[Axiom-developer] summer of code

[daly]

seems reasonable to me.

i already have 3 students working with me on the doyencd project.

the key problem is finding students who are self-learners and
self-motivated. i managed to do that using the interview process.
i'm not sure how to conduct an interview process in this case.
i'll send a note to google and ask.

i'll also join the google newsgroup and post some information
about the axiom project.

we could use students to:

work on the reference volume of the book 
  visit each algebra file and make a complete listing of all of
  the function signatures with boiler-plate documentation (e.g.
  the types in the argument lists). construct an index for the book.

work on the tutorial volume of the book
  choose a textbook (linear algebra for dummies?) or an online
  course (linear algebra at ocw.mit.edu?) and develop a tutorial
  based on the source material using axiom.

work on the windows version of the browser and graphics
  work out the lisp code necessary to read browser pages and
  render them as TK pages

work on the wiki version of the browser and graphics
  work out the wiki code to use the browser pages directly in
  the wiki. figure out how to get the wiki to accept the browser
  page syntax.

develop regression testing
  create a systematic way of regression testing and implement it
  
develop test cases
  create a domain-by-domain set of reference test cases with
  explanations, boundary cases, etc.

test code
  use the handbook of curves and surfaces to comprehensively test
  the graphics routines.

drag-and-drop
  given a literate program that includes axiom algebra code and
  some text figure out how to "drag and drop" the paper onto axiom.
  that is, figure out how to get the code in the right place, the
  makefile to accept the code, the paper in the right place and
  integrated into the documentation

dvi organization
  work out an automated way to organize the hundreds of dvi files
  so they can be browsed.

booklet mechanism
  pamphlets use random names in code chunks. develop a full URL
  syntax and create a booklet mechanism. That is, one should be
  able to define a chunk as:
    <<file:///something>>
  and have something inserted inline or
    <<http:///something>>
  and have something inserted inline.

semantic markups
  develop latex macros for marking "concepts" in latex files
  mark up literate programs and math papers and create a concept
  index, similar to the word index mechanism latex now uses

etc