Is there any space limit for a project at Google Code? I've only read about limit in a total number of projects (ten if I remember correctly). - Pawel Szczesny

As my Firefox still does not like your site, I will comment here. I really don't understand all this buzz now, Sourceforge has been available for years and different scientific projects are available there, some for years now. Google Code is no different from Sourceforge, but I think Github is easier to use, faster and not difficult to learn and ultimately can be more widespread than the other two. - Paulo Nuin

@nuin: I had an experience with both sites: IMHO Google is far more easier. - Pierre

@pawel you may ask for more space: http://code.google.com/p... - Pierre

Pierre, I host a couple of projects on Sourceforge and one on Google Code, and I don't fell one being more difficult or easier. Maybe GC's UI might be easier and at some extension default all over the board but Sourceforge allows more customization. IMHO, Github should be the ultimate choice. - Paulo Nuin

I found Google Code's interface a bit unfriendly. There's nothing I can put my finger on specifically though. I thought one day that I might try and create my own version aimed at research projects rather than code projects. Just need to find the time. - Michael Barton via Alert Thingy

Thank you Pierre. I don't think I will hit the limits anytime soon, but it's good to know that overall they support extension of the quotas. - Pawel Szczesny

One idea that I think would add value: a central point of contact for scientific software. Scientific tools are usually housed on academic home pages, which makes tracking their updates, releases (and abandoment!) difficult. With a central repo, each project could be registered, and tools could be added to allow easy tracking, commenting, recommendations, paper citations etc. - Matt Wood

I'm still very far from using up my 10 allotted projects at Google Code. Need to get more of my code up online. - Morton Fox

It's more about code repositories (pick your favorite one) that Google Code specifically. I definitely like the Github interface. Matt actually nails the issue on the head as far as my thoughts are concerned. - Deepak Singh

So, who wants to work on a scientific software repository? - Paulo Nuin

That could be included in the move to the cloud on the part of the big international databases (EBI/NCBI). Host projects and certify the stats in the third party independent manner. This could then be used when applying for further funding. - Pedro Beltrao

It's certainly an idea that's been floating around in my mind for a bit: http://www.sciforge.net. - Matt Wood

@Pedro: Seconded. There are opportunities there for some kind of hosted application environment for science: a SciApp Engine, if you will. - Matt Wood

That would be nice, I would be willing to help ... - Paulo Nuin

Each paper would be required to have 100% test coverage to validate the code has been tested properly. I agree with the SciApp engine idea. - Michael Barton

I'm not a good python coder (if at all), but count me in, if you get around to work on it. - Pawel Szczesny

Deepak: agree with you, using version control was number 1 (of 11) in my earlier posting about how to complete a PhD - http://amundblog.blogspot.com/2008... - Amund Tveit

http://blindscientist.genedrift.org/2008... - Paulo Nuin

By the way, as an aside if any of you science geeks would like an invite to Toluu for sharing science blogrolls let me know your email and I'll send an invite :) - Sally Church via Alert Thingy

A functional Google Palimpsest Beta would rearrange this conversation a bit, I assume. - Attila Csordas

This talk of centralisation is rather "anti-cloud". I don't care where stuff is hosted, so long as I can find it. That said, Google Code makes most sense to me, simply because I view them as the future of large-scale data hosting. Maybe what we need is a portal/wiki page pointing to scientific code repos. - Neil Saunders

I am with Neil on the de-centralization part. I do like the idea of guidelines from publications on code repositories, much the way you do for structures etc - Deepak Singh

Neil: agreed. Somewhere to collate and store meta information about projects, rather than host them. - Matt Wood

SciAppEngine - I see a scifoo session proposal coming on! But yes to efforts to aggregate the location of scientific software tools. Not to aggregate the applications, although hosting may be valuable in some cases, but to collect and index them. - Cameron Neylon

Cameron: Pasteur's Biotnet Book started to create a list of bioinfo-softwares http://www1.pasteur.fr/recherc... (there is also an XML version). I don't know if it's up-to-date. - Pierre

I really like how big this discussion has become. I think a centralised repository for code would be great. I agree with the anti-cloud points though. Perhaps a better analogy would be a place where you can hook your code base into various feeds that broadcast interesting information when things happen. Similar to Github which allows you to hook your code into twitter and lighthouse. - Michael Barton

Michael: that's exactly what I had in mind. A collection of tools to help aggregate code bases, services and applications around the web (other forges, personal web pages), rather than provide a centralised platform per se. Very meta. - Matt Wood

Pierre: What I had in mind is more I think what Matt and Michael are talking about (they just put it better). But BioNetBook looks pretty cool as well. Presumably it is hand curated though? Or is there a wiki or crawler back end? - Cameron Neylon

A meta-repository can be started by canvassing journals and current meta-repositories out there. - Paulo Nuin

I can see the points about decentralization but at the very least an image of the code used for submission should be mirrored in a repository. The same standard for disclosure and long-term protection should be set to code as it is for scientific data. - Pedro Beltrao