+1
The shortest way in the geek world to say “I agree with this” or “This is a great idea”. It is often used when others have already fleshed out the details and a consensus of how many agree/disagree with the sentiment. It is worth noting to your students if your project uses this as a voting signal so they do not accidentally comment on issues when, as newbies, they should be observing rather than commenting/voting.
-1
The opposite of +1. Often accompanied by an explanation why, if you are lucky.
Committer
An individual who has special rights in an open source project. While the scope of this term varies by project, the general idea is that this individual is able to check in source code to the project’s main repository.
Community Bonding Period
The period of time between when accepted students are announced for a particular year of GSoC and the time these students are expected to start coding. This time is an excellent one to introduce students to the community, get them on the right mailing lists, etc. See the “Community Bonding Period” section for more details.
DVCS
Distributed version control system. A version control system that does not require talking to a centralized server.
FLOSS
Free/Libre Open Source Software. Likely the most inclusive acronym to describe the software produced for GSoC.
GSoC
Google Summer of Code
IDE
Integrated Development Environment
IM
Instant Messenger
IRC
Internet Relay Chat
JFDI
Just Fabulously Do It. Use your imagination. Ask for forgiveness, not for permission. :)
Lurk
To spend some time watching. Often used in reference to a mailing list where you will read the posts but not make any posts yourself or an IRC channel where you watch how people interact but don’t say anything.
Mentor
Someone who helps a student with their project proposal. See the “How GSoC Works” section for more details.
Organization
An open source, free software or technology-related project that mentors students for Google Summer of Code. Also known as a mentoring organization.
Organization Admin (Org Admin)
Cat herders for each open source project participating in the program. Often abbreviated to org admin. See the “How GSoC Works” section for more details.
Program Administrator
Google employees who run the program. See the “How GSoC Works” section for more details.
RTFM
Read The FLOSS Manual ;)
Secondary Mentor
A person who helps out a student’s assigned mentor. At time of writing this manual, the GSoC online system only allows one mentor to be officially assigned to a student proposal, as one person must be responsible for submitting evaluations, etc. However, it is quite common to have multiple mentors for one student.
SMOP
Simple Matter of Programming
Summer
Not so much a season as a state of being. While the program is run during the Northern Hemisphere’s Spring and Summer, the “Summer” in Google Summer of Code is actually a play on the “Summer of Love”.
TDD
Test Driven Development
Use Case
A use case describes what a user can do with a particular software system.
UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Waterfall Model
A sequential software development process that usually doesn’t work.