[Teammetrics-discuss] GsoC Project Weekly Report 1

[Sukhbir Singh]

Hi,

> This is the first weekly report that I am submitting to the mailing
> list. I request the mentors to have a look and critique it.

:)

> Data Visualization work.
>
> 1) I was working on the D3[1] library to produce some visualizations.
> I have so far implemented a basic bar chart and line chart using D3
> after spending a lot of time. D3 supports visualization with pixel
> level precision and is very powerful for custom visualizations. D3
> also has a very steep learning curve and took most of my working time
> this week. I am getting the hang of it and could possibly use this
> library for data visualization. I will soon write a blog where I
> intend to illustrate my work so that you can have a look. D3 requires
> a good knowledge of SVG, hence I was also reading the SVG primer[2]
> and trying out basic SVG illustrations.

While I really like D3, please don't forget that we also need to have
a JavaScript-free version of the `Team Metrics' project :) That is
very important perhaps in many ways more than the JS version (Andreas
please comment on this).

> 2) I also had a look into the jqPlot[3] library for graph
> visualization. It is pretty straight forward and can be used without
> much effort but any customization, if required, will be quiet
> difficult so I personally prefer D3 over this library.

That is up to you -- go with whatever you feel you like and you are
more comfortable with. This is a freedom that I personally value
because when I was a student, I could work using any library/ toolkit
I liked. That really helped me.

> Other work not directly related to the project.
>
> 1) I have published a blog, which is available in planet.d.o now :)

I read it!

> 2) Finished all GSoC submissions as required.

Cool, now you should wait for the swag (which is awesome).

> 3) I had a look into the database after getting access to the
> blends.d.n system. I did not work on this much, and have kept this for
> next week.
> 4) I have sent a mail to the debian-services-admin list in addition to
> the DSA list so that a web framework could be fixed for this project.

Enrico wrote a nice and detailed reply. Follow-up with him if required.

> Planned work for the coming week.
>
> 1) Follow up on the mails sent to the DSA and debian-services-admin
> list regarding the web framework and fix one as soon as possible.

Aah, good.

> 2) Master the D3 library :)
> 3) Study the database and analyze the data that needs to be presented.
> 4) Familiarize myself with the web framework, once it has been fixed.
> 5) Finish writing the blog and present the visualizations.
> 6) Continue the work on unit testing that I had began some time earlier.

> Analysis of the work done this week.
>
> 1) Work has progressed at a slower pace than what I would have liked
> and I will speed up things from next week. I have not properly managed
> my time this week and to avoid such a thing in coming weeks, I will
> make a proper work schedule today and stick to it.

That's fine, during the start the progress is usually slow. And either
ways, the "official" coding period begins May 23rd, so you can take it
easy till then if you want.

> 3) Unlike the work done this week, I should confirm with the mentors
> before starting any work so that individual tasks can be prioritized
> and the time spent on the project can be better utilized.

Let us know what you want to do and we will discuss it.

> I kindly request the mentors to go through the report and give your
> valuable suggestions. I have added a brief analysis myself but there
> is possibility that I might have overlooked something, If so please
> add to it. The work planned for next week is tentative and if you feel
> I should be working on something else, do inform me. I am open to any
> sort of criticism, as it helps me understand what I have done wrong
> and if possible, rectify it and ensure that I do not repeat it again.

Everything is good for now and I feel Andreas also agrees, so don't worry :)

Thanks for the report.

-- 
Sukhbir