User:Balasankarc/GSoC 2013 Application Balasankar C: Developing Malayalam Calendar Support

Personal Details

• Name : Balasankar C

• Education : Pursuing B.Tech - 3rd year

• College and University : Adi Shankara Institute of Engineering and Technology, Kalady, Ernakulam - MG University

• Email Address : <c.balasankar@gmail.com>

• Blog : www.balasankarc.comule.com

• FreeNode IRC Nick : balasankarc

• Why do you want to work with the Swathanthra Malayalam Computing?

Anything related to Malayalam and Computers attract me. I like the idea of having my computer displaying its contents in my native language and SMC is doing the same. Moreover it is an open source initiative so that I can also participate in that.

• Do you have any past involvement with the Swathanthra Malayalam Computing or another open source project as a contributor?

I have been working with SMC for about 1 year in its Gnome localization team. I am currently working as reviewer in the same.

• Did you participate with the past GSoC programs, if so which years, which organizations?

First time participation in GSoC

• Do you have other obligations between May and August ? Please note that we expect the Summer of Code to be a full time, 40 hour a week commitment

No other obligations. I will be able to do 40h/week.

• Will you continue contributing/ supporting the Swathanthra Malayalam Computing after the GSoC 2013 program, if yes, which area(s), you are interested in?

I have been contributing to SMC pre-GSoC and will surely continue it after GSoC. I am interested in the SILPA framework and I will help in maintaining its internationalization feature. I am also interested in idea of Malayalam OCR and plan to learn and research more about it. I will maintain the Malayalam Calendar, which is my proposal, and update it when necessary to adapt to new technologies.

• Why should we choose you over other applicants?

I am quite thorough in C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, VB.NET and ASP.NET. I also have experience in Python, Java, JS and jQuery. I am quite fluent in reading, writing and typing Malayalam. I am also a reviewer of SMC's Gnome Localization Team and am an administrator of Malayalam Wikisource. My technical as well as literary background definitely proves me good. I also have experience in astronomy which will aid me better in completing this project as the core of the project lies in astronomical algorithms. My projects can be found at my github page (http://github.com/balasankarc/ )

Proposal Description

• An overview of your proposal

I intend to add a Malayalam (Kollavarsham) Calendar to KOrganizer where it is displayed along with the Gregorian and Saka Calendar. Kollavarsham is based on the geographical location and changes from place to place. It is therefore dependant on the latitude and longitude of the user. There are many strategies used to perform the calculations. I plan to adopt the version by Mr. N C Lahari, which has been approved by the Government of India. For that, first I plan to build a library containing functions to calculate indic calendar terminologies from given Gregorian counterparts. This API will be the core of the project as it completes all the complex algorithmic work. After that, work will be done on the KDELib and KDECore packages for incorporating it to KOrganizer. Users should be able to do all calendar activities like marking to-do jobs, setting up reminders etc on the basis of Malayalam Months and Dates. The calendar will be purely arithmetical and not based on predefined database values.

• The need you believe it fulfills

Currently there is no API for indic calendar generation. At present, for developing indic calendars for different calendar applications (for other distros and desktop environments) programmers have to calculate the terminologies manually. This project makes it easy for the programmers so that they can just use the libraries in order to import all calendar activities. Moreover, it would be really helpful to Keralites to have a digital version of the calendar they use daily. Keralites are still culturally and religiously attached to astronomy and hence this project will help them.

• Any relevant experience you have

I have experience in the field of astronomy and algorithms related to calendar and “Panchangam” development, algorithm formulation. Also experienced in both console and GUI programming.

• How you intend to implement your proposal

C++ will be used as back end including QDate libraries for date functions. Then KDECore and KDELib files will be edited so as to incorporate it with KOrganizer. If successful, the patched version will be submitted to KDE for verification and inclusion in official update.

• A rough time line for your progress with phases

At the initial state, the latitude and longitude will not be considered. The formulas can be altered if the project succeeds using the location parameters of a specific place.

June 17 - July 20 - Generating algorithm and coding functions for calculating Helios-related terminologies in indic calendars. The functions for calculating date,day,zodiac sign etc will be defined during this period. July 20 - August 25 - Developing algorithm and coding functions for calculating lunar-related terminologies in indic calendars. The functions for calculating "thithhi", "paksham" etc will be defined during this period. August 25 - August 30 - Editing KDELib and KDECore packages so as to add the calendar to KOrganizer August 31 - September 10 - Testing for bugs and errors. September 10 - September 27 - Debugging and Documentation

• Any other details you feel we should consider

I believe I am eligible for this project due to my knowledge in the astronomical field, mathematics and algorithm formulation and I am also familiar with both console and GUI programming. I intend to do it in an algorithm-centric way so that it will be less resource-consuming and applicable to all time ranges. All the terminologies are based on some specific mathematical algorithms and the constants will be defined in the program itself. So a database back end is not needed.

• Tell us about something you have created.

Software I have created includes an image to DJVU converter (written in python), a tax calculator for college teachers (written in VB), a library management software (work in progress) and an agricultural information website (work in progress).

• Have you communicated with a potential mentor? If so, who?

Yes. I have communicated with Praveen A and he gave me guidance in finding existing systems trying to accomplish this project.

• SMC Wiki link of your proposal

Malayalam Calendar Support