for example to separate galaxies that are in one line of sight). If you are interested in image processing, programming in C (astronomical datasets are large and thus need to be efficient) and in the meantime learning some astronomy and working with major telescope data, please get in touch.

Required Skills: C programming, basic knowledge of image processing concepts.
Contact: sr #110195 or mohammad::at::akhlaghi.org.

Python/R/Julia API for GNU Astronomy Utilities C library

Gnuastro is primarily written in C because astronomical datasets are large and thus need to be efficient. Its most commonly used interface are its command-line programs, but it also has an extensive set of installed C/C++ libraries, which the programs also use. However, many data science operations are today done in the high-level language environments of Python, R or Julia. All three languages have low-level and well-defined interfaces for communicating with installed C libraries. Gnuastro therefore has a task to define a low-level wrapper infra-structure which will allow easy usage in these higher-level languages also. We welcome anyone interested in managing this task for one of these languages as part of GSoC. This will be a wonderful chance to master any of these high-level languages (which are almost fully written in C themselves), while also working on real-world data science/analysis.

Skills required: C programming, C interface of Python or R or Julia (whichever you are better at!).
Contact: sr #110195 or mohammad::at::akhlaghi.org.