GSoC Information Seminar

The Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a program that is designed to bring in new people to contribute to the Free and open Source community. It's about introducing more people to the amazing world of free and open Software. It's about introducing to new people, the idea that there are still people in the world who create software, help other and do things just because they enjoy it. Open source is so ubiquitous nowadays that its inevitable you are benefiting from it every day even if you don’t know it just by using applications on the desktop, web, or mobile.

Google Students Club, IIT Kharagpur decided to spread the word and welcome more students to the Open Source Community by introducing them to GSoC. An interactive event involving several experienced seniors was announced, and a large number of open source enthusiasts turned up. The students were given an introduction to open source, and GSoC and explained about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). A thorough guidance on the application procedure was given, were advised to select an organisation whose work they found interesting. Further, the students were encouraged to not get intimidated by the daunting task of approaching the organisation and give them their proposals. As the students regained their composure, they were walked through the different stuff to learn on their path to become an open source developer. And in the end, the seniors answered the many doubts and questions the students had in mind and helped them chill out a little.

At the end of the day, the students walked out of the hall, looking forward to contributing to the community and being part of the GSoC program. A light at the end of the tunnel was clearly visible now. 

THE DAY KGP LIVED THE DROID LIFE

               Android and Google have taken over the world as the leading mobile OS as Google continuously refines Android to a flatter, cleaner look with brighter, fuller colours and improving the greatest open source OS to a whole new level. Android was always a fun thing to use, to learn and to create. And so, Google Students Club at IIT Kharagpur decided to do just that, with a fun and interactive learning session on android app development.

          GSC organised a highly successful event on the 8^th of November, with George Machibya being the guest speaker. Machibya is an android developer who is a part of the Google Developers Group in Mwanza , Tanzania with multiple apps of his own up on the play store. The inquisitive students turned out in big numbers for the event and were ready, with everything set up in no time. The event started with an hour long live hangout with George Machibaya, laying the groundwork by covering the basics and essentials of app development. And soon after, Dhruv took over to brush up java concepts and did a brief comparision with structural languages like C and then an involved doubt session with experienced seniors, Avijit and Gaurav (Google Students Ambassador at IIT Kharagpur) followed. As soon as the students were fresh and out of all the minor doubts, a lecture on XML followed, flying through the Android Studio layout editor and shown the changes through XML in real time. Further XML concepts were then introduced, and the method to use XML to change layouts, and also about the various components like buttons, image view, etc thoroughly explained and then followed up by covering all the major design aspects. A quick doubt session ensued, and then the participants were further taken to the most engaging part of the event. The participants were encouraged to make a simple app with their own ideas! Several innovative ideas were seen and the participants were helped by the team members in the process, so they never have a setback. To wrap up the eventful day, a short presentation on efficient design principles was given, and a few examples of beautiful apps on the play store were displayed to capture the interest of the students and a brief introduction was given on material design, the biggest visible change in Android 5.0, a new design language with flatter icons, simpler shapes, and bolder bars of colour.

    And as they say, “A hard beginning maketh a good ending”. The students left the event with a whole lot learnt and a lot more to discover on the path to learning android. Peace.