- csc-general - CSC Mailman

Programming contest starts today in MC3003
by Computer Science Club 01 Feb '10

01 Feb '10

Hi everyone, come out today to the contest kickoff event in MC3003 at 4:30PM. The contest this year is being run in conjunction with Google, who will be promoting it worldwide, but its being run by us, and it would certainly be a shame if we lost. Can't make the kickoff? Just check out the website and get started! Learn how to create an intelligent game-playing program. No past experience necessary. Submit your code online to watch it compete with programs written by other students from around the world. Follow your ranking on the Global Leaderboard. Beginners and experts welcome! Cash prizes will be awarded to the top entries. There is a special prize for the top entry by a first-year student. Check out the website for everything that you need to get started today! contest.csclub.uwaterloo.ca Google AI Challenge Organized by the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club Feb 1 to February 27 contest.csclub.uwaterloo.ca -- Edgar Bering, Vice President ebering at uwaterloo dot ca Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~ebering Mathematics Society MC 3036, (519)888-4567,x33870 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

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"Deep learning with multiplicative interactions" a talk by Dr. Geoff Hinton
by Computer Science Club 24 Jan '10

24 Jan '10

Hello, the CSC is hosting a talk entitled "Deep learning with multiplicative interactions" on 2010-01-26 at 05:00 PM in DC1302. It will be presented by Geoffrey Hinton. Geoffrey Hinton, from the University of Toronto and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, will discuss some of his latest work in learning networks and artificial intelligence. The talk will be accessable, so don't hesitate to come out. More information about Dr. Hinton's research can be found on his website[1]. The detailed abstract: Deep networks can be learned efficiently from unlabeled data. The layers of representation are learned one at a time using a simple learning module, called a "Restricted Boltzmann Machine" that has only one layer of latent variables. The values of the latent variables of one module form the data for training the next module. Although deep networks have been quite successful for tasks such as object recognition, information retrieval, and modeling motion capture data, the simple learning modules do not have multiplicative interactions which are very useful for some types of data. The talk will show how a third-order energy function can be factorized to yield a simple learning module that retains advantageous properties of a Restricted Boltzmann Machine such as very simple exact inference and a very simple learning rule based on pair-wise statistics. The new module contains multiplicative interactions that are useful for a variety of unsupervised learning tasks. Researchers at the University of Toronto have been using this type of module to extract oriented energy from image patches and dense flow fields from image sequences. The new module can also be used to allow motions of a particular style to be achieved by blending autoregressive models of motion capture data. Hope to see you there. If you have any questions about the event e-mail the executive or check http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca. [1] http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~hinton/

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Office Staff Training for W10
by Computer Science Club 22 Jan '10

22 Jan '10

Hello CSCers, Do you find yourself in our office often? If so you may want to consider attending our first office staff training session. We will be choosing our office staff partially based on attendance at this meeting. Even if you are experienced, there are a few procedures we would like to clarify. If you intend to be an office staff this term you must go through training. The session will be held this Sunday at 2:30 pm in MC 2065. Hope to see you there.

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Call for member talks!
by Computer Science Club 19 Jan '10

19 Jan '10

Hi everyone, This term we (myself and the volunteers who help me run events) are planning on organizing a series (3-4) of talks by you all (the members) about things you want to talk about. I know that a lot of you have various personal side projects, have taken strange courses (or even done reading on the side) about interesting topics, and are generally very outspoken. So, if you would like to present your ideas (or what you've learned) in a more formal setting to a large audience (not that formal and not that large, don't be scared) please reply with your idea, preferably as a title and an abstract (short summary) for the talk you'd like to give. We will in some fair manner (probably a poll conducted somehow, that or heated debate in a smoke filled back room) which talks get selected. If you've never given a talk before but are interested, don't worry; someone on the program committee will help you through the process, things from presentation tips to making sure that the room is booked and has the materials you need. A final piece of information for all of you potential talk-givers who are itching to write an abstract: the club has typically held talks around 4:30pm on Tuesday or Thursday. This time just seems to work well. Tentative dates are the following Tuesdays: Feb 9, Mar 2, Mar 16, and Mar 30. If these days don't work for you but you'd still like to speak, just say so in your message and we'll see what we can do. -- Edgar Bering, Vice President ebering at uwaterloo dot ca Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~ebering Mathematics Society MC 3036, (519)888-4567,x33870 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

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CS Club talk on 'Wilderness Programming' by Paul Lutus
by Computer Science Club 14 Jan '10

14 Jan '10

Hello, the CSC is hosting a talk on 'Wilderness Programming' on 2010-01-18 at 15:30 PM in MC2066. It will be presented by Paul Lutus. Paul Lutus describes his early Apple II software development days, conducted from the far end of a 1200-foot power cord, in a tiny Oregon cabin. Paul describes how he wrote a best-seller (Apple Writer) in assembly language, while dealing with power outages, lightning storms and the occasional curious bear. Paul also describes his subsequent four-year solo around-the-world sail in a 31-foot boat. And be ready with your inquiries -- Paul will answer your questions. Paul Lutus has a wide background in science and technology. He designed spacecraft components for the NASA Space Shuttle and created a mathematical model of the solar system used during the Viking Mars lander program. Then, at the beginning of the personal computer revolution, Lutus switched career paths and took up computer science. His best-known program is "Apple Writer," an internationally successful word processing program for the early Apple computers. Hope to see you there. If you have any questions about the event e-mail the executive or check http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca.

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Notes for a new term
by Computer Science Club 11 Jan '10

11 Jan '10

Hello CSC'ers! This is your CRO (Chief Returning Officer), and former President, Jacob Parker. A few things to say as we get going with the new term: (-2) Renewals Are you a member this term? If you haven't paid your $2 this term we would appreciate your renewal. Your $2 helps us getting funding from MathSoc to run cool events, gives you access to our terminals and servers (better than student.cs? You decide!) and office (if you can squeeze in.) Already a member? Encourage your friends to join! No friends? Come hang out in our office! (-1) Elections! We will be holding elections at our first (and only) meeting this Wednesday! If you are a member this term please come out to vote and ask silly questions of the candidates. If you would like to join (or learn about) the various committees (such as progcom) make sure to show up. Where: the MC Comfy Lounge When: Wednesday, 5:00pm More information, including distance-voting: http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~j3parker/elections (0) Upcoming event: A talk by Geoffrey Hinton The CS Club is hosting a talk by Geoffrey Hinton, from the University of Toronto and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, in which he will discuss some of his latest work in learning networks and artificial intelligence. The talk will be accessable, so don't hesitate to come out. An email in the coming future will have more details Where: DC 1302 When: Jan 26th, 5:00pm. (1) Unix Tutorials The ever-popular Unix tutorials will be happening in the near future. Details to be decided. If you would like to volunteer (we would love you) send an email progcom(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca (2) Cosmos Movie Nights Due to the great success of last terms "Feynman Nights", where we showed recordings of Richard Feynman lecturing, the Physics Club will be hosting "Cosmos Nights", showing episodes of Carl Segan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage". Information on the show can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan's_Cosmos Come out for a nice relaxing night of science. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Where: PHYS 150 When: Wednesdays at 6:30pm for 13 weeks (3) Other Events Have ideas for events we should run? We are all ears! An Idea that has been discussed is having a "CSC invades Toronto" bus trip, where we all go down to Toronto, possibly to meet up with a UofT/etc. club and go to a pub/other activity. We are interested in hosting lectures given by our members, so if you have an idea come talk to us. If you are interested in this type of planning please show up at our elections on wednesday where these matters will be discussed. If you have questions, just hit reply.

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CS 240 full time tutor needed
by Computer Science Club 28 Nov '09

28 Nov '09

Hey everyone, ISG (Instructional Support Group) would like to let you know that they are currently looking for full time tutor for CS 240 next term. The job description is below. To apply for this position, please send your resume to Fenglian Qiu (f2qiu(a)uwaterloo.ca) Job Description The Instructional Support Group requires a tutor to assist in the delivery of CS240. A tutor serves as a consultant for the students of the course through consulting hours and as a manager to co-ordinate the activities of the graduate teaching assistants assigned to the course. This position may be of particular interest to students who are considering graduate school and ultimately teaching at the post-secondary level. There may be an opportunity to gain teaching experience by giving tutorials. The tutor may also develop tutorials for the students. Other duties may include creation of model solutions and marking schemes, creation of scripts needed for assignment submission, testing and auto-marking, and assisting in proctoring and marking. Good communication and interpersonal skills are required, as is familiarity with UNIX. Students currently enrolled in the courses are encouraged to apply.

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Code Party!!11!!
by Computer Science Club 23 Nov '09

23 Nov '09

Hello, the CSC is hosting a Code Party!!11!! on 2009-11-27 at 7:00 PM in Comfy Lounge. Facebook has been generous enough to sponsor the event, and will be bringing food as well as a few former Facebook coops to hang out. So come join us for a night of coding. Get in touch with more experianced coders, advertize for/bug squash on your favourite open source project, write that personal project you were planning to do for a while but haven't found the time. Don't have any ideas but want to sit and hack? Try your hand at the Facebook puzzles, write a new app, or just chill and watch scifi. Hope to see you there. If you have any questions about the event e-mail the executive or check http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca.

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Club/Office Projects Day
by Computer Science Club 19 Nov '09

19 Nov '09

Hi everyone, This Sunday, from 10am to whenever, we (the executive and librarian) will be in the Club office, working on the following club projects: Office Cleaning: - The Treasurer, Michael Spang, did a lot of this last weekend, but there are still things to be cleaned/organized. Office Staff Training: - If you would like to be one of the trusted members who is charged with keeping the office open, please come help with cleaning, we will go over what is expected of office staff, make sure all office staffers know eachother, and the need to know items for office staff. Library Work: - Our Librarian, Sapphyre Gervais, will be around to direct either work on the software that drives our library or the physical organization. Video Archival: - I will be working on transfering some of our recent videos from the miniDV tapes to the website, as well as working on creating an indexed archive for posterity of both talks and related materials. This is a work day, if you attend please be prepared to do work for the club. Thanks, -- Edgar Bering, Vice President ebering at uwaterloo dot ca Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~ebering Mathematics Society MC 3036, (519)888-4567,x33870 University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

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In the Beginning, or: How to write a Bootloader
by Computer Science Club 03 Nov '09

03 Nov '09

Hello, the CSC is hosting a talk entitled "In the Beginning" by Dr. Bill Cowan on 2009-11-05 at 4:30 PM in MC2065. To most CS students an OS kernel is pretty low level. But there is something even lower, the instructions that must be executed to get the CPU ready to accept a kernel. That is, if you look at any processor's reference manual there is a page or two describing the state of the CPU when it powered on. This talk describes what needs to happen next, up to the point where the first kernel instruction executes. This part of execution is extremely architecture-dependent. Those of you who have any experience with this aspect of CS probably know the x86 architecture, and think it's horrible, which it is. I am going to talk about the ARM architecture, which is inside almost all mobile phones, and which allows us to look at a simple implementation that includes all the essentials. Hope to see you there. If you have any questions about the event e-mail the executive or check http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca.

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