Cycle 4 Funding: On-going code quality improvements (Vaher)

finance/proposal-calls/cycle4/Vaher-code-quality.md

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+### Title
+
+`astropy` code quality maintenance by Eero Vaher
+
+### Project Team
+
+Eero Vaher
+
+### Project Description
+
+`astropy` is a large project with a long history, which means it has had to
+ensure compatibility with many different versions of the Python programming
+language and dependencies such as NumPy.
+Opportunities for improving `astropy` code become available both because of
+updates to `astropy` itself, but also because `astropy` does not have to
+maintain compatibility with old enough versions of its dependencies.
+Higher code quality can be beneficial for developers actively working on the
+code, but in some cases it can also benefit users by leading to performance
+improvements.
+However, finding code that could benefit from being updated can be difficult
+because such code often does not cause any obvious failures, so dedicated and
+on-going effort is required to identify and improve it.
+
+The work I am proposing would be in addition to the normal maintenance work and
+pull request reviews expected from an `astropy` sub-package maintainer.
+
+### Project / Work
+
+More specific examples of tasks that improve `astropy` code quality and that I
+hope to continue working on include:
+
+- Making use of new features of the Python language and its standard library
+  that might not have been available when `astropy` code was originally
+  written.
+- Making use of new features implemented in Python packages `astropy` depends
+  on or in `astropy` itself.
+- Identifying and removing compatibility code for obsolete versions of
+  dependencies.
+- Identifying `astropy` code that is not tested at all or poorly tested and
+  improving test coverage accordingly.
+- Helping maintain configuration for Ruff linter and formatter to prevent
+  code quality regressions.
+
+### Approximate Budget
+
+I am requesting $120/hour for 8 hours per week and 48 weeks per year, amounting
+to $46,080 per year. The minimum useful funding would be for 4 hours per week,
+amounting to $23,040 per year.
+
+### Period of Performance
+
+I request funding for the maximum possible duration starting from January 2025.