Google Code-in experience - Kexi

KDE is taking part in Google Code-in (GCI) this year once again. It's a contest to bring 13 to 17 year-olds closer to Free Software.

One of the tasks I proposed for Kexi was Adding d-pointers to the code. Because of its size I split the challenge into two GCI tasks for truly motivated students. One part has been taken by Shou Ya and second by Andrew Inishev. Both parts have been finished successfully, the patches (2 * 10 thousands of lines) are already in the Calligra master repository.

Andrew writes on his blog: "[..] It was hard for me at beginning because I am beginner in C++ and I didn't know about d-pointers before, but when mentor of this task explained me how to use d-pointers right, task became to be easier. And I must to mention that he is very patient, if keep in mind my inattention when modify code.

Collaboration with KDE community is very useful for me (and, may be, for community :-) because I am getting experience and skills which will be useful in my future work. For example, experience of using version-control systems and build systems (which are important skills in collaborative development), experience in C++, etc."

Another student tries to find UI issues while running Kexi under non-KDE desktops. This particular task expresses commitment of Kexi to be highly portable software that adapts to various environments, what is I think in line with the rest of the Qt and KDE world.

Are you interested in contributing to Kexi or other Calligra applications? We've made first steps really easy and you can have a lot of fun too!