Google Summer of Code: Dotty and Scastie

Hello, my fellow Scala developers! I am currently a junior Computer Science student passionate about combining the idea of functional programming and OOP. I cannot tell you how happy I am the day I found there is such thing in the world and it is called Scala!

This year I am going to participate in Google Summer of Code. Without a second thought, I jumped right into the boat of Scala. Right now I am looking into Dotty Documentation Compiler and Scastie.

For DottyDoc, it is fascinating for me to see the development of API and documentation go side by side. Since I have some experience working with Programming Language, that I built a Scheme Interpreter using Scheme, (purely as a practice. I know it is stupid), and a working knowledge of web programming, I am confident that I can actively contribute to the project. It is also going to be a great educational opportunity for me, as I will get to learn more about Scala and compiler implementation along the way.

For Scastie, I really like the idea of having an online code editor, mainly for its experimental use for beginners and for demonstration purpose in the future. I have been building programming tools on Emacs using Lisp in the past, so I have a little bit of experience. Web programming is also in my toolkit.

Who should I talk to at this moment? Since the deadline is approaching, I am also trying to get the proposal writing started. Where would be a good place to look for ideas related to these two projects?

Thank you so much for reading to the end!

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Sounds an interesting application! @felixmulder worked on DottyDoc, I can’t help with Scastie.

It’s not really stupid — it’s a big part of learning about Programming Languages — and modifying such interpreters to change or extend semantics can even be useful in practice :wink:

Hi @Blaisorblade, it is so kind of you. Really a blessing to meet you on my first day to the ocean of open source community. I was quite overwhelmed when browsing all the organizations and their websites to come up a proposal for GSOC. Had quite a hard time understanding what all other people are talking about at the beginning.

I have been trying to reach @felixmulder by sending him an e-mail. Is there any better way to get in contact with him?

Thanks again!

Thanks, but I’m 100% sure I’m no blessing :slight_smile:

Regarding contacts: beyond pinging here and e-mail (which should be enough), have you looked into Gitter chat rooms, starting from scala/contributors? There you can see what ideas/projects have mentors for them.

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(This might be a duplicate reply because I also replied the e-mail notification earlier but saw no immediate update on the website.)

Good idea! Scala’s official website for GSOC 2017 does say that @felixmulder is the mentor for Dotty. I just don’t know how to catch him. I am going to try the Gitter chat room.

Thanks gain!