Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 14:04:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: <gvwilson@nevex.com>
To: sc-discuss@software-carpentry.com, sc-announce@software-carpentry.com,
Subject: Software Carpentry Design Competition Finalists

		Software Carpentry Design Competition

			 First-Round Results

		  http://www.software-carpentry.com

			     May 2, 2000

The Software Carpentry Project is pleased to announce the selection of
finalists in its first Open Source Design Competition.  There were
many strong entries, and we would like to thank everyone who took the
time to participate.

We would also like to invite everyone who has been involved to contact
the teams listed below, and see if there is any way to collaborate in
the second round.  Many of you had excellent ideas that deserve to be
in the final tools, and the more involved you are in discussions over
the next two months, the easier it will be for you to take part in the
ensuing implementation effort.

The 12 entries that are going forward in the "Configuration", "Build",
and "Track" categories are listed below (in alphabetical order).  The
four prize-winning entries in the "Test" category are also listed, but
as is explained there, we are putting this section of the competition
on hold for a couple of months while we try to refine the requirements.
You can inspect these entries on-line at:

         http://www.software-carpentry.com/first-round.html

And so, without further ado...


== Configuration

The final four entries in the "Configuration" category are:

* BuildConf     Vassilis Virvilis

* ConfBase      Stefan Knappmann

* SapCat        Lindsay Todd

* Tan           David Ascher


== Build

The finalists in the "Build" category are:

* Black         David Ascher and Trent Mick

* PyMake        Rich Miller

* ScCons        Steven Knight

* Tromey        Tom Tromey

Honorable mentions in this category go to:

* Forge         Bill Bitner, Justin Patterson, and Gilbert Ramirez

* Quilt         David Lamb


== Track

The four entries to go forward in the "Track" category are:

* Egad          John Martin

* K2            David Belfer-Shevett

* Roundup       Ka-Ping Yee

* Tracker       Ken Manheimer

There is also an honorable mention for:

* TotalTrack    Alex Samuel, Mark Mitchell


== Test

This category was the most difficult one for the judges. First-round
prizes are being awarded to

* AppTest         Linda Timberlake

* TestTalk        Chang Liu

* Thomas          Patrick Campbell-Preston

* TotalQuality    Alex Samuel, Mark Mitchell

However, the judges did not feel that any of these tools would have an
impact on Open Source software development in general, or scientific
and numerical programming in particular.  This is due in large part to
the vagueness of the posted requirements, for which the project
coordinator (Greg Wilson) accepts full responsibility.

We will therefore not be going forward with this category at the
present time.  Instead, the judges and others will develop narrower,
more specific requirements, guidelines, and expectations.  The
category will be re-opened in July 2000.


== Contact

The aim of the Software Carpentry project is to create a new generation of
easy-to-use software engineering tools, and to document both those tools
and the working practices they are meant to support.  The Advanced
Computing Laboratory at Los Alamos National Laboratory is providing
$860,000 of funding for Software Carpentry, which is being administered by
Code Sourcery, LLC.  For more information, contact the project
coordinator, Dr. Gregory V. Wilson, at 'gvwilson@software-carpentry.com',
or on +1 (416) 504 2325 ext. 229.


== Footnote: Entries from CodeSourcery, LLC

Two entries (TotalTrack and TotalQuality) were received from employees
of CodeSourcery, LLC, the company which is hosting the Software
Carpentry web site.  We discussed this matter with Dr. Rod Oldehoeft,
Deputy Directory of the Advanced Computing Laboratory at Los Alamos
National Laboratory.  His response was:

    John Reynders [Director of the ACL] and I have discussed this
    matter.  We agree that since the judges who make decisions
    are not affiliated with Code Sourcery, there is no conflict of
    interest. Code Sourcery gains no advantage by hosting the
    Software Carpentry web pages.  Please continue evaluating all
    the entries on their merits, and choose the best for further
    eligibility.

Note that the project coordinator, Greg Wilson, is neither employed by
CodeSourcery, nor a judge in the competition.