Workshop proposal
=================

Title: Software Activity Day at National Institute of Technology
==============================================================

Target date:
===========
           20th March Friday (after 5:30pm),
           21st March Saturday (Full day time + evening time till dinner)
           22nd March Sunday (Full day time)

Proposal By:
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           Debarshi Ray,  Interra Systems, Software Engineer
           Rakesh Pandit, Red Hat Inc., System Programmer

What will be content of workshop?
================================

 1. Introduction about tools of trade:
 =====================================
 Developing and debugging software using Diffutils, GCC, GDB, Make, Patch,
 Strace, SCMs and Valgrind. These are production compilers, debuggers, utilities
 and software configuration management tools, widely used in the industry.
 
 2. Desktop Testing:
 ==================
 Using LDTP to automate testing of modern GUI desktop applications for UNIX.
 
 3. Software Packaging:
 ==========================================
 Distributing released programs in a form that can be easily installed, updated,
 verified and removed to end users using the RPM Package Manager. We will be using
 Fedora as an example for this.
 
 4. Gach Project:
 ===============
 Contributing to Gach project.

Rationale for workshop:
======================
a) It will give students real time lab to learn how to develop on an Operating System.
b) Allow them to think about application of academic knowledge. Yeah Wisdom.
c) May be few of them turn to real contributors and earn goodwill for college.
d) Google Summer of Code is round the corner, so workshop will get there hands wet and
   increase chances of getting more students into competition
e) Will allow students to explore which mega projects already out there need
   contributions and how one can detect which challenges need starting a new effort
   from scratch.

Are we correct people for holding a workshop?
============================================
 * Rakesh Pandit (College alumni 2007 passed):
 
 Currently working as Red Hat Engineer. And working on production operating system.
 
 Had been participating and also winning contests across institutes in India both in
 schools days and college time. Has good academic record through out his education.
 
 Regularly working in RH, Openoffice, rpm, Fedora, GNU Inetutils and other projects.
 Have experience of conducting workshops at different places.

* Debarshi Ray (College alumni 2007 passed):

 Currently working Interra Systems Engineer and develops core VLSI software.
 
 Had been a master C programmer since school days with proven skills in software via
 contributions made to few key projects in GNU parted, Fedora etc
 
 Had good academic record. Had been speaker at many events across country.
  
Requirements:
============
          a) A lab with 14-15 computers (even less will do)
          b) Internet connectivity.

Actors:
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          a) Apx 8 students from Computer Science and Engineering Department
          b) Apx 8 students from Electronics and Communication Department

Selection criteria for students:
===============================
          We expect Department to propose top students from their branch for
this workshop. We will expect eight students from each CSE and ECE branch. In
case student refuses to participate, next student in list must be proposed for
attending the workshop. Department may select students based on the criteria
based on what they feel best. We have few suggestions.

    Suggested criteria for selecting students(no hard rules):
    a) They know any programming language.
    b) Have shown good aptitude and performance in Academic activities.

Few important points:
====================
a) We will take care of all our expenses related to food, travel etc.
b) We would not be disrupting any schedule for students(i.e classes or other activity)
   as proposed dates are on Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday.
c) I would like departments to keep it optional for students to attend workshop or not.
d) Count of participating students is bit adjustable.