[mlpack] GSoC 2013 Participation

[Ryan Curtin]

On Thu, Apr 18, 2013 at 06:45:22AM +0530, Abinash Panda wrote:
> Hello,
> I am Abinash Panda, a senior undergraduate at IIT (BHU) Varanasi. I wish to
> participate in GSoC 2013 under mlpack.
> I am interested in working on the ideas of :
> -a- implementing collaborative filtering package
> -b- building python bindings for mlpack
> 
> Could anyone suggest me how to start? Furthermore, is submission of patch a
> necessary criteria?

Hello Abinash,

The collaborative filtering package has been discussed at length.  See
these threads for more information (be sure to take a look at all the
replies):

https://mailman.cc.gatech.edu/pipermail/mlpack/2013-April/000034.html
https://mailman.cc.gatech.edu/pipermail/mlpack/2013-April/000044.html

The goal of the Python and R bindings project is to produce bindings
similar to the MATLAB bindings, so that users unfamiliar with the
intricacies of C++ can use mlpack code.  SWIG may be a useful tool for
this, but I am not sure that SWIG would be the best.  Ideally a student
doing this project would do some research on what packages are
available, and then we would decide whether to go with packages or write
the bindings by hand.  You could take a look at the MATLAB bindings (in
src/mlpack/bindings/matlab) to get a better idea of what the bindings
should be doing.

Also, maybe you should consider the automatic bindings project, which if
done successfully, would remove the need for manual binding creation:

http://trac.research.cc.gatech.edu/fastlab/wiki/SummerOfCodeIdeas#Automaticbindings

Patch submission is not a necessary criterion, but it can be helpful in
giving us an idea of how you write code.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks,

Ryan

-- 
Ryan Curtin       | "Give a man a gun and he thinks he's Superman.
ryan at igglybob.com | Give him two and he thinks he's God."  - Pang