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[bpt/emacs.git] / etc / tasks.texi
1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @c %**start of header
3 @setfilename tasks.info
4 @settitle GNU Task List
5 @c This date is automagically updated when you save this file:
6 @set lastupdate October 24, 2002
7 @c %**end of header
8
9 @c On behalf of the Volunteer Coordinators, I humbly request that anyone
10 @c who adds an entry to this file please add a pointer to some more info
11 @c about that project. People ask us (gvc@gnu.org) for more information
12 @c about these projects and it's embarrassing to ask around and find out
13 @c that nobody remembers what the project was supposed to be, or do.
14 @c We don't need a huge elaborate ISO-9001 document, just a couple of
15 @c paragraphs or a URL or something that explains what the e.g. ``stalker''
16 @c project should do. It will save us all time in the future.
17 @c Thanks, toby@gnu.org
18 @c April 27, 2002
19
20 @dircategory GNU organization
21 @direntry
22 * Tasks: (tasks). GNU task list.
23 @end direntry
24
25 @setchapternewpage off
26
27 @copying
28 The GNU task list, last updated @value{lastupdate}.
29
30 Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996,
31 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
32
33 @quotation
34 Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
35 are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
36 notice and this notice are preserved.
37 @end quotation
38 @end copying
39
40 @titlepage
41 @title GNU Task List
42 @author Free Software Foundation
43 @author last updated @value{lastupdate}
44 @page
45 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
46 @insertcopying
47 @end titlepage
48
49 @contents
50
51 @ifnottex
52 @node Top, Intro, (dir), (dir)
53 @top GNU Task List
54
55 @insertcopying
56
57 See also
58 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/help/help.html#helpgnu} for other suggested tasks.
59 @end ifnottex
60
61 @menu
62 * Intro::
63 * Highest Priority::
64 * Documentation::
65 * Unix-Related Projects::
66 * Kernel Projects::
67 * Extensions::
68 * Java Projects::
69 * X Windows Projects::
70 * Network Projects::
71 * Encryption Projects::
72 * Other Projects::
73 * Languages::
74 * Education::
75 * Games and Recreations::
76 @end menu
77
78 @node Intro, Highest Priority, Top, Top
79 @chapter About the GNU Task List
80
81 If you did not obtain this file directly from the GNU project and
82 recently, please check for a newer version. You can ftp the task list
83 from any GNU FTP host in directory @file{/pub/gnu/tasks/}. The task
84 list is available there in several different formats: @file{tasks.text},
85 @file{tasks.texi}, @file{tasks.info}, and @file{tasks.dvi}.
86 @c to fix an overfill, join the paragraphs -len
87 The task list is also available on the GNU World Wide Web server:
88 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/prep/tasks_toc.html}.
89
90 If you start working steadily on a project, please let @email{gvc@@gnu.org}
91 know. We might have information that could help you; we'd also like to
92 send you the GNU coding standards.
93
94 Because of the natural tendency for most volunteers to write programming
95 tools or programming languages, we have a comparative shortage of
96 applications useful for non-programmer users. Therefore, we ask you to
97 consider writing such a program.
98
99 Typically, a new program that does a completely new job advances
100 the GNU project, and the free software community, more than an
101 improvement to an existing program.
102
103 Typically, new features or new programs advance the free software
104 community more, in the long run, than porting existing programs. One
105 reason is that portable new features and programs benefit people on many
106 platforms, not just one. At the same time, there tend to be many
107 volunteers for porting---so your help will be more valuable in other
108 areas, where volunteers are more scarce.
109
110 Typically, it is more useful to extend a program in functionality than
111 to improve performance. Users who use the new functionality will
112 appreciate it very much, if they use it; but even when they benefit from
113 a performance improvement, they may not consider it very important.
114
115 Finally, if you think of an important job that free software cannot
116 solve yet that is typically solved by proprietary software, please send
117 a short description of that job to @email{tasks@@gnu.org} so that we can
118 add it to this task list.
119
120 @node Highest Priority, Documentation, Intro, Top
121 @chapter Highest Priority
122
123 This task list mentions a large number of tasks that would be more or
124 less useful. With luck, at least one of them will inspire you to start
125 writing. It's better for you to work on any task that inspires you than
126 not write free software at all.
127
128 But if you would like to work on what we need most, here is a list of
129 high priority projects.
130
131 @itemize @bullet
132
133 @item
134
135 If you are good at writing documentation, please do that. Pick a system
136 or program you like, and write a Free tutorial or manual for it.
137
138 @item
139
140 Help to finish the missing features of the @command{docbook2texi} so
141 that as many Docbook tags as possible can be translated into reasonable
142 Texinfo. See @uref{http://docbook2x.sourceforge.net/todo.html} for a
143 task list of what needs to be done.
144
145 @item
146 If you are very good at C programming and interested in kernels, you
147 can help develop the GNU HURD, the kernel for the GNU system. Please
148 have a look at @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html}, and
149 then join the HURD mailing lists at
150 @uref{http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-contact}.
151
152 @item
153 If you are a Scheme fan, you can help develop Guile. Please have a look
154 at the URL @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/guile.html}
155 and then contact the Guile developers at @email{guile-devel@@gnu.org}.
156
157 @item
158 Improve the facilities for translating other languages into Scheme,
159 so that Guile can provide support for a variety of languages.
160
161 @item
162 A package to convert programs written using MS Access into Scheme,
163 making use of a free data base system and the GTK toolkit.
164
165 @item
166 A general-purpose document viewing program that can handle PostScript,
167 DVI, PDF, HTML, RTF, Word format and Word Perfect format.
168
169 @item
170 Help develop software to emulate Windows NT on top of GNU systems.
171 For example, you could help work on Wine.
172 See @uref{http://www.winehq.org/}.
173
174 @ignore
175 @c panda is a PDF generator library released under the GPL
176 @c http://www.stillhq.com/cgi-bin/getpage?area=panda&page=index.htm
177 @item
178 A free replacement for pdflib. This is a library for generating PDF.
179 @end ignore
180
181 @item
182 Add gettext support to GNU programs that don't have it already. (Please
183 contact the developers of the specific packages that you want to work
184 on.)
185
186 @item
187 Develop a substitute, which runs on GNU systems, for some very popular
188 or very important application that many non-programmers use on Windows,
189 and which has no comparable free equivalent now.
190 @end itemize
191
192 @node Documentation, Unix-Related Projects, Highest Priority, Top
193 @chapter Documentation
194
195 We very urgently need documentation for many existing parts of the
196 system.
197
198 Note that there are proprietary manuals for many of these topics, but
199 proprietary manuals do not count, for the same reason proprietary
200 software does not count: we are not free to copy and modify them.
201 We do not recommend any non-free materials as documentation.
202
203 @itemize @bullet
204
205 @item
206 A reference document for SQL for use as a standard for implementors of
207 free software versions of SQL.
208
209 @item
210 A manual for libstdc++.
211
212
213 @ignore
214 @c the Indian TeX Users Group has completed a freely distributable version of a LaTex manual - http://www.tug.org.in/tutorials.html
215 @item
216 A unified manual for La@TeX{}. (Existing documentation is non-free.)
217 @end ignore
218
219 @ignore
220 @c docbook definitive guide http://www.docbook.org/tdg/en/html/ is now FDL
221 @item
222 A manual for Docbook SGML format.
223 @end ignore
224
225 @item
226 A tutorial introduction to Midnight Commander.
227
228 @item
229 A thorough manual for RCS.
230
231 @item
232 A reference manual for Mach.
233
234 @item
235 A reference manual for the GNU Hurd features in GNU libc.
236
237 @item
238 A manual for writing Hurd servers.
239
240 @ignore
241 @c this is done.
242 @item
243 A manual for GNU sed.
244 @end ignore
245
246 @item
247 Reference manuals for C++, Objective C, Pascal, Fortran 77, and Java.
248
249 @item
250 A tutorial manual for the C++ STL (standard template library).
251
252 @item
253 A tutorial manual for Gforth.
254
255 @item
256 GNU Objective-C Runtime Library Manual; this would be a reference manual
257 for the runtime library functions, structures, and classes. Some work
258 has been done on this job.
259
260 @item
261 Manuals for GNUstep: developer tutorial, developer programming manual,
262 developer reference manual, and user manual.
263
264 @item
265 A manual for Ghostscript.
266
267 @item
268 A manual for TCSH.
269
270 @item
271 A coherent free reference manual for Perl. Most of the Perl on-line
272 reference documentation can be used as a starting point, but work is
273 needed to weld them together into a coherent manual.
274
275 @c Bradley M. Kuhn is working on this. <bkuhn@gnu.org> Refer volunteers to
276 @c him.
277
278 @item
279
280 A good free Perl language tutorial introduction. The existing Perl
281 introductions are published with restrictions on copying and
282 modification, so that they cannot be part of a GNU system. bkuhn made a
283 start at a free tutorial, but a lot of work is needed.
284
285
286 @item
287 A manual for PIC (the graphics formatting language).
288
289 @item
290 A book on how GCC works and why various machine descriptions
291 are written as they are.
292
293 @item
294 A manual for programming applications for X11.
295
296 @item
297 Manuals for various X window managers.
298
299 @item
300 Reference cards for those manuals that don't have them: C
301 Compiler, Texinfo, Termcap, and maybe the C Library.
302
303 @item
304 Many utilities still need documentation.
305 @end itemize
306
307 @node Unix-Related Projects, Kernel Projects, Documentation, Top
308 @chapter Unix-Related Projects
309
310 @itemize @bullet
311 @ignore
312 @item
313 Modify the GNU @code{dc} program to use the math routines of GNU
314 @code{bc}.
315 @end ignore
316
317 @item
318 Rewrite @code{indent} from scratch to make it cleaner.
319
320 @item
321 Write a free software replacement for the @code{agrep} program.
322
323 @item
324 Less urgent: make a replacement for the ``writer's workbench'' program
325 @code{style}, or something to do the same kind of job. Compatibility
326 with Unix is not especially important for this program.
327
328 @end itemize
329
330 @node Kernel Projects, Extensions, Unix-Related Projects, Top
331 @chapter Kernel-Related Projects
332
333 @itemize @bullet
334 @item
335 An over-the-ethernet debugger stub that will allow the kernel to be
336 debugged from GDB running on another machine.
337
338 This stub needs its own self-contained implementation of all protocols
339 to be used, since the GNU system will use user processes to implement
340 all but the lowest levels, and the stub won't be able to use those
341 processes. If a simple self-contained implementation of IP and TCP is
342 impractical, it might be necessary to design a new, simple protocol
343 based directly on ethernet. It's not crucial to support high speed or
344 communicating across gateways.
345
346 It might be possible to use the Mach ethernet driver code, but it would
347 need some changes.
348
349 @item
350 A shared memory X11 server to run under MACH is very desirable. The
351 machine specific parts should be kept well separated.
352
353 @item
354 An implementation of CIFS, the ``Common Internet File System,'' for the
355 HURD. This protocol is an offshoot of SMB.
356
357 @item
358 Support (in Linux?) for dumping the non-textual contents of an SVGA
359 console.
360 @end itemize
361
362 @node Extensions, Java Projects, Kernel Projects, Top
363 @chapter Extensions to Existing GNU Software
364
365 @itemize @bullet
366 @item
367 Enhance GCC. See files @file{PROJECTS} and @file{PROBLEMS} in the GCC
368 distribution.
369
370 @item
371 Interface GDB to Guile, so that users can write debugging commands in
372 Scheme. This would also make it possible to write, in Scheme, a
373 graphical interface that uses GTK and is tightly integrated into GDB.
374
375 @item
376 Extend Octave to support programs that were written
377 to run on Khoros.
378
379 @item
380 Rewrite Automake in Scheme, so it can run in Guile. Right now it is
381 written in Perl. There are also other programs, not terribly long,
382 which we would also like to have rewritten in Scheme.
383
384 @item
385 Finish the partially-implemented C interpreter project.
386
387 @item
388 Help with the development of GNUstep, a GNU implementation of the
389 OpenStep specification.
390
391 @item
392 Add features to GNU Make to record the precise rule with which each file
393 was last recompiled; then recompile any file if its rule in the makefile
394 has changed.
395
396 @item
397 Add a few features to GNU @code{diff}, such as handling large input
398 files without reading entire files into core.
399
400 @item
401 An @code{nroff} macro package to simplify @code{texi2roff}.
402
403 @item
404 A queueing system for the mailer Smail that groups pending work by
405 destination rather than by original message. This makes it possible
406 to schedule retries coherently for each destination. Talk to
407 @email{tron@@veritas.com} and @email{woods@@weird.com} about this.
408
409 @end itemize
410
411 @node Java Projects, X Windows Projects, Extensions, Top
412 @chapter Java Projects
413
414 @itemize @bullet
415
416 @item
417 The GNU Classpath Extensions project is looking for help. classpathx
418 builds free versions of Sun's java extension libraries, the packages
419 in the javax namespace.
420
421 @item
422 Write a replacement for the javadoc utility. The Classpath
423 (@uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath}) team has already made a
424 start to one.
425
426
427 @end itemize
428
429 @node X Windows Projects, Network Projects, Java Projects, Top
430 @chapter X Windows Projects
431
432 @itemize @bullet
433 @item
434 An emulator for Macintosh graphics calls on top of X Windows.
435
436 @ignore
437 @c winelib does this http://www.winehq.org/
438 @item
439 A package that emulates the API of Visual C++'s Foundation Classes
440 (MFC), but operates on top of X11. It need not match the screen
441 appearance provided by MFC. Instead, it would be best to use GTK, so as
442 to give coherence with GNOME.
443 @end ignore
444
445 @ignore
446 @c GNOME Basic is doing this
447 @item
448 A compatible replacement for Visual Basic, running on top of X11.
449 It need not match the screen appearance of Visual C++. Instead,
450 it would be best to use GTK, so as to give coherence with GNOME.
451 @end ignore
452
453 @ignore
454 @c Denemo is doing this.
455 @item
456 A music playing and editing system. This should work with LilyPond, a
457 GNU program for music typesetting.
458 @end ignore
459
460 @ignore @c GNUskies should do this
461 @item
462 An ephemeris program to replace xephem (which is, alas, too restricted
463 to qualify as free software).
464 @end ignore
465
466 @c Gepetto (@url{http://laurent.riesterer.free.fr/gepetto/intro-main.html},
467 @c @email{laurent.riesterer@@free.fr}), according to @email{gnueval@@gnu.org},
468 @c does the job of displaing dancers but does not allow editing notation.
469
470
471 @item
472 Make sure the Vibrant toolkit works with LessTif instead of Motif.
473
474 @item
475 A program to display and edit Hypercard stacks.
476
477 @item
478 A two-dimensional outliner program, which lets you draw
479 graph structures of textual items, and then display them
480 in various ways.
481
482 @ignore @c done
483 @item
484 A program for graphic morphing of scanned photographs.
485 @end ignore
486
487 @ignore @c Done by gLabels
488 @item
489 Software for designing and printing business cards.
490 @end ignore
491 @end itemize
492
493 @node Network Projects, Encryption Projects, X Windows Projects, Top
494 @chapter Network Projects
495
496 @itemize @bullet
497 @ignore
498 @c Cornell has released a program for this.
499 @item
500 A teleconferencing program which does the job of CU-SeeMe (which is,
501 alas, not free software).
502 @end ignore
503
504 @ignore
505 @c Bishop Bettini <bishop@synxcti.com> is working on this.
506 @item
507 A free ICQ-compatible server program. (The ICQ server itself is not
508 free software.)
509 @end ignore
510
511 @ignore
512 @c if anyone knows what this means please send email to gvc@gnu.org
513 @item
514 Free software like Stalker for operating a web server for email
515 services.
516 @end ignore
517
518 @end itemize
519
520 @node Encryption Projects, Other Projects, Network Projects, Top
521 @chapter Encryption Projects
522
523 These projects need to be written outside the US by people who are not
524 US citizens, to avoid problems with US export control law.
525
526 @itemize @bullet
527 @ignore
528 @c libcrypt is doing this.
529 @item
530 A free library for public-key encryption. This library can probably be
531 developed from the code for the GNU Privacy Guard.
532 @end ignore
533
534 @ignore
535 @item
536 @c GNUtls is doing this.
537 An implementation of SSLv3 (more precisely, TLSv1) which has
538 distribution terms compatible with the GNU GPL. We know of a
539 GPL-covered implemention of a version of SSL that you can use as a
540 starting point.
541 @end ignore
542
543 @ignore
544 @c akopia interchange appears to do this. if you'd like to re-open this
545 @c item please let the GVC know what you want (in some detail)
546 @item
547 Free software for doing secure commercial transactions on the web.
548 This should be based on libgcrypt and GNUtls.
549 @end ignore
550
551 @end itemize
552
553 @node Other Projects, Languages, Encryption Projects, Top
554 @chapter Other Projects
555
556 If you think of others that should be added, please
557 send them to @email{tasks@@gnu.org}.
558
559 @itemize @bullet
560
561 @ignore
562 @c vcg as of version 1.30 (current as of 2002-10-24) is GPL
563 @c toby 2002-10-24
564 @item
565 A library for automatic graph layout. VCG version 1.0, which was free
566 software, might provide a base for this.
567 @end ignore
568
569 @item
570 A data visualization program along the lines of xgobi or ggobi.
571
572 @item
573 A graph visualization program, which would use that library and
574 provide a front end for manual and interactive intervention so as to
575 provide a full substitute for equivalent proprietory software. It
576 would be good to support DOT format as input, and perhaps other
577 formats.
578
579 @c Such proprietary software is daVinci and graphviz, but are uncommon enough
580 @c that we don't mention them here publicly.
581 @c http://www.research.att.com/~erg/graphviz/info/lang.html
582 @c Some useful information about graph drawing programs can be found here
583 @c http://www.research.att.com/sw/tools/graphviz/gdlinks.html
584
585 @c At the time of making this entry, VCG's website was
586 @c http://rw4.cs.uni-sb.de/users/sander/html/gsvcg1.html
587
588 @item
589
590 A ``one stop shopping system'' for advocates involved with social
591 justice or other non-profit campaigns. The idea would be to create an
592 easy-to-use interface to software that would allow someone to register a
593 domain for their organisation, build a website, and set up mailing
594 lists. The software would need options to easily do all this, and be
595 made easy for non-hackers. Mainly the work would involve bringing
596 together a number of existing tools with an overriding configuration
597 program.
598
599 @ignore LinuxBIOS is doing this
600 @item
601 A simple PC BIOS. On most new PCs, the BIOS is stored in writable
602 memory (misleadingly known as ``flash ROM''). In order to have a wholly
603 free system on these PCs, we need a free BIOS.
604
605 This task is made simpler by the fact that this BIOS need only support
606 enough features to enable a boot-loader such as LILO or GRUB to finish
607 loading the kernel. Neither Linux nor Mach actually uses the BIOS once
608 it starts up. Also, it is not absolutely necessary to do all the many
609 diagnostics that an ordinary BIOS does (though it would be useful to do
610 some of them). However, there may be a need to configure certain data
611 in the computer in a way that is specific to each model of computer.
612 @end ignore
613
614 @item
615 An imitation of Page Maker or Ventura Publisher.
616
617 @item
618 An imitation of @code{dbase2} or @code{dbase3}. (How dbased!)
619 Harbour, a free replacement for Clipper, would provide a useful start.
620 @uref{http://www.harbour-project.org/}.
621
622 @ignore @c being done by Jonas etc.
623 @item
624 A general ledger program, including support for accounts payable,
625 account receivables, payroll, inventory control, order processing, etc.
626 @end ignore
627
628 @item
629 A free replacement for Glimpse, which is not free software.
630 Swish does some parts of the job, but not all.
631
632 @item
633 Software for desktop publishing. We are extending Emacs into a WYSIWYG
634 word processor, to handle primarily linear text; what this item proposes
635 is software focused on page layout.
636
637 @ignore It looks like TruePrint will fill this gap
638 @item
639 A program to typeset C code for printing, to make it easier to read on
640 paper. For ideas on what to do, see the book,
641
642 @display
643 Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs,
644 Ronald M. Baecker and Aaron Marcus,
645 Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-10745-7
646 @end display
647
648 But you don't have to do exactly what they propose.
649 @end ignore
650
651 @ignore
652 @c This is now being worked on -- rms, 22 June 1998
653 @item
654 A program to convert Microsoft Word documents to text/enriched, TeX,
655 LaTeX, Texinfo, or some other format that free software can edit.
656 @end ignore
657
658 @ignore
659 @c People are helping the developer of siff release it as free software.
660
661 @item
662 A free replacement for siff (sometimes called sif). This would be a
663 program to find similar files in a large file system, ``similar''
664 meaning that the files contain a significant number of common substrings
665 that are of a certain size or greater. You can find some information
666 about siff (which is, unfortunately, not free software) at
667 @uref{ftp://ftp.cs.arizona.edu/reports/1993/TR93-33.ps.Z}.
668 @end ignore
669
670 @ignore
671 @c This is being developed -- rms, 3 May 1998
672 @item
673 A free replacement for the semi-free Qt library.
674 @end ignore
675
676 @ignore
677 @c Ogg Vorbis is doing this, see @url{http://www.xiph.org/ogg/vorbis/index.html} or contact @email{Monty <monty@xiph.org>}.
678
679 @item
680 High-quality music compression software.
681 (Talk with @email{mt@@sulaco.org} for relevant suggestions.)
682 Unfortunately we cannot implement the popular MP3 format
683 due to patents, so this job includes working out some other
684 non-patented format and compression method.
685 @end ignore
686
687 @item
688 A program to play sound distributed in ``Real Audio'' format, if only
689 because there is a large corpus of data encoded in this format. We
690 ask that you encode audio data in Ogg/Vorbis format since it is
691 publically documented and there are Free Software encoders and
692 decoders available.
693
694 @ignore
695 @c we do NOT want to provide software to encode data into proprietary secret formats. People should use ogg/vorbis or another well-documented format instead
696 @item
697 A program to generate ``Real Audio'' format from audio input.
698 @end ignore
699
700 @item
701 Programs to handle audio in RTSP format.
702
703 @ignore @c Software patents have made this domain off limits to free software.
704 @item
705 An MPEG III audio encoder/decoder (but it is necessary to check, first,
706 whether patents make this impossible).
707
708 @c Chris Hofstader is working on a non-Festival speech-generation program.
709 @c Mario Lang <lang@zid.tu-graz.ac.at> reports that Festival needs only
710 @c to be 2-5 times faster to work well with Emacspeak.
711 @item
712 Speech-generation programs that are faster than the Festival engine.
713 This might be done by optimizing Festival.
714
715 @c We have a project now.
716 @item
717 Speech-recognition programs (single-speaker, disconnected speech is sufficient).
718 @end ignore
719
720 @item
721 A braille translation and formatting system which can convert marked up
722 documents into braille. This should let the user customize the braille
723 translation rules; it would be good to divide it into a
724 device-independent part plus drivers. Contact Jason White,
725 @email{jasonw@@ariel.ucs.unimelb.EDU.AU}.
726
727 @ignore Being done
728 @item
729 A program to display text word by word, always showing just one word at
730 a time. This method permits much faster reading than ordinary text
731 display. If you want to work on this, contact @email{stutz@@dsl.org} to
732 learn more.
733 @end ignore
734
735 @item
736 More scientific mathematical subroutines.
737 (A clone of SPSS is being written already.)
738
739 @item
740 A scientific data collection and processing tool,
741 perhaps something like Scientific Workbench and/or Khoros,
742
743 @item
744 A free replacement for SciRun, which is not free software.
745
746 @item
747 A program to calculate properties of molecules by solving
748 the Schroedinger equation.
749
750
751 @ignore
752 @c the Koha project appears to satisfy this need. see www.koha.org
753 @c toby 2002-06-21
754
755 @item
756 Software to replace card catalogs in libraries.
757 @end ignore
758
759
760 @item
761 A simulator for heating and air conditioning systems for buildings.
762
763 @ignore
764 @c Pat Deegan @email{pat@@psychogenic.com} is working on this.
765 @c no URL yet, the status is updated in @file{volunteers}
766
767 @item
768 A program for voting and tabulating election results.
769
770 @end ignore
771
772 @ignore
773 @c at least 4 GPL program exist for this purpose (one of
774 @c which, gramps, has a GNOME UI):
775 @c http://www.gnu.org/search/fsd-search.py?q=geneology
776 @c 2002-06-27 toby
777
778 @item
779 A package for editing genealogical records conveniently.
780 This could perhaps be done as a Gnome program, or perhaps
781 as an Emacs extension.
782
783 @end ignore
784
785 @ignore
786 @c ToutDoux aims to do this.
787 @c also Minkowsky (at least simple project management) - toby
788
789 @item
790 A project-scheduling package that accepts a list of project sub-tasks
791 with their interdependencies, and generates Gantt charts and Pert charts
792 and all the other standard project progress reports.
793 @end ignore
794
795 @item
796 Grammar and style checking programs.
797
798 @item
799 A diagnostic program to test a hard disk.
800
801 @item
802 Optical character recognition programs; especially if suitable for
803 scanning documents with multiple fonts and capturing font info as well
804 as character codes. Work is being done on this, but more help is needed.
805
806 @c Some of the OCR work being done:
807 @c Luis Cearra <luisjc@lem.eui.upm.es>, http://lem.eui.upm.es/ocre.html
808 @c The status of these projects is updated in @file{/gd/gnuorg/volunteers}
809
810 @item
811 A program to scan a line drawing and convert it to editable Postscript,
812 or some other editable format.
813
814 @item
815 A program to recognize handwriting (we don't believe PocketLinux's
816 handwriting capability is ready for non-PocketLinux environments, yet).
817
818
819 @item
820 A program that can translate from one natural language, into another.
821 For example, a program to translate French into English.
822
823 @item
824 CAD software, such as a vague imitation of Autocad.
825
826 @item
827 A program to receive data from a serial-line tap to facilitate the
828 reverse-engineering of communication protocols.
829
830 @item
831 A database program designed to store and retrieve patent information.
832
833 @item
834 A free software package to run on a Palm Pilot in place of its usual
835 software, doing more or less the usual jobs. (Linux, the kernel, has
836 apparently been ported, but according to what we hear this port is not
837 useful yet.)
838
839 @end itemize
840
841 @node Languages, Education, Other Projects, Top
842 @chapter Programming Languages
843
844 Volunteers are needed to write parsers/front ends for languages such as
845 Algol 60, Algol 68, PL/I, Cobol, Fortran 90, Delphi, Modula 2, Modula 3,
846 RPG, and any other languages designed for compilation, to be used with
847 the code generation phases of the GNU C compiler.
848
849 @ignore
850 @c Fortran status is here so gnu@gnu.org and the volunteer coordinators
851 @c don't have to answer the question -len
852 @c as of 2002-09 this doesn't work anymore - toby
853 You can get the status of the Fortran front end with this command:
854
855 @example
856 finger -l fortran@@gnu.org
857 @end example
858 @end ignore
859
860 We would like to have translators from various languages into Scheme.
861 These languages include TCL, Python, Perl, Java, Javascript, and Rexx.
862 Perhaps Clipper as well.
863
864 @node Education, Games and Recreations, Languages, Top
865 @chapter Education
866
867 Programs for studying, teaching or doing administrative tasks in schools.
868 See @uref{http://www.gnu.org/education/} for additional information.
869
870 @itemize @bullet
871 @item
872 A program to organize automatically the schedule of a school given
873 constraints about teachers, rooms, times, and students.
874
875 @item
876 A program to edit dance notation (such as labanotation) and display
877 dancers moving on the screen. Gepetto does some of this work. Contact
878 @email{gvc@@gnu.org} if you are interested in helping finish the job.
879
880 @end itemize
881
882 @node Games and Recreations, , Education, Top
883 @chapter Games and Recreations
884
885 Video-oriented games that work with the X window system.
886
887 @itemize @bullet
888 @item
889 Empire (there is a free version but it needs upgrading)
890
891 @item
892 An ``empire builder'' system that makes it easy to write various kinds of
893 simulation games.
894
895 @item
896 Improve GnuGo @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/gnugo/gnugo.html}.
897
898 @item
899 Network servers and clients for board and card games for which such
900 software does not yet exist.
901
902 @item
903 A Hierarchical Task Network package which can be used
904 to program play the computer's side in various strategic games.
905
906 @item
907 A game like Mill/Nine Men's Morris.
908
909 @item
910 A realistic train-driving simulator.
911
912 @item
913 Write imitations of some popular video games:
914
915 @itemize -
916 @item
917 Space war, Asteroids, Pong, Columns.
918 @item
919 Defending cities from missiles.
920 @item
921 Plane shoots at lots of other planes, tanks, etc.
922 @item
923 Wizard fights fanciful monsters.
924 @ignore Peter Sundling peter.sundling@telia.com expressed interest in this.
925 @item
926 A golf game.
927 @ignore Being done by jhall1@isd.net
928 @item
929 Program a robot by sticking building blocks together,
930 then watch it explore a world.
931 @end ignore
932 @item
933 Biomorph evolution (as in Scientific American and @cite{The Blind
934 Watchmaker}).
935 @end itemize
936 @end itemize
937
938 We do not need @code{rogue}, as we have @code{hack}.
939
940
941 @bye
942 @c LocalWords: dir texi lastupdate uref http www org html helpgnu ifinfo ftp
943 @c LocalWords: dvi hurd toc gvc URL GTK XmHTML xs nl ripley NT com gettext Qt
944 @c LocalWords: GUI libstdc Docbook SGML libc sed STL Gforth GNUstep TCSH Perl
945 @c LocalWords: Ghostscript PIC GCC Texinfo grep dc bc ethernet GDB IP CIFS CU
946 @c LocalWords: SMB SVGA Khoros Automake OpenStep diff roff Smail tron veritas
947 @c LocalWords: cxref ctrace API LilyPond xephem labanotation LessTif outliner
948 @c LocalWords: Hypercard morphing SeeMe ICQ Diffie Helman RSA SSLv TLSv GPL
949 @c LocalWords: OpenBIOS BIOS LILO dbase dbased Harbour harbour WYSIWYG ISBN
950 @c LocalWords: TruePrint Baecker siff sif cs arizona edu TR ps mt sulaco MP
951 @c LocalWords: RTSP MPEG jasonw ariel ucs unimelb AU stutz dsl TCL Javascript
952 @c LocalWords: Rexx GnuGo jhall isd Biomorph regexp eval gd gnuorg
953
954 Local variables:
955 eval: (add-hook 'write-file-hooks 'time-stamp)
956 time-stamp-start: "@set lastupdate "
957 time-stamp-end: "$"
958 time-stamp-format: "%:b %:d, %:y"
959 compile-command: "make just-tasks"
960 End:
961
962 @ignore
963 arch-tag: 7ed10085-fa7c-47d4-9ed5-39e885603e5c
964 @end ignore