GSoC 2019 [Collect build statistics]

[Mojca Miklavec]

On Mon, 11 Mar 2019 at 09:41, Arjun Salyan wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 8, 2019 at 11:08 PM Mojca Miklavec wrote:
>>
>> In the case of this Django app it probably makes sense to come up with a proof-of-concept demo (ideally including documentation about how to set it up and running, and either screenshot or hyperlink).
>
> Does this mean a static site about how the project would look or a dynamic site with database and all the needed tables?

A static site (probably with made-up statistics data, but trying to
use proper port names etc.) and all the information as expected in the
final product would be super useful part of application itself. By
carefully planning what should be on the page and how to organize it,
it would be much easier and more straightforward to work on the
project during the summer, knowing precisely where the project should
be heading. Some basic css could be nice, but not absolutely needed:
it's more important to have the contents well-planned (even if drawn
with pencil and paper only).

A dynamic site on the other hand would serve as demonstration of your
skills. Yes, that includes the database, but not necessarily all the
tables. We did some brainstorming about design of the database during
the last GSOC application period, but that doesn't mean that the
design is final or perfect: the exact table layout would likely
change, both during project planning and implementation. When doing
the demo app, I would suggest to keep a logbook about the steps you
did; something that could later be turned into developer documentation
/ tutorial (how you created the project, how another developer can run
it on his machine).

The static and dynamic site could also be combined if needed (some
small part of the site would be dynamic, while the rest would be a
hardcoded example that you would later replace with real data from the
database).

Depending on your prior familiarity with the tools involved and the
time you want to invest into proposal / demo, think about what your
sample app could be (ideally something that you could simply build
upon / continue developing if you get selected; rather than some code
that you would later throw away). We can help you with ideas, but it
makes more sense to start with your initiative at first.

Another general suggestion (for any gsoc candidate): you don't need to
wait for the official GSOC submissions to start, and you definitely
don't want to wait for the final call. The sooner you send us a link
to your proposal and/or your demo, the earlier we can start providing
feedback, meaning that you would have plenty of time to make both
proposal and sample app better & higher chances to get selected.

Mojca