GNUstep AppKit Improvements

Synopsis:	Improve GNUStep AppKit components and the Text System.

Benefits to the community: Implementing Appkit classes will help add functionality to GNUstep, and working on the Text System will help improve it to a fully working state, enabling the community to tweak the test system.

Deliverables:

	Modified NSBitmapImageRep to write GIF, JPEG, PNG & PNM files.
	Implementations of NSDatePicker, NSLevelIndicator and NS Cell classes.
	A Cleaned, Profiled and improved Text System.
	
	
Details:

	I have discussed the project with mentors David Chisnall & Nicolas Roard.
	The project will consist of first modifying NSBitmapImageRep to enable it to write GIF, JPEG, PNG & PNM. On completion, I shall then create implementations of NSDatePicker, NSLevelIndicator (and NSCell) classes.
	I shall then spend the rest of the project examining, understanding and then finishing, cleaning, rewriting and profiling the whole Text System using the knowledge I will have gained from the first section of the project.
	
	
Schedule:

	I shall start work towards the project immediately, examining & understanding the GNUstep framework.
	
	- From the beginning of June I can start work on the project full time throughout the summer for which I have no other commitments. The class implementations can be used as milestones for the first section of the project, to measure progress, and should take between 2 - 3 weeks of the total 14.
	- The rest of the time shall be taken up with the Text System, with the first 2 weeks reading and examining the code, and I shall discuss with the mentor for the project suitable milestones to work towards.
	
	- For the project to be worthwhile and for a high quality contribution I understand that I should help maintain the code, and be available for the community after the SoC has finished, which I am more than willing to do.
	
	
Bio:

	I am a 2nd year Electronics Engineering with Computer Science student studying at Swansea University in Wales, UK, where I have been getting a 2:1 average, and am really enjoying the course.
	
	Most of my programming experience is in C and Java, and various flavours of Assembly, learnt from my University course. I am also self taught in Objective C, (Valid) HTML and XHTML, CSS, PHP and Javascript.
	I have been involved in many team projects, and being an active Scout & attending my high school's outdoor pursuits centre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirabad) has enabled me to work well both solo and as a team.
	
	Group projects I have been involved with include designing, developing and testing both hardware and software for a micromouse project (http://www.sucs.org/~elsmorian/micromouse/), and producing presentations in my course.
	Other team projects I have worked on include coding a Java text-based game, creating websites and doing a multitude of lab based electronics experiments involving signal generation and processing, amplification and digital systems design.
	I also am in my 2nd year on the executive committee of the University Computer Society (http://sucs.org/ - the same society that was name checked in the Linux kernel up to 2.4) and am a active member in promoting the society and Linux on campus, and organising events for our members such as socials, LAN gaming events and talks.
	The Computer Society has also given me experiance with Linux/POSIX, and I Admin the societies workstations and server, all currently running Fedora Core 6.
	
	My experience from summer jobs such as working as a technician fixing DJ equipment at Numark (http://www.numark.com/) and as a general assistant at Tesco, and Greggs is also relevant as teamwork is important in such environments.
	In my spare time I enjoy playing the drums (solo and with some friends) and listening to music, as well as photography.
	I really enjoy learning new skills, problem solving and am an enthusiastic student, willing to provide both the time and effort to succeed at this project & I'm looking forward to working with the GNUstep community.