My name is Carlos Silva, and I'm from Portugal.
I would be delighted to improve BRL-CAD project under Google Summer of Code 2009 program, so I submitted the following application to improve the IGES converter importer/exporter.
I am getting familiarized with the source code and IGES documentation, and i made my first patch:
Project Proposal
Project Title
IGES importer/exporter enhancements
Project Goals
The main goal is to update the IGES converter importer/exporter to version 5.3 (6.0 in the future) of the IGES standard, and producing quality code ready to be included in svn mainline brlcad.
Project Benefits
BRL-CAD project will support the latest 5.3 version (and later support version 6.0) of the industry wide prevalent IGES standard to exchange geometry data between CAD systems. The converter will be re-designed to support multiple file formats when importing/exporting for full compatibility with all existing projects and systems. The code produced will be clean, stable, portable and maintainable, which will be of utmost importance in a project as complex as BRL-CAD. BRL-CAD project will be one of the best alternatives for workflows involving the 5.3 version of the IGES format and above.
Project Tasks and Deliverables
I started the work on my BRL-CAD application based on the list of changes for version 5.3 of the IGES standard. Since the current converter in BRL-CAD is at version 5.1 level support, i will first need to add the features/behaviour of the 5.2 version of the standard.
So, I propose the following precise schedule:
Phase 1 (April 21 - April 30)
Test the code for feature support and correct operation converting to/from the 5.1 version of the standard, with different 5.1 version IGES files covering the features detailed here:
http://www.iges5x.org/archives/eco/eco-51.htm
I already went through most resources, and there don't seem to be any outstanding issues or problems with 5.1 version support.
Phase 2 (May 1 - May 15)
Continue getting myself up to speed with the brlcad/src/conv/iges source code structure with the help of cscope, which I already started to do. Continue researching BRL-CAD’s primitives and entities to understand the mappings between IGES and BRL-CAD formats. Most of the mappings seem direct so far.
Phase 3 (May 16 - May 31)
If there are any issues with version 5.1 support, fix them, debating any bigger issue with the BRL-CAD dev team if needed.
Implement a command-line parameter to specify the version of the IGES standard to import or export. Redesign the converter to use the code specific for each version of the standard, in places where they differ. Be careful to avoid duplication of code.
Phase 4 (June 1 - June 30)
Start implementing and testing for conformance the changes listed for the 5.2 version of the standard, here:
http://www.iges5x.org/archives/eco/eco-52.htm
Some of the these changes are refinements of the wording of previous versions of the standard. The changes that require code or behaviour to be changed, will be implemented and then tested with hand-created IGES 5.2 files and with example files and other resources available from www.iges5x.org.
The new attributes/entities (like Minimum Design Wall Thickness attribute) will be matched with BRL-CAD's existing ones. If necessary, new ones will be created for BRL-CAD, debating with the dev team on the best path to take to develop them.
Phase 5 (July 1 - August 10)
With the official document of the IGES 5.3 standard, and its list list of changes, begin to implement any new code behaviour required like the "Change to Flow Associativity Entity", or implement new code to convert new features of the 5.3 standard, like 'Add Attributes for Geometry of Cataloged Parts".
Research BRL-CAD's support of Unbounded Lines in the Line entity, and if there's no support, implement it, and then implement the code to convert this feature.
Also implement the BREP Objects as CSG Primitives in the places mentioned by the standard.
Consult with the BRL-CAD dev team for best practices in improving the converter architecture and for information on this standard/implementation, valuable for this project. By July 6, date of mid-term student evaluations, work should have been started on this phase, and preferably, at least half of the changes list should already be implemented in BRL-CAD's IGES converter. By the end of this phase, version 5.3 support will be complete, tested and documented.
Phase 6 (August 11 - August 17)
Test all the code produced and write the necessary documentation.
If time allows, implement the features of IGES 6.0 version of the standard listed in http://www.iges5x.org/archives/eco/eco-60.htm
I'm happy i will be working directly on the trunk, without any sub-branches involved, so I can get instant feedback on my work and contribute faster, with higher quality code.
I have a lot of enthusiasm to contribute to the BRL-CAD project, and I will implement this project teaming with my mentor and the BRL-CAD developers to reach the best design decisions and create clean, stable, portable and maintainable, release-quality code.
I will take advantage of the extensive C experience I got while successfully working on the MSN protocol plugin in libpurple - it's part of Pidgin [1] - under Summer of Code 2007 [2], and from other other personal projects. I updated the C-based MSN protocol plugin successfully to the latest version, reverse-engineering Microsoft's official client encrypted network communications and reading unofficial documentation of this closed protocol, that I found on-line. I had to improve another student’s previous SoC work with hard to maintain code to successfully complete this project. In 2008 i applied with Pidgin again, because of the familiarity with the source code, and due to the involvement with the project, i know which areas libpurple could benefit the most from improvements. Even though my application was considered solid by the team, i found out at the last minute that they have a policy of not taking repeat students, in the spirit of GSoC. So i also applied for FreeBSD's mtund, with a really short time-frame as best as i could, but between the time available to the proposal, and FreeBSD not being interested in all the projects of their ideas list, i wasn't selected.
I believe i can accomplish this project for BRL-CAD successfully, and bring in tested, release-quality code. I have no classes this semester, only short papers without a deadline, and will be available and comitted full time as soon as I'm accepted into the program. I will have a lot of free time to work so I’m enthusiastic about it. After completing my project I hope to continue contributing code and bug-fixes to BRL-CAD project.
Hopefully I will grow as a software engineer, and gain real-word experience with CAD systems design and interoperability.
Personal Bio
I am a 25 year old student from the small town of Maia which is located in the north of Portugal. I moved to the city of Braga to study Informatics Engineering (CS) at one of the best universities in Portugal, Universidade do Minho, and I’m a software engineer by heart. I’ve been involved with the free software community since I started using RedHat Linux 6 and I was involved in informal communities in Portugal. I gave a lecture in high-school on how to install RedHat Linux and have been to some IT conferences. In the past I used regularly BSD based systems, Linux systems, Mac OS X and others. I've used countless free software projects, in server and desktop, contributing code, bug reports, and I'm happy to be part of this community.
I appreciate the feedback, and if there's anything else you want to comment on, i'll be more than happy to hear about it ! Snippets of code from my previous work in Google Summer of Code 2007 are available at
I will be available on IRC at Freenode network, with the nickname typ0.
References:
[1] Pidgin Instant Messenger and libpurple, http://pidgin.im/
[2] Abstract of Google Summer of Code 2007 successful Pidgin application, http://code.google.com/soc/2007/gaim/appinfo.html?csaid=C682D350CA504A3C