APPLY.md

Hey all! I'm Sam Goto ([email protected]), and I'll be your mentor this year for the AIMA Javascript Project for the AIMA Code organization!

Here is a quick quide of the process:

1. What is the timeline?
2. What is it like?
3. How to apply?
4. What are we looking for?

If you have any questions, kick off a thread or join the glitter channel.

What is the timeline?

First, make sure you familiarize yourself with the timeline. Here is the rough breakdown for you:

Date	Deadline
February 12th	discuss application ideas
Match 12th	applications opens
March 27th	applications closes
April 23rd	students announced
May 14th	coding begins
June 15th	phase 1 evaluations
July 13th	phase 2 evaluations
August 14th	coding ends
August 21th	final evaluation

What is it like?

Take a quick look at the program last year to get an idea of the scope of the project, the strategy we followed and what was concretely accomplished.

Most importantly, take a look at advice on future work and the lessons learned.

How to apply?

1. Tell us about yourself:
   1. resume, name, email, school, year
   2. personal projects and
   3. online footprint (e.g. blog, github, twitter, etc)
2. Tell us what you want your summer to be like:
   1. Form a plan: what chapters/algorithms would you like to explore (example)? Just a general idea is fine.
   2. Tell us why you think that's a realistic plan: do you have other commitments?
   3. Tell us how would you like to work together.
3. Bonus points: show us a sample of your best work:
   1. If you already have projects in algorithm visualization (cool if it is outside of AI) point us to it. Otherwise,
   2. Take a look at the existing algorithms and how they were created
   3. pick one (or more - the more data points the better) algorithm (s) to prototype from the book:
      1. extend existing chapters with new algorithms or
      2. explore new algorithms in new chapters
   4. create a visualization (advice)
      1. use your favorite hosting environment (recommendation: github pages is very lightweight)
      2. use whichever CSS/HTML/JS framework you are most familiar/productive with
   5. tell us why you think this works well (e.g. compare with other approaches, why did you pick this algorithm?)
   6. Send us the link in the application and/or email ([email protected]) and/or glitter

What are we looking for?

First and foremost, we are looking for students that have the ability to create great explanations of algorithms in the book serving readers. Readers first, code elegance second (advice from Peter).

So, we'll be looking at students from this order:

1. design,
2. engagement and
3. coding

design

Here is some advice from experience.

• how well can you explain/present algorithms?
  • is it easy to understand?
  • is it visually appealing?
  • is it correct?
• can you execute well?
  • can you prototype something quickly?

engagement

• how many samples did you send us and how good were they?
• what are your plans for the summer?
• which chapters would you start with?
• how many visualizations do you think you can build?
• how often would you like to meet?
• tells us how you think your summer as a GSoC student will look like.

coding

• how is your CSS/HTML/JS kung-fu?
• git?
• TDD?
• links to existing projects?