GSoC Journey So Far

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Hi !!
I am Hemant Kasat, a 2nd year undergraduate at International Institute of Informational Technology Hyderabad ( IIIT-H ). I have been selected for Google Summer Of Code 2016 by the Organization Sugar Labs under the project Music Widget.
Here is the journey I have covered so far from selecting the organization for contribution to contributing to the Org to applying and accepted for GSoC 2016.

It was first in my 1st year that I came to know about Free Software community, and I wished one day when I could be a part of it. But it was in the second year that I could really begin and it was an eye opening experience for me, introducing me to professional coding styles and standards.

I chose Sugar Labs as i found the projects interesting. A senior of mine guided me in the initial phase. I talked with mentors on irc to how should i start and then how should i set up the development environment as i got some errors setting up the environment. Finally i was able to set up the development environment, it felt wonderful when i was successfully able to set up the environment with the help some group of people from various places working together.

I found Music Blocks and turtle Blocks Activities comfortable to start with, and thus began solving issues, My first Merge Request was a task in itself and an entry barrier I had to cross. Searching for relevant portions in such a large code base, and making appropriate changes following the coding style was an experience in itself. After a lot of playing around with the code, I cracked it. My Merge Request got merged and I was on cloud 9. This motivated me to work harder and spend more and more time but eventually assignments and coursework hit me, But I tried to manage my time and continue my contribution. This way i got in touch with the mentors Walter and Devin, they were very helpful throughout the whole process.

It was Feb end and I started looking up for the projects to apply for GSoC 2016. I liked two projects, Music Widget and Turtle Confusion JS. I got in touch with the mentors and researched in depth about the details of what was to be done and possible approaches to achieve that. Meanwhile I kept my contribution to Music Blocks and Turtle Blocks on.

As the proposal deadline neared, I started shaping up my proposals. This required being very clear with the objectives of the project and thus led to fruitful discussions with the mentors. This also led to addition of some interesting features that could be added to the Turtle Confusion JS and while discussing with Walter I came to know that we can give flavor of Music to Turtle Challenges and hence led to a new activity consisting of Musical Challenges which can use the analogy used in Music Blocks.
For the Music Widget project, I had to familiarize myself with widgets such as pitch staircase, rhythm ruler, free pitch slider etc. It also involved clearing up some fundamental music concepts with help from Devin, and some friends who are involved in music.

Finally, after drafting my proposals it was time for reviews. I got it reviewed from my mentors and friends and made suggested changes. It was a great relief, finally having the proposals submitted.
During the time between the proposal deadline and accepted students announcement date, I kept in touch with the mentors and continued my contribution. Also, my sister’s marriage took place, and was an enjoyable experience.

It was on the result day that I returned to college, and I was nervous the whole time. Finally when the results were out, it was my friend who yelled out that I was selected. I could not believe my ears and could only digest this great news upon seeing the result myself. It was Music Widgets project that I was selected for.
It was hard for me to focus on exams now, and my happiness knew no bounds.

Now, as the exams are over, I am in touch with Devin, discussing about plans for the community bonding period and what all we aim to achieve this summer as part of the project.
Now coming to the project what Music Widget project is about ?
This Project shall implement four widgets
[1]. Pitch Staircase
[2]. Tempo
[3]. Rhythm Ruler
[4]. Free pitch slider and more if time permits.
For Full detail about the project description and the tentative timeline i am hereby giving the link to my proposal for Music Widget project :-> Music Widget

Cheers !!