Merge pull request #225 from Quansight-Labs/gsoc-2020-ideas-update

Update GSoC 2020 Ideas Page

docs/gsoc/2020/ideas.rst

@@ -45,17 +45,21 @@ Contact
 -------
 
 If you have a question *after checking all guideline pages above*, you can
-open an issue in the issue tracker.
+open an issue in the issue tracker, but feel free to
+`chat with us on Gitter <https://gitter.im/Plures/uarray>`_ if you need
+clarification regarding any of the projects. Keep in mind that you might not
+get a response right away, but we will endeavour to respond as early as possible.
+
 
 ``uarray`` project ideas
 ------------------------
 
 ``uarray``: Add querying for state
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
-Adding querying for the ``uarray._BackendState`` object will allow users of
-``uarray`` to see what's inside the opaque object. Some parts can be re-used
-from the pickling machinery.
+Adding querying for the `uarray._BackendState <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/uarray/blob/39c49b6efe6817b46af9c6702e6aa0264b89bcf5/uarray/_uarray_dispatch.cxx#L188>`_
+object will allow users of ``uarray`` to see what's inside the opaque object.
+Some parts can be re-used from the `pickling machinery <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/uarray/blob/39c49b6efe6817b46af9c6702e6aa0264b89bcf5/uarray/_uarray_dispatch.cxx#L210>`_.
 
 It can also help downstream users to access the parameters of the currently
 set backend, which is a planned feature of ``uarray``. Here is a list of goals
@@ -71,7 +75,10 @@ This would enable, for example, the following use-cases:
 * Allow a downstream library to fail-fast on a known-unsupported backend.
 
 This project has a straightforward design and needs some implementation work,
-and will require interacting with the mentors to implement and polish.
+and will require interacting with the mentors to implement and polish. The accepted
+student will get an outline of the desired API, along with some failing tests and
+doctests. The student will make a pull request to implement the desired functionality
+so that the tests pass.
 
 * Required knowledge: Python C-API and C++
 * Difficulty level: medium
@@ -116,28 +123,53 @@ This project is split into two parts:
 * Adding more backends to ``unumpy``.
 
 We realise this is a large (possibly open-ended) undertaking, and so there
-will need to be a minimum amount of work done in order to pass (~150 functions,
-if time allows a JAX backend).
+will need to be a minimum amount of work done in order to pass (~150 function stubs,
+if time allows a `JAX <https://jax.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ backend). You may
+see the existing methods and figure out how they are written using a combination
+of the `documentation for writing multimethods <https://uarray.readthedocs.io/en/latest/multimethod_docs.html>`_
+and the `already existing multimethods in this file <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/unumpy/blob/30c4afde16fbbb231cbc1e20d28cf5f0a8527285/unumpy/_multimethods.py>`_.
+For writing backends, you can see the `documentation for backends <https://uarray.readthedocs.io/en/latest/libauthor_docs.html>`_
+in combination with the already existing backends in `this directory <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/unumpy/tree/30c4afde16fbbb231cbc1e20d28cf5f0a8527285/unumpy>`_.
 
 * Required knowledge: Python (intermediate level)
 * Difficulty level: easy
 * Potential mentors: Prasun Anand and Hameer Abbasi
 
 ``udiff``: Completion and Packaging
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-This requires completion and packaging of the ``udiff`` library. Potential
+This requires completion and packaging of the `udiff <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/udiff>`_ library. Potential
 goals include:
 
-1. Publishing an initial version to PyPI.
+1. Publishing an initial version to PyPI. Here's a `guide <https://realpython.com/pypi-publish-python-package/>`_
+   on how to do that.
 2. Adding matrix/tensor calculus support.
+
+   * For this, you can see the `matrix cookbook <https://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~hwolkowi/matrixcookbook.pdf>`_.
+     Don't be intimidated! There will only be five or so equations you have to
+     pull out of the matrix cookbook and implement, most prominently, the
+     equation for matrix multiplication.
+   * `Here <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/udiff/blob/40975788639c2c93ebfb96c44a07d8ab01fbcbad/udiff/_builtin_diffs.py>`_
+     is how derivatives are registered.
+   * The second task here will be to add the "separation" between the data
+     dimensions and the differentiation dimensions. For example, the input
+     could be a vector, or an array of scalars, and this might need to be
+     taken into account when doing the differentiation. That will require
+     some work in `this file <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/udiff/blob/40975788639c2c93ebfb96c44a07d8ab01fbcbad/udiff/_diff_array.py>`_,
+     and possibly `this one as well <https://github.com/Quansight-Labs/udiff/blob/40975788639c2c93ebfb96c44a07d8ab01fbcbad/udiff/_diff_array.py>`_.
+
 3. Adding tests.
-4. Adding documentation on use.
+
+  * This will require calculating a few derivatives by hand and making sure
+    they match up with what ``udiff`` computes.
+  * We will use the `PyTest framework <https://docs.pytest.org/en/latest/>`_.
+
+4. Adding documentation on use, which will be fairly minimal. We will learn to
+   set up `Sphinx <http://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/>`_, and add some documentation.
 5. Publishing a final version to PyPI.
 
 This project has a somewhat some minimal design and needs some involved
-implementation work, and will require interacting with the mentors to flesh
-out and work through.
+implementation work. It will allow the accepted student to get an idea of
+what it's like to actually publish, test and document a small Python package.
 
 * Required knowledge: Python (intermediate level) and calculus
 * Difficulty level: medium