GSoC Draft Proposal : Building a Specialized Syntax based Querying module over Views Module

Personal Details

Name: Dhruv Baldawa
Email: dhruvbaldawa@gmail.com
Personal Website: http://dhruvb.wordpress.com
Skype ID or GTalk: dhruvbaldawa@gmail.com
IRC nick: dhruvbaldawa
Phone number: +(91)-9323321233
School Name: Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, University of Mumbai
Years completed: Third Year Computer Engineering
PHP Experience Level: Advanced

Open Source Development Experience

PHP Experience:

1. Developed website for All India Stainless Steel Industries Association (http://www.aissia.org)
2. Developed Mass Mailing application
3. Developed Facebook Application (http://apps.facebook.com/invertendo)
4. Developed website for College Technical Festival
5. Developed eBooks Repository Management application
6. Mobile UI for Home Automation System
7. Developing a PHP Script Obfuscator
8. Building a open-source Paper Conference Management System : http://sourceforge.net/projects/conms/

Academic Performance:

I am amongst the first 4 students in my department. My aggregate from previous 2 semesters is 76.82 %

The courses completed in college are :

• C++ Programming Language
• Java Programming Language
• Analysis of Algorithms and Design
• Data Structures and Files
• Computer Organization and Architecture
• Computer Graphics
• Operating Systems
• Computer Networks
• Theory of Computer Science
• Database Management Systems
• Advanced Database Management Systems
• Microprocessors
• Web Engineering
• Advanced Computer Networks
• Advanced Microprocessors
• Systems Programming and Compiler Construction
• Data Warehousing and Mining
• Object Oriented Software Engineering

Why do you I want to do this project with Drupal ?

Drupal has an excellent Views module, which also provides a good API, which can act as a good base for this project. The Views Module is a good abstraction between the user and the data sources.

Comparison between form based and syntax based query building

This post is not maintained.

Please check my blog-post at : http://dhruvb.com/blog/node/3 for updated details.

Many friends of mine have questions and doubts regarding the “Specialized Syntax based Query Building” system. They would, however, prefer the “Form-based Query Building”. Why do we need such a system, when the conventional system is working fine ? Why does the user have to type a “Specialized Syntax”, can’t he just use SQL ? and many more questions arise. Lets consider the following scenario :

“A local newsletter-based company has to keep a check on its members, their subscription details. But, they have no system in-place. But, now with the help of newly recruited young staff, they have started to grow. As their enterprise is expanding, they have now felt the need of a Members management system. The management staff, however, is a genius in management, but they are not so good at SQL or databases. So, they call their friend, who is also a developer to get the job done for them.”