Presenting myself to the community and GSoC 2011

Hello, people.

I intend to present myself to the community here. I'll keep it as short as possible.

My name is João Sampaio. I am a Computer Engineering student at Federal University of São Carlos, from Brazil. I'm very proud to be a student of one of the best Computer Engineering courses in the country. I'm 21. My English is 98% fluent, which means that I can read and write everything but I might miss a couple words or sentences here and there over voice communication like Skype and phone and you might not understand what I'm saying, eventually. Nothing we can't overcome, though. My mother language is Portuguese.

I've used only Linux (mainly Ubuntu) for a few years now. Therefore, I'm familiar with UNIX systems and it's code production tools (gcc, gdb, vim, ...). I've never put my C knowlegdes to real test, but I'm very much confident in them. This is the first real project I intend to contribute to. I also know C++, PHP and Python for programming languages and (X)HTML and CSS for the web.

I'd like to state here that I'm interested in participating in Google Summer of Code this year, and as I've heard early applicants get better chances, here I am. I've already started studying Git and I've installed and am testing it in my computer. I have had very little previous experience with version control systems, but I'm a fast learner. I have a few friends that already participated in previous GSoC and they are also giving me some hints.

I want to participate in the Git project because (a) I find version control an interesting subject; (b) I'm much more motivated to work with low-level languages like C than high-level, in which most other projects are written on (even though I do like Python a lot); and (c) Git is widely used in important projects and it would be awesome to have my name related to it.

If I happen to capture your attention, I'd be willing to talk to you, especially if you are going to be a mentor in GSoC! I'm excited to get involved and we can already start to know each other to get ready for GSoC, if you want!

Thank you for your time,

João Paulo Melo de Sampaio venit, vidit, dixit 14.01.2011 01:43:

Welcome and bem-vindo, João!

The next release (1.7.4) is on the doorsteps, after that the usual development process will kick in again.

Checking out git.git, getting to know the build process and reading Documentation/SubmittingPatches in git.git are good first steps for a prospective contributor. If you do this and follow the list then ideas for your first fixes and contributions will come up automatically. Getting a few patches accepted in git.git is not required before a GSoC application but its the best way of getting to know the project and the (developers') community (and for us to get to know you). It can also give you an idea about what area of Git to focus on for GSoC - if you still want to stick with us by then ;)

Cheers, Michael