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// Perspective on GSoC •


As told in Philip Johnson's GSoC presentation [1], open source really seems intimidating. It's a bit counterintuitive, though, isn't it? Communities that are open by definition, being intimidating on such a large factor. 


I think Dr. Nic puts it best: "Is it silly to guesstimate that the biggest hurdle to people contributing to OSS projects or creating new OSS projects is low estimation of self-worth? It’s a theory." [2] Fact is, it doesn't seem silly at all. A few hours spent lounging in GSoC's IRC channel a week ago would provide a number of students worried about whether or not their current skill level would be enough to warrant applying in the first place.


Google's Summer of Code seems specifically designed to take out the big scary monster out of coding for open source projects: self-doubt. That's something I want to be part of. Plus, I can't ignore the fact that I will come out a better programmer out of all of this while using my love for Ruby in a project, for the aid of the Ruby community. It's enough to fire me up about how awesome this whole experience is. 


In the end, helping those that provide the tools that allow me to love what I do is simply the best kind of karmic payback.

// Communication •

The best way to measure progress falls down to communication. I'll constantly be looking for feedback from mentors, other Google Summer of Code participants and the Ruby community. Luckily, showing off work comes naturally to programmers. Any participant that stays quiet for long is a cause for concern, not only due to the possible lack of progress but the level of quality of the project as well; the best ideas rarely happen in a vacuum.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBRRR0BQyz0
[2] http://rubylearning.com/blog/2008/10/07/little-known-ways-to-ruby-mastery-by-dr-nic-williams/