- csc-general - CSC Mailman

Notice of Scheduled Downtime: high-fructose-corn-syrup
by Computer Science Club 18 Feb '14

18 Feb '14

Greetings programs, This is a maintenance advisory for scheduled downtime on the machine: high-fructose-corn-syrup Maintenance will be taking place on this machine on 2014-02-18 after 5:30 pm. The maintenance work will involve halting the machine for a period of time during this window. We plan to install a 750GB SSD into high-fructose-corn-syrup in order to provide a fast local scratch drive. This should increase the performance of this machine for users who need fast access to large amounts of temporary disk space for their jobs. Thank you for your patience as we perform this maintenance work. Murphy Berzish CSC Systems Administrator

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Bloomberg Talk Tomorrow / UNIX 101 and Code Party 0 on Feb 13
by Computer Science Club 03 Feb '14

03 Feb '14

Greetings members, I hope you have all been having a good term so far. We have a number of events planned for the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow at 5:30PM, we have a database talk from Alex Scotti of Bloomberg. Thursday of next week, we will have UNIX 101, a basic command-line tutorial, followed immediately by our first code party. Longer descriptions follow. Bloomberg's Alex Scotti will be presenting a talk this Tuesday on concurrency control implementations in relational databases. Free swag will be handed out at the event. The talk will take place in MC 4058 at 5:30 PM on February 4th, 2014. Next Thursday (Feb 13), we will offer UNIX 101, where people can learn the basics of using command-line tools found commonly on UNIX-like operating systems, such as Linux. The event will take place in the Mac Lab in MC 3003, from 5:30-6:30PM. Immediately after UNIX 101, at 6:30PM, we will be having our first annual code party in the MC Comfy Lounge (MC 3001). Enjoy a free dinner, relax, share ideas with your friends about your favourite topics in computer science, and work on that side project you've been thinking of for the past week. Thanks, Bryan Coutts CSC President

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Winter 2014 Nominations Closed
by Computer Science Club 15 Jan '14

15 Jan '14

Nominations for the Winter 2014 elections have closed. The candidates are: President: - Jonathan Bailey (jj2baile) - Nicholas Black (nablack) - Bryan Coutts (b2coutts) - Annamaria Dosseva (mdosseva) - Youn Jin Kim (yj7kim) - Visha Vijayanad (vvijayan) Vice-President: - Nicholas Black (nablack) - Bryan Coutts (b2coutts) - Visha Vijayanad (vvijayan) Treasurer: - Jonathan Bailey (jj2baile) - Nicholas Black (nablack) - Marc Burns (m4burns)* - Bryan Coutts (b2coutts) Secretary: - Jonathan Bailey (jj2baile) - Bryan Coutts (b2coutts) - Mark Farrell (m4farrel) * Not currently a CSC member for Winter 2014, according to LDAP. If you nominated someone and they do not appear in this list, the person probably withdrew their candidacy. If there is an error in the above, contact me at cro(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca immediately. -- Jeremy Roman Chief Returning Officer Computer Science Club of the University of Waterloo

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Winter 2014 CSC Elections
by Computer Science Club 07 Jan '14

07 Jan '14

The Computer Science Club will run its termly executive elections on Thursday, January 16, 2014 at 5:30 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. In particular, voting this time will be heads-down, hands-up voting only by MathSoc social members. You may request voting by ballot, but overruling my interpretation of voting eligibility would require a majority of the assembly. 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 full 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 (Wed Jan 15 2014 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. Only full CSC members (in particular, MathSoc social members) are eligible to vote. 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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Office Clean-out Dec. 4 / CTRL-D Dec. 12
by Computer Science Club 03 Dec '13

03 Dec '13

Hi all! This will be the last email of the term. Good luck with your exams and enjoy the break! OFFICE CLEAN-OUT: TOMORROW, DEC. 4 --- It has been a long time since the office was last cleaned. Cleaning will be a monumental effort, and will be taking place tomorrow, Dec. 4, starting around 11AM. If you have any unclaimed belongings in the office, THEY WILL BE THROWN OUT OR REPOSSESSED. Please *ensure* you have not left any personal belongings in the office, or email offsck(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca if you aren't able to pick them up before tomorrow. Anyone that is interested in helping out with the office cleaning is free to show up. CTRL-D (END OF TERM PARTY): THURSDAY, DEC. 12 --- Our termly "CTRL-D" party has been scheduled for next Thursday, Dec. 12. If you're not sure where it is being held (usual location) and you'd like to attend, a number of people will be departing for the EOT from the CSC office around 6 or 6:30PM. Or you can drop by the office in advance and ask for directions. Godspeed, -- Elana Hashman President Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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CSC Shirts! and other reminders
by Computer Science Club 26 Nov '13

26 Nov '13

Greetings programs, CSC SHIRTS --- After much delay, shirts are ready for ordering. They will be black American Apparel shirts, silkscreened with the winning design of our t-shirt contest. See the attached images for the AVL-tree design, courtesy of our winner, Holly Xu. Final pricing and pickup date have not yet been determined, as these are dependent on the number of shirts that will be ordered. Price will be no more than $15 (we hope to price around $10), and shirts will be available for pickup in the CSC office (MC 3036/3037) no later than mid-exam period. You can order them on the webform at http://goo.gl/ypaHRZ Responses will be accepted no later than 12PM noon on Friday, Nov. 29th. OTHER REMINDERS --- Our last event of the term is running today at 5:00PM in MC 2038. Zak Blacher will be presenting his talk on "Disk Encryption." Bob Jonkman invites CSCers to his presentation on encrypting email with Enigmail and Thunderbird, followed by a keysigning party, on Dec. 2 at 7:00PM. More details on the event, hosted by the KWLUG, can be found here: http://kwlug.org/node/909 Our end-of-term party, CTRL-D, has not yet been scheduled. Stay tuned for more details... and let us know if you'd like to host! Cheers, and good luck on your final exams, -- Elana Hashman President Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Fwd: Volunteer for CS4U Day / Event Reminders (Nov. 22, 26)
by Computer Science Club 22 Nov '13

22 Nov '13

Salutations, membership! Sorry for the delay---an email regarding t-shirts will be sent out on Monday. We have picked a winning design and are working out logistics. Here are your weekly announcements: VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: CS4U Day, December 4th --- The School of Computer Science passed this on to us. You can sign up by emailing cs-ur-co(a)uwaterloo.ca. ``Help high school students learn how computer science affects and impacts their everyday lives! Ways to get involved: Greet visitors -- Register participants -- Help with wayfinding -- Assist with lunch. All volunteers will receive a free shirt and lunch!'' Orientation session is Nov. 27, 4:30 - 5:30 in DC 1304, with provided snacks. HACKATHON-CODE PARTY!! (MORE FREE FOOD): Fri. Nov. 22, 6:30 PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- Join us for a night of code, food, and caffeine. There will be plenty of edibles and hacking for your enjoyment, including real food for consumption in addition to snacks. You are also free to come and work on your homework or eat the food. Two projects will be provided for you to work on---no technical skills required: An OpenHatch <openhatch.org> mentor will be present at the code party to help you get you started in joining the wonderful world of open source. In addition, the UWaterloo Games Institute and SiG@Waterloo will be joining us, introducing their Social Innovation Simulation Design Jam. <http://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/events/social-innovation-simulation-des…> SECURITY & PRIVACY LECTURE 06, Disk Encryption: Tue. Nov. 26, 5:00PM, MC 2038 --- Our last Security lecture is presented by Zak Blacher: ``In Zak's talk, "Disk Encryption: Digital Forensic Analysis & Full Volume Encryption", he aims to cover filesystem forensic analysis and counter forensics by addressing the entire design stack; starting with filesystem construction, design, and theory, and drilling down to the inner workings of hard drives (modern platter hdds, as well as mlc-ssds). This talk leads in to a discussion on full volume encryption, and how this helps to protect one's data.'' Email exec(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca with any questions you might have. EXTERMINATE, -- Nik Black Programme Committee Computer Science Club University of Waterloo nablack(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Office Cleaning & Reminders / Sec Lecture 05 & C++ Night 0x05 / Hackathon
by Computer Science Club 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

Hello, csc-general! As the term wraps up, our events wrap up as well. We have a few more left, so make sure you come out! First, a couple notices and reminders. CSC-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST WRAPS UP --- All entries are due this Wednesday, Nov. 13! Winners will be informed by November 15 and the next csc-general email will contain an application for shirts with a link to the winning design. OFFICE CLEANING NOTICE: Get your crap out of the office! --- A note from the office manager. You MUST have your personal belongings out of the office by the deadline. ``We will be cleaning out the office at some point during the exam period. We will be doing a complete inventory and getting rid of anything we do not wish to keep. If you have any personal belongings in the office, please remove them by Dec. 1st or we may throw them out or repossess them.'' I will note that MathSoc lockers this term do not require a signup, so you may choose to use them for storage. TORONTO ERLANG FACTORY LITE CONFERENCE SIGNUPS: Nov. 23 --- Don't forget to sign up on the web form to coordinate with the rest of the group! (http://goo.gl/8XOELB) SECURITY & PRIVACY LECTURE 05, Trust in ISPs: Tue. Nov. 12, 5:00PM, MC 4060 --- Note the topic change. Zak's talk has been moved to Nov. 26. Abstract: Bell's recent announcement of their use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) brings to light a long-standing issue: your internet service provider (ISP) pwns you. They control your IP allocation, your DNS, your ARP, the AS paths. The question has never been about ability---it's about trust. Whether Rogers, AT&T, Virgin, Telus, Vodafone or Wind, your onramp to the internet is your first and most potent point of security failure. Founding member of the Canadian Cybersecurity Institute and employee of local ISP Sentex Sean Howard will vividly demo the reasons you need to be ble to trust your internet provider. Come for the talk, stay for the pizza! C++ GOINGNATIVE LECTURE 0x05 (FREE FOOD!): Thurs. Nov. 21, 6:30 PM, PHY 150 --- Our last C++ lecture is presented by Sean Parent, entitled "C++ Seasoning." Abstract: ``A look at many of the new features in C++ and a couple of old features you may not have known about. With the goal of correctness in mind, we'll see how to utilize these features to create simple, clear, and beautiful code. Just a little pinch can really spice things up.'' HACKATHON-CODE PARTY!! (MORE FREE FOOD): Fri. Nov. 22, 6:30 PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- Join us for a night of code, food, and caffeine. There will be plenty of edibles and hacking for your enjoyment, including real food for consumption in addition to snacks. If you're not sure what to work on or you are interested in getting involved in Open Source, there will be mentors on hand to get you started. You are also free to come and work on your homework or eat the food. EXTERMINATE, -- Elana Hashman President Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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PGP Seminar, Cryptoparty and CAKE Tomorrow / C++ Night 0x04 Thursday / Hackathon Nov. 22 / Erlang Conf. Nov. 23
by Computer Science Club 04 Nov '13

04 Nov '13

Greetings, programs! Are you ready for the cake cryptoparty?! SECURITY & PRIVACY SEMINAR 04, Hands-on Seminar on Public Key Crypto: Tues. Nov. 5, 6:00PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- The event is tomorrow! It will be awesome! Bring your laptops! Reasons to attend: - balloons - cake - curry, naan, and rice - PGP-themed cake - balloons - did I mention cake? Seminar will be followed by a keysigning party. We have the Comfy until 9 so feel free to bring code and the like to hack on. C++ GOINGNATIVE LECTURE 0x04 (FREE FOOD!): Thurs. Nov. 7, 6:30 PM, PHY 150 --- This week's C++ lecture is presented by Andrei Alexandrescu, entitled "Writing Quick Code in C++, Quickly." Abstract: ``Contemporary computer architectures make it possible for slow code to work reasonably well. They also make it difficult to write really fast code that exploits the CPU amenities to their fullest. And the smart money is on fast code---we're running out of cool things to do with slow code, and the battle will be on doing really interesting and challenging things at the envelope of what the computing fabric endures. ``This talk is an attempt to set forth a few pieces of tactical advice for writing quick code in C++. Applying these is not guaranteed to produce optimal code, but is likely to put it reasonably within the ballpark.'' HACKATHON-CODE PARTY!! (MORE FREE FOOD): Fri. Nov. 22, 6:30 PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- Code party has been officially scheduled! Join us for a night of code, food, and caffeine. There will be plenty of edibles and hacking for your enjoyment, including real food for consumption in addition to snacks. If you're not sure what to work on or you are interested in getting involved in Open Source, there will be mentors on hand to get you started. You are also free to come and work on your homework or eat the food. TORONTO ERLANG FACTORY LITE CONFERENCE SIGNUPS: Nov. 23 --- Given the initial low demand, we will be submitting a MEF proposal to cover each individual's transportation costs up to $30 (you must arrange it). Feel free to purchase your bus tickets and pay your conference fee, and if the MEF proposal is approved, you will be able to present your tickets/receipt and conference badge for travel reimbursement. Please sign up on the web form (http://goo.gl/8XOELB) so we have an estimate of CSC-affiliated attendees for the proposal. Send questions, comments, concerns, and deep, dark secrets to exec(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca. -- Elana Hashman President Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Volunteer Opportunities / C++ Night 0x03 and PGP Seminar / Code Party! / Reminders
by Computer Science Club 28 Oct '13

28 Oct '13

Hello, CSCers! Lots of exciting news for you this week... VOLUNTEERING OPPORTUNITIES: Math Open House (Nov. 2) and ONCWIC (Nov. 7-8) --- The CSC has received a couple of calls for volunteers. The Math Faculty Open House requires volunteers for the following: set up, welcoming visitors, giving directions, walking visitors to various buildings, ushers for M3-1006, tour guides for DC, MC, QNC, and M3 (I quote: "NEED MANY, PLEASE SIGN UP"), booth Q&A to answer visitors' questions about programs, and clean up. If interested, please email Gayle Goodfellow at ggoodfel(a)uwaterloo.ca. You will need to attend an information session tomorrow on Tuesday, October 29, in MC 5136B, from 4:30-5:00. Tour guides also need to attend a training session on Thursday, October 31 from 4:45-5:45 in MC 5136. I've heard that Hallowe'en treats will be provided! The Ontario Celebration for Women in Computing is being held at the University of Waterloo this year. All are welcome to volunteer for the conference---if you are interested, email Prof. Kate Larson at klarson(a)uwaterloo.ca. C++ GOINGNATIVE LECTURE 0x03 (FREE FOOD!): Thurs. Oct. 31, 6:30 PM, PHY 150 --- A reminder of this week's C++ talk. Scott Meyers will be speaking about the new C++ specifications in "An Effective C++11/14 Sampler." I am ordering *real* food (read: not pizza) this week. Also, Halloween candy :D SECURITY & PRIVACY SEMINAR 04, Hands-on Seminar on Public Key Crypto: Tues. Nov. 5, 6:00PM, Comfy Lounge (MC 3001) --- Bring your laptops to this hybrid seminar/key-signing party where Nick Guenther and Murphy Berzish will introduce you to public-private key crypto. We will be featuring a GSIntroducer from www.GSWoT.org, so if you are interested in obtaining an elevated level of trust, bring government-issued photo-ID. There will also be balloons and cake. We swear. HACKATHON-CODE PARTY!!: Tentatively Nov. 22 --- Please yell at me (read: exec) if you can't attend and want to. Otherwise I'm going forward with this date. There will be *more* real food (possibly curry and stuff) as well as the usual junk food and caffeine. TORONTO ERLANG FACTORY LITE CONFERENCE SIGNUPS: Nov. 23 --- The CSC has been invited to attend this Erlang conference in Toronto. A reminder to sign up if you are interested in attending: http://goo.gl/8XOELB If we can confirm enough attendees, we will be able to provide transportation. You will be responsible for your conference fee. For more information on the conference, you can visit its website at: https://www.erlang-factory.com/conference/Toronto2013 CSC SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST --- Clarification: pithy sayings welcome! (We've already done "You had me at Hello World" FWIW.) Send them in for Nov. 13. As always, you can email questions to exec(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca. -- Elana Hashman President Computer Science Club University of Waterloo ehashman(a)uwaterloo.ca

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