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Summer of Code 2006 Posted 2006.05.14 09:38 PDT (#)

I'm sure anyone reading this is aware of the Google sponsored Summer of Code, as an interesting opportunity for Free Software and Open Source Software projects to attract new contributions (and ideally contributors) through a summer stipend paid by Google. What's less well known is the process of choosing applicants.

I applied to mentor with the PSF, but now I'm torn. I think Google is doing a good thing, but the application process has me questioning my interest. Between limitations in the web site project ranking system, and dealing with unknowns (did this student submit applications to other groups, or more than one to us?) it runs like a bad interview puzzle question:

You have 30 chickens, 30 foxes, and 30 bags of corn, one canoe, and one river. You can only fit one with you in your canoe, and wish to take them all to the other side of the river. If you ever leave a chicken with corn, or a fox with a chicken, the latter will be eaten. A bandit might come by and steal up to one item per river crossing. In what order do you take items across to maximize the results of Google's sponsorship?

And I hear it's much better than last year...