• Introduction
• What is Google Summer of Code?
• Why Should I Apply?
• Am I Good Enough?
• Applying
• Making First Contact
• Choosing an Organization
• Finding the Right Project
• Writing a Proposal
• Being Turned Down
• Community Bonding Period
• How GSoC Works
• What Does Community Mean?
• Open Source Culture
• Communication Best Practices
• How to Get a Head Start
• Let the Coding Begin
• Working with Your Mentor
• Time Management for Students
• Evaluations
• Wrapping Up
• Getting Your Code Committed
• Staying Engaged with Your Community
• APPENDICES
• About This Manual
• History of GSoC
• Additional Resources
• Proposal Example 1
• Proposal Example 2
• Glossary
• Credits

Glossary

+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 "Mind the Gap" 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 What is GSoC 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 What is GSoC section for more details.

Program Administrator

Google employees who run the program. See the What is GSoC 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.