- csc-general - CSC Mailman

CSC Elections Procedure Update
by Computer Science Club 11 Sep '13

11 Sep '13

Upon request, there have been some updates to the election procedure this fall. Nominations are still open as usual (until Monday at 4:30 PM), and the election time and venue remain unchanged (Tuesday September 17 at 4:30 PM in the MC Comfy Lounge). Please attend if you are able (though absentee ballots will still be accepted until Tuesday at 3:30 PM if not). The only changes are procedural. 1. Eligibility Only current active Computer Science Club members will be permitted to vote; membership can be renewed before or at the election before voting has taken place. There is a conflict between informal historical precedent and the constitution about whether CSC members who are not social members of MathSoc may vote. In the event that any such people are present, the assembly will be asked to resolve this before the election. 2. Method of voting As concerns have been raised about the secrecy and integrity of the vote this election, the usual heads-down-hands-up vote will be replaced by a vote by secret paper ballot. Ballots will be handed out only to eligible members (see 1), and each position will be elected in sequence. The election will still be by approval. I expect that I will count the ballots; if the membership wishes, it may appoint another non-candidate to verify my count. Sorry for the additional complexity this introduces; thank you for your patience as we assure that all members are confident in the results of this election. -- Jeremy Roman Chief Returning Officer Computer Science Club of the University of Waterloo

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CSC Elections, Fall 2013 – Tue Sept 17, 4:30 pm, MC Comfy Lounge
by Computer Science Club 05 Sep '13

05 Sep '13

The Computer Science Club will run its termly executive elections on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at 4:30 pm in the MC Comfy Lounge. At this meeting, the president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary of the Computer Science Club will be elected. The system administrator, office manager, and other appointed positions are typically appointed at this meeting as well. Boring legalistic details follow. Any contingencies not accounted for below or mandated by the constitution or other applicable documents shall be determined at the discretion of the CRO or, in the case of disagreement on such a procedure, a majority vote of present voting members. Nomination procedure: 1. Anyone eligible to be a CSC member may be nominated for one or more of the positions for election: president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary. 2. A person may nominate him/herself or someone else for any number of positions. 3. Nominations will be accepted by the CRO via any of the following means: (a) in person (b) email (to cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca) (c) the CSC mailbox in MathSoc (d) the whiteboard in the CSC office (MC 3036/3037) 4. Nominations will be accepted immediately, until the end of the nomination period (Mon Sept 16 2013 at 4:30 PM). Thereafter the final list will be posted on the CSC website. Election procedure: 1. Anyone present and eligible to join the CSC or renew CSC membership for the fall will be permitted to do so at the beginning of elections. 2. A list of the candidates for each position will be read. 3. The positions will be elected in the following order: president, vice-president, treasurer, secretary. Anyone elected to a position will be removed from consideration for following positions. 4. Before each position is elected, a summary of the duties attendant to that position will be given, and each candidate will be permitted to make a brief statement and take questions. 5. Elections will be conducted via heads-down-hands-up approval voting, with the CRO as the final authority on vote counts. Advance votes shall count equal to present votes, except that they are invalidated if the voter is present. In the event of a tie, a runoff election between the equal candidates will be run by the same procedure. 6. Anyone who is elected but discovered not to be a CSC member must resign the position immediately gain membership. 7. Following the election of these four positions, the meeting will be turned over to the president-elect, who shall begin his/her office by appointing (with the other new exec) the remaining positions. Advance voting procedure: 1. If you are unable to attend the election, you may submit an advance vote via email only. Such emails must be sent to cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca, and must be received at least one hour before the beginning of elections. 2. If you attend elections anyway, you must identify yourself to the CRO so that your advance ballot can be invalidated in favour of your present vote. -- Jeremy Roman Chief Returning Officer Computer Science Club of the University of Waterloo

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Scheduled Downtime
by Computer Science Club 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

Taurine will be rebooted Thursday to complete kernel upgrades. Regards, Anthony "hatguy" Brennan CSC Sysadmin (S13)

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Guest Speaker Gavriel State: The Future of 3D Graphics is in Software! this Monday. | Code Party 1 Friday | CSC/CMC Cleanup (Important Notice Within) | Ctrl+D
by Computer Science Club 20 Jul '13

20 Jul '13

Greetings again Daleklings, Finishing up our graphics-themed talks this term are Guest Speakers Gavriel State and Nicolas Capens from TransGaming giving a talk entitled "The Future of 3D Graphics is in Software!" The talk will happen Monday, July 22nd, 17:00, in MC 4020. Summary and link to full abstract below: Convergence between CPU and GPU approaches to processing sets the stage for an exciting transition to 3D rendering that takes place entirely in software. TransGaming's Nicolas Capens and Gavriel State will speak about this convergence and how it will influence the future of graphics. For more information please visit http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/events/MC_4020-2013-07-22-5:00PM. == Then, this coming Friday, come out to the Code Party (1) happening in the MC Comfy Lounge, July 26, at 19:00! Why sleep when you could be hacking on $your_favourite_project or doing $something_classy in great company? Join us for a night of coding, music, snacks, and camaraderie! Pizza and other refreshments will be provided. == The following Monday, July 29, we will be performing a thorough cleaning of the CSC and ex-CMC offices. ***** Items appearing to be forsaken and using up precious space, including electronics, food paraphernalia, personal papers, useless print material, etc. will (upon some consultation with regular office denizens) be disposed of. If you happen to be storing items in these rooms, please remove them or let us know when you will be able to pick them up. ***** The offices are considerably more welcoming to fall term frosh Daleklings when they are clean and have space. =) == Lastly, Ctrl+D, our termly EOT event, will be happening most likely Friday, August 2, at the usual Westcourt abode. If you are interested in coming and don't know the location, feel free to inquire at the office. == Your overlord, Calum T. Dalek EXSANGUINATE

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CSC Goes Outside tonight!
by Computer Science Club 19 Jul '13

19 Jul '13

Fellow Dalek-lings! The weather forecast for tonight isn't looking that bad. We will start setting up at the EV Firepit at 7 and will have ice cream sandwiches available to cool you down. If it starts pouring at any point, we can wait it out inside EV, but at the moment it looks like rain will only be temporary and shouldn't interfere later in the night. Your overlord, Calum T. Dalek EXUBERATE

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Upcoming events: Gavriel State on future of 3D graphics in software, Path Tracing tutorial, CSC Goes Outside, and Code Party 1
by Computer Science Club 12 Jul '13

12 Jul '13

Hello CSC Members! Hope your term's coming to an agreeable end. We have a variety of events coming up in the next couple of weeks to finish off the term. == Path Tracing by Syed Albiz Thursday, July 18, 17:00, in MC 4041 Abstract: As a follow on to last term's tutorial on building a ray-tracer from scratch, I'll be presenting the basic mechanics of how a bidirectional path- tracer creates a globally illuminated scene, advantages and limitations of this approach over other offline global illumination techniques along with simple example path-tracer written in C++, and (time permitting) opportunities for hardware acceleration on GPUs. == CSC Goes Outside! Friday, July 19, 19:00, EV Fire Pit Event will happen rain or shine. Come out for an evening at a campfire BBQ at the Laurel Creek Firepit across from the Environment building / near Velocity. Feel free to bring friends, musical instruments, frisbees, or other entertainment. We'll have more than sufficient meat, Smores, Ice cream, etc. available for enjoyment. =) == The Future of 3D Graphics is in Software! by Gavriel State, founder of TransGaming and Nicolas Capens Monday, July 22nd, 17:00, in MC 4020 Abstract: For some time now, it has been clear that there is strong momentum for convergence between CPU and GPU technologies. Initially, each technology used radically different approaches to processing, but over time GPUs have evolved to support more general purpose use while CPUs have evolved to include advanced vector processing and multiple execution cores. At TransGaming, we believe that this convergence will continue to the point where typical systems have only one type of processing unit, with large numbers of cores and very wide vector execution units available for high performance parallel execution. In this kind of environment, all graphics processing will ultimately take place in software. In this talk, we will explore the converging nature of CPU and GPU approaches to processing, how dynamic specialization allows CPUs to efficiently perform tasks usually done by GPUs, and why we believe that the increased flexibility of more programmable architectures will ultimately win out over fixed function hardware, even in areas such as texture sampling. *TransGaming Inc.* works at the cutting edge of 3D graphics, building technologies that bridge the gap between platform boundaries to allow games to be played on a variety of devices and operating systems. TransGaming works with other industry leaders to update established APIs such as OpenGL, while also breaking new ground in software rendering technology, which we believe will become increasingly important as CPU and GPU technologies converge. *Nicolas Capens* is the architect of SwiftShader, TransGaming's high performance software renderer, and is also deeply involved in the ANGLE project, which provides efficient translation from OpenGL ES to Direct3D APIs for implementing WebGL on Windows. Nicolas received his MSci.Eng. degree in computer science from Ghent University in 2007. *Gavriel* *State *(Gav) is TransGaming's Founder & CTO, and has worked in graphics and portability for over 20 year on dozens of platforms and APIs. Gav wrote his first software renderer when taking CS488 at UW, where he later graduated with a B.A.Sc. in Systems Design Engineering. == Code Party 1 Friday, July 26, 19:00, in MC Comfy Lounge Celebrate the last Friday of classes working on some personal projects or just hanging out with the cool crowd. Pizza and other refreshments will be provided, as well as music, entertainment, and potentially more Artemis later in the evening. (We do want to get some coding done this time around ;) ) == Future events: The following week is likely to include CSC Clean Up Party and our termly Ctrl+D EOT party. Information will come forth closer to date. == Looking forward to seeing you at our events. Calum T. Dalek Overlord, CSC X-TERMINATE

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Upcoming CSC Talk: 3D Movies and Computer Science
by Computer Science Club 08 Jul '13

08 Jul '13

Hello CSC Members! We are hosting a faculty talk this Thursday, July 11 in MC 4041: 3D Movies and Computer Science by Lesley Northam Abstract: While humans started making 3D motion pictures in the 1800's, several technical and artistic challenges prevented widespread interest in the medium. By investing heavily in a computerized production pipeline, James Cameron's 2009 release of Avatar ushered in an era of mainstream interest in 3D film. However, many technical and artistic problems still find their way into otherwise-modern 3D movies. The talk explores some of these problems while introducing the fundamentals of 3D film-making from a CS perspective. Hope to see you there! Calum T. Dalek Overlord, CSC X-TERMINATE

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Re: [CSC] CSC Goes Outside POSTPONED DUE TO RAIN to Friday, July 12, 2013
by Computer Science Club 05 Jul '13

05 Jul '13

Hey all, CSC Goes Outside has been cancelled tonight due to rain. We will announce location once we have everything booked early next week. Enjoy your weekend everyone! =) Calum T. Dalek / ctdalek EXTERMINATE

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CSC Goes Outside | Friday, July 5, 2013
by Computer Science Club 04 Jul '13

04 Jul '13

Hello, CSC is going outside tomorrow: Friday, July 5. We're having a campfire BBQ at 7PM at the Laurel Creek firepit, across from Environment 3. There will be meat and other food items for consumption. Feel free to bring friends, musical instruments, a frisbee, and/or other fun things. We hope to see you there! Shane Creighton-Young / srcreigh President

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CODE PARTY 0!
by Computer Science Club 31 May '13

31 May '13

Dear CS Clubers, I am excited to announce our first code party of Spring 2013! Code Party 0 will take place in MC Comfy Lounge at 7:00pm on Friday June 7, 2013. Please bring your laptops and get ready to have fun! Unix 101 will precede the code party and will start at 6:00pm in the same location. I can't wait to see you all there! Cheers, VVIJAYAN CSC VEEP

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Elections Reminder & Voting Instructions
by Computer Science Club 14 May '13

14 May '13

Hey CSC members! Nominations have closed for the Spring 2013 executive elections. The lists of nominees is at the bottom of this message. The elections will be held tomorrow at 6:00 PM in the Comfy Lounge. As usual, all CSC members who are also MathSoc members (which for the most part means current math students) are allowed to vote. Following the elections, the System Administrator will be appointed, as well as the Office Manager and the Librarian. If you are unable to attend, please send a ranked list of candidates for each position. You may list as many or as few candidates as you would like. Your voted will be counted tomorrow along with those from the meeting. If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me at cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca scshunt CRO (Chronic Ragnarok Obliterator) President jdonland, laden, srcreigh, m4burns, yj2kim, vvijayan Vice-President srcreigh, m4burns, vvijyaan, laden Treasurer baherghi, dchlobow, m4burns, omsmith, vvijayan, jj2baile Secretary yj2kim, m4burns, vvijayan

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CSC Elections: Wednesday, May 15, 6:00 PM, MC Comfy Lounge
by Computer Science Club 11 May '13

11 May '13

Hey CSC, The elections for the Spring term executive will be held next Wednesday, May 15, at 6:00 PM in the Comfy Lounge. As per the usual, the President, Vice-President, Treasurer, and Secretary will be elected by the membership, and the Sysadmin will be selected and approved. Once the executive have been picked, they appoint a new Office Manager and Librarian. The new executive will be held personally responsible for every broken chair in the office, for every moment of downtime, and for every time I receive a piece of spam. Tread wisely! Nominations can be sent to me by email, or can be written on the whiteboard in the CSC office. Nominations must be submitted by 4:30 PM on Tuesday, May 14. I will send out an email with a list of nominees and instructions on remote voting at that time. Sean CRO (Chief Rambling Orator)

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Call for Member Talks
by Computer Science Club 11 Mar '13

11 Mar '13

Greetings, members. This is our termly call for member talks. As a CSC member, you have the opportunity to present a topic of your choice to interested CSC members and others in the university community! Talks should run about one hour. We will take care of room booking, refreshments, video recording, and promotion. If you're interested, send us an abstract no later than March 24th. Cheers, Marc Burns VP, Computer Science Club

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Talk on C++ and Machine Architecture
by Computer Science Club 25 Feb '13

25 Feb '13

Greetings, members. The University of Waterloo Computer Science Club hereby cordially invites you to attend a talk by Herb Sutter on the topics of Machine Architecture, Performance, and Scalability. Herb's talk will be held on Thursday, February 28th at 4:30 PM in DC 1302. An abstract: Machine Architecture, Performance, and Scalability: Things Your Programming Language Never Told You. High-level languages insulate the programmer from the machine. That's a wonderful thing -- except when it obscures the answers to the fundamental questions of "What does the program do?" and "How much does it cost?" The C++ and C# programmer is less insulated than most, and still we find that programmers are consistently surprised at what simple code actually does and how expensive it can be -- not because of any complexity of a language, but because of being unaware of the complexity of the machine on which the program actually runs. This talk examines the "real meanings" and "true costs" of the code we write and run, especially on commodity and server systems, by delving into the performance effects of bandwidth vs. latency limitations, the ever-deepening memory hierarchy, the changing costs arising from the hardware concurrency explosion, memory model effects all the way from the compiler to the CPU to the chipset to the cache, and more -- and what you can do about them. ---- Herb Sutter is an influential authority on software development using C++ and concurrency. He is the best selling author of Exceptional C++ and three other books, along with hundreds of technical papers and articles including the widely-cited essay "The Free Lunch Is Over" which described the software sea change now in progress to exploit increasingly parallel hardware. He is chair of the ISO C++ standards committee and chief native languages architect at Microsoft. If you have received this message twice, we apologise. Cheers, Calum T. Dalek Chairbeing Extraordinaire Computer Science Club University of Waterloo

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Scheduled Downtime Feb 3 12PM-Feb 4 12PM
by Computer Science Club 02 Feb '13

02 Feb '13

Greetings programs, The CSC will be having scheduled downtime on the following hosts starting Sunday, February 3rd, 12PM: - ginseng - mail Services affected will be the following: - member home directories - club hosting - mail delivery (SMTP) As part of our continued expansion of service, we have recently acquired network storage device, and will be migrating user home directories to this device. This will allow us to host more concurrent users (both members and clubs), in addition to supporting snapshots of user home directories to facilitate backup capabilities. We are aware of the importance of having high service availability to not only our members, but to the organizations whose websites we host as well. As such, we have decided to make your data _read-only_ but still accessible during the course of migration. This means that while you will still be able to log in, you will be _unable_ to make any modifications to your files during this time period. This also means that any mail you may normally receive will be _delayed_ by up to 24 hours. It is also important to also note that database services will still be accessible during the course of the migration. We have allotted 24 hours for the process of migration. We expect all services to be up by Monday, February 4th, 12PM. To help us ensure a smooth migration, we ask that you please end any long-running jobs that write to files in your home directory. We cannot make any guarantees that these jobs will perform correctly during the migration. Cheers, Systems Committee

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BOT Announcements: Gabriella Coleman, Code Party 0, Scheduled Downtime
by Computer Science Club 26 Jan '13

26 Jan '13

Greetings, members! Welcome and welcome back, and happy new year! We have many exciting events planned for this term; here are some of the upcoming ones, so mark up your fresh calendars (unless you prefer to preserve their beautiful, clean, glossy, white pages...). ~Gabriella Coleman, "Weapons of the Geek": Monday, Jan. 28, 4:30pm, DC 1302 An anthropologist from McGill, Gabriella Coleman researches, writes, and teaches on hackers and digital activism. Her talk is part of the CrySP Speaker Series on privacy. Here is the abstract: "Drawing on fieldwork among Free and Open Source software hackers and the Anonymous protest movement, I will discuss some attributes of hacker and geek activism that set their actions apart from other modalities of dissent and contextualize their actions in light of broader historical trends concerning censorship, intellectual property, privacy, and surveillance." ~Code Party 0: Friday, Feb. 1, 7:00pm, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) Our first code party of the term is next Friday. There will be soda, chips, cookies, and (probably not many) other delectable delicacies to pleasure your palates. There will also be music and free Internet ((both) in limited supply). Stop by, relax, and work on that coding project you've been putting off since Christmas. Attendance is not limited to members! ~Scheduled downtime: Sunday, Feb. 3, 12:00pm until Monday, Feb. 4, 12:00pm CSC systems will be taken offline to allow us to switch homedirectory hosting to our new Netapp storage device. All CSC systems, homedirectories and hosted websites will be unavailable for the duration of our maintenance window. Make sure to save your work, and plan ahead to use a personal computer or a different machine during that time. Happy coding, Matt O. CSC Secretary, Winter 2013

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Winter 2013 election nominees
by Computer Science Club 15 Jan '13

15 Jan '13

Greetings programs, Winter 2013 nominations closed earlier today. Elections are tomorrow, Wednesday Jan 16, at 4:00pm in the MC Comfy Lounge. Come by and take part in selecting this term's executive. Librarian and Sysadmin will be selected immediately afterward as well. Nominees are as follows. President: a2brenna ( Anthony Brennan ) jdonland ( Jesse Onland ) m4burns ( Marc Burns ) mimcpher ( Matthew McPherrin ) qxi ( Qifan Xi ) wlritchi ( William Ritchie ) Vice-President: b2coutts ( Bryan Coutts ) m4burns ( Marc Burns ) mimcpher ( Matthew McPherrin ) sharvey ( Sarah Harvey ) wlritchi ( William Ritchie ) Treasurer: b2coutts ( Bryan Coutts ) jsmumfor ( Jonathan Mumford ) m4burns ( Marc Burns ) wlritchi ( William Ritchie ) Secretary: b2coutts ( Bryan Coutts ) h292zhan ( Heming Zhang ) jsmumfor ( Jonathan Mumford ) m4burns ( Marc Burns ) mgolechn ( Mateusz Olechnowicz ) mimcpher ( Matthew McPherrin ) wlritchi ( William Ritchie ) If you are unable to attend during the election event, votes my also be e-mailed to cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca, listing preference. With warm regards, Calum T. Dalek Chairbeing Extraordinaire

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Winter 2013 Elections Have Begun
by Computer Science Club 04 Jan '13

04 Jan '13

Greetings members! The election period for Winter 2013 Computer Science Club executive has begun! Come down to the MC Comfy Lounge on Wednesday January 16, 2012 at 4:00PM, where elections will be held for this term's President, Vice-President, Treasurer and Secretary. Sysadmin, Librarian and Office Manager selections will also occur at this time. Nominations will run until Tuesday January 15, 2012 at 4:00PM. You can submit a nomination ( including yourself ) by writing the person's user id in the nomination chart on the office whiteboard. Alternatively, you may e-mail nominations to this term's CRO at cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca. With warm regards, Calum T. Dalek Chairbeing Extraordinaire

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CSC Code Party 3
by Computer Science Club 21 Nov '12

21 Nov '12

Greetings, Programs. The Computer Science Club would like to invite you to our last code party of the term at 7 PM on November 23rd (Friday) in MC Comfy Lounge (MC 3001). As usual, there will be free food and sugary drinks for your hacking pleasure. Syed Albiz will be presenting a tutorial on implementing a ray-tracer in C and Scheme. Come join us! Bring your friends, bring your laptops. Marc Burns President, University of Waterloo Computer Science Club.

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KW Perlmongers Talk / CSC Goes to Charity Ball / SASMS
by Computer Science Club 12 Nov '12

12 Nov '12

Hello, membership! I hope your midterms haven't treated you too badly. For a few breaks from the grind, we invite you to some upcoming events, hosted by the CSC, MathSoc, and the PMC. KW PERLMONGERS TALK: Thursday, Nov. 15, 7:00 - 8:30 pm, DC 1302 --- By Justin Wheeler! In his own words, this talk will cover the virtues of Perl: CPAN, Moose, CPAN, Catalyst, CPAN, DBIx::Class, CPAN, TMTOWTDI, and did I mention CPAN? If you've never used Perl before, don't be scared away by the jargon---the talk should be accessible to all CS students, and even if you find it hard to follow, we will be serving pizza! CSC GOES TO CHARITY BALL: Saturday, Nov. 17, 6:00 pm - 1:00 am, Fed Hall --- The CSC will be purchasing one or more tables for all n - n (mod 8) people that ask to attend Charity Ball with us. You will enjoy a discounted $25 ticket if you purchase through us! If you are interested in attending, please email exec(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca and we will seat you at one of our tables in exchange for your $25 ticket fee. SASMS: Wednesday, Nov. 21, 4:30 pm - last mathematician standing, MC 5136B --- Join the PMC for their termly Short Attention Span Math Seminars, or SASMS, for short. There will be food, there will be math, and there will be talks! Applications (term loosely applied) for speaking are open until the day of the event. CS talks are welcomed. Talks are 25 minutes long. After dinner, there will be a session of "Lightning Talks"---5 minutes in length, no sign up required. Sign ups and more information are available on the SASMS page: http://pmclub.uwaterloo.ca/?q=content/sasms-fall-2012 Hope to see you there! -- Elana Hashman Secretary Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Office Training
by Computer Science Club 23 Oct '12

23 Oct '12

Fall 2012 office training is scheduled for this Monday, October 29 at 4:00 pm in the CSC office (MC 3036/3037). If you are interested in helping out around the office or getting more involved with the club, we encourage you to come out and become a member of our office staff! The more staff we have, the longer we can keep the office open.

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Bitcoin Talk / Code Party 2!
by Computer Science Club 15 Oct '12

15 Oct '12

Hello members, I hope your midterms aren't inflicting too much suffering upon ye. You can look forward to a bit of a break with our following two events for the next couple weeks: THE CRYPTOGRAPHIC AND GAME-THEORETICAL FUNDAMENTALS BEHIND BITCOIN: by Vitalik Buterin. Thursday, Oct. 18, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM, MC 2034 --- Interested in learning more about Bitcoin, the independent digital cryptographic cash? Then this is the talk for you! In his talk, Vitalik will cover the cryptographic and game-theory principles behind the currency, including how the issues of double-spending, the "51% attack," and "mining" are addressed, the game-theory incentives to use Bitcoins honestly, and other issues being faced today in practice, such as implementation, attacks, and future scalability. Refreshments will be provided. CODE PARTY 2: Friday, Oct. 26, 7:00 PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- The CSC will be holding our second code party of the term. We'll be hosting a few tutorials on topics including robots, Scala, git, and Haskell. Come out, bring your friends and your laptop, and soak up the LCD glow! As always, food and drinks will be available for your hacking pleasure. Good luck with your assignments and midterms, and hope to see you out at our events. If you're interested in giving a member talk like Vitalik's, or if you'd like to help out with some of our events, send us an email at progcom(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca. EXTERMINATE, -- Elana Hashman Secretary Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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TRON Screening / Call for Member Talks / CUSEC Invitation
by Computer Science Club 24 Sep '12

24 Sep '12

Greetings, programs! I trust that your term has had a pleasant beginning. Calum T. Dalek has asked that I pass on the following information for the next week. TRON SCREENING -- FROSH-A-TRON: Friday, Sept. 28, 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM, PHY 150 --- ehashman's lousy frosh event naming scheme continues as we prepare for this week's movie night---a screening of the original TRON in PHY 150. Come watch the groundbreaking film that defined the role of computer graphics and the quality of special effects in modern cinema. And bring your friends! CALL FOR MEMBER TALKS --- Here is a termly reminder that as a member, you are welcome (and invited!) to give a talk for the CSC. Perhaps you've worked on a project you're really passionate about; perhaps you really want to share your love of a certain topic; maybe you just want to practice your public speaking. Our members would like to hear it! Please send your talk abstract or proposal to our Programmes Committee, progcom(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca, along with some dates you're available for presenting. Thanks in advance! CUSEC INVITATION --- Santiago Gil (sgilcast(a)uwaterloo.ca) has asked us to pass on some information about the Canadian Undergraduate Software Engineering Conference (CUSEC). The conference will take place in Montreal, QC from January 17 - 19, 2013. The conference website with more information is available at 2013.cusec.net. A Waterloo group is being coordinated, and can assist in your conference bookings and may be able to provide some funding for your expenses. To opt in, fill in their google form<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGMxUVp4QnpLNklVaHR4RV…>and if you have any questions, email waterloo(a)cusec.net. Good luck on your upcoming midterms! -- Elana Hashman Secretary Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Elections for Fall 2012 Executive Tomorrow
by Computer Science Club 17 Sep '12

17 Sep '12

Howdy, The nomination period for this term's executive has now closed. Elections are Tuesday ( tomorrow ) at 4PM in the MC Comfy on the third floor. Candidates are as follows: President Marc Burns ( m4burns ) Jesse Onland ( jdonland ) William Ritchie ( wlritchi ) Vice-President Salem Talha ( satalha ) Kush Patel ( khpatel ) William Ritchie ( wlritchi ) Treasurer Marc Burns ( m4burns ) Salem Talha ( satalha ) Jonathan Bailey ( jj2baile ) Stephane Hamada ( sjthamad ) William Ritchie ( wlritchi ) Kush Patel ( khpatel ) Jennifer Wong ( jy2wong ) Secretary William Ritchie ( wlritchi ) Salem Talha ( satalha ) Andrei Thorp ( aapachin ) Elana Hashman ( ehashman ) Diane Snobelen ( dksnobel ) Once the executive have been elected, they will be selecting this term's Systems Administrator, Librarian, and Office Manager. If you think you are capable of holding any of these positions, be sure to come out and introduce yourself during the elections! Owen Smith Chief Returning Officer, Fall 2012

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syscom notice: Unexpected downtime on caffeine, mail
by Computer Science Club 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

Greetings, The CSC recently experienced some unexpected downtime on Sunday morning (09/09) from roughly 5AM for about 15+ hours, on the servers glomag, caffeine, and mail. The following services were affected: - www - mail delivery - mailman - smtp - imap - mysql - psql - ssh - webmail At this time, all these services have been fully restored. If there is a problem with using one or more of these services, please e-mail syscom with your inquiry. Minor issues may exist for some of our users who use the mbox delivery format on /var/mail. If you are one of these users, please note that your /var/mail has been archived to: - /var/mail-20120909 from before the crash on Sunday - /var/mail-20120512 from the mail host migration that occurred earlier this year We are working to consolidate all of these resources eventually, so please bear with us at this time. If you have no idea what mbox is, or you are currently using the Maildir delivery format, then your mail is unaffected. Having conducted some preliminary investigation into the matter, we have determined that the cause was due to resource exhaustion on one or more of our servers. It is important to note in this case that caffeine is the machine you will be on if you ssh directly to csclub.uwaterloo.ca . As such, we must remind our members that caffeine primarily acts as our webserver, and that members should avoid running resource-intensive tasks on this host, unless it is to act as a public-facing webservice. We have many other machines that are useful and better-equipped for running resource-intensive tasks, such as taurine, corn-syrup, and hfcs. A full list of our machines available can be found on our wiki: http://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/Machine_List Please be considerate: CSC systems are a shared resource, so actions you make on a system will affect all other users on that system. Cheers, -syscom

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