[Tux4kids-tuxtype-dev] how to's for GSOC IDEAS..

[David Bruce]

Hi Akash (and everyone else),


>  Using “Festival”, a text to speech , open-source, cross-platform library
> written in C++ can be very handy. Festival can easily be integrated into
> current code .

If it's a freely available lib that works on linux/OSX/windows, then
it's a possibility at least from a technical standpoint.  My main
concern is that Festival appears to be English-only (except some
experimental Spanish support).  It sounds like it would be a really
cool addition for English-speaking users (and maybe for other folks
learning English as a second language), but I hate to put a lot of
resources into a "non-i18n-able" extension of tuxtype.

2.  Support for LAN multiplayer mode.  This
> is probably the most ambitious, as it will require restructuring the game
> into client and server programs.                  Networking to be
> accomplished   using SDL_net.
>
>     I am interested in it because one of my ongoing projects is very similar
> to this .
>     I am working on file broadcasting using BSD sockets via (UDP protocols)
> , ( using threads with TCP protocol)..

SDL_net is just a thin wrapper for BSD sockets AFAIK that makes it a
little easier to use.  My understanding of this so far is that we need
to separate tuxmath's game code into a server program and a client
program, with an interface for them to communicate.  The mathcards
code provides a lot of what we would use for the interface.  The
interface needs to work basically like reading and writing to a file,
instead of direct function calls.


>
> 3. Tux Typing could also benefit from a configuration program to support
> editing of word lists, phrase lists, and setting of options.
>
>     I am quite comfortable with Qt4  and Qt4 Designer and have developed
> minor apps. using Qt4 Designer as well as have hardcoded them.
>     Currently I am working on the proposed model of this configuration
> program to be implemented using Qt.

The main question is "which of these projects do you want to do?"  Any
of them will be enough for a summer and then some.  So far, most of
the prospective students have been essentially saying that they plan
to do everything, which leads me to question whether they have much
understanding of how much work will be involved to take these projects
to a finished state.

Best,

David