[Axiom-developer] Google Summer of Code

[daly]

LispNYC is a sponsoring organization for the Google Summer of Code 
projects. Heow Eide-Goodman <address@hidden> still has a
few slots available for qualified projects.

In the past, Axiom has had several projects proposed. One of them
was "Create a Hyperdoc replacement/enhancement". This work has 
been ongoing recently with the new Firefox replacement. There are
several interesting tasks that need to be done, some of them are
high level design. Some suggested tasks might be:

* Integrate graphics

One of the tasks is to integrate the existing graphics into the
Firefox browser. The planned direction for this over the coming
months is to write the graphics onto the new CANVAS object. This
involves figuring out an interface to the graphics, working out 
the correct API, and constructing an AJAX interface that allows
Axiom to manipulate the canvas.

* Affordance design

I am currently designing the new crystal interface, which will first
appear as a Firefox frontend to Axiom. There are several ideas 
being prototyped. This project would involve reading in design
(Winograd "Understanding Computers and Cognition. A New Foundation
for Design"; Winograd "Bringing Design to Software", Alexander,
"A Pattern Language", etc) and high level discussions. It also
involves prototyping design ideas. You do not need to know how
to write code but a strong background in design is important.

* Contextual menus

The new Firefox interface now has menus similar to wxMaxima. However,
in Axiom the menu items are not static but depend on the type of the
current expression. For instance, "solve" does not exist for integers
and thus should not be in the menu when the last result is an integer.
A mechanism needs to be worked out to compute the menu-set for a
given type. This will involve writing Lisp code to manipulate the category
and type hierarchy of Axiom.

* Pamphlet awareness

Axiom's native file format is the pamphlet, which is a literate
program that combines latex and source code. There is a need to 
make the system pervasively aware of this format so that one can,
for example, compile directly from the pamphlet or spool output
directly to pamphlets. This involves Lisp programing and a working
knowledge of Latex.

* asdf rewrite

Axiom will move away from Makefiles soon after the Firefox front
end is fully viable. This will involve redesigning and reimplementing
the current build architecture to use asdf rather than make as the
primary organizing machine. This will involve several subtasks and
assumes a strong ANSI lisp background and a working knowledge of asdf.

* Special functions

Axiom lacks support for many special functions. These are implemented
in either Lisp or Axiom. This requires a strong math background and
an ability to program in common lisp.



There are many other projects that are on the list. And Heow is open
to non-axiom projects so you might want to send him your ideas. I'd
suggest you hurry though as the bidding should close soon.

Tim