- csc-general - CSC Mailman

Eduroam Quiz
by Computer Science Club 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

Hello CSCers! There appears to be a large group of students that have trouble with the eduroam wireless network. To help IST debug the problems we have created the following poll: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dENpTGE3QmhLZGQtT1Ay… We will email the results (minus names) to IST on Monday, so get your answers in soon. We will be giving out 4 free pop (retail value $2!) to 1 person, at random, who answers this quiz. You may share this link with other, non-CSC UW members. This quiz was not in any way written by IST. Thanks

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The CSC Goes Clubbing!1!!
by Computer Science Club 08 Dec '10

08 Dec '10

Greetings, As the fall 2010 term winds down a close and we get ready to start exams, the CSC will be having one more final event. No, it's not an invited talk or a code party; this time, it's THE CSC GOES CLUBBING! On Friday, December 10th, our very own CSC member Elyot Grant will be behind the decks at Waterloo's Revolution Nightclub, playing electronic dance music as a special guest DJ inside The Purple Room. In the past, Elyot has given many theory talks for the CSC on topics like approximation hardness and incompressibility, but this Friday, he'll be letting the music do all the talking. The event poster is here: http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~egrant/PurpleRoom13_Dec10th2010.jpg There is NO COVER BEFORE 11pm (in other words, it's FREE!!!) Come join us as we march out to the purple room in full force to support Elyot and dance our asses off to his selection of chiptastic beats. Here's a word from Elyot himself: "Hi everyone! If you want an idea of what I might play, there are some DJ mixes of mine at: http://soundcloud.com/elyot and some additional music I made over at: http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~egrant/ As a special treat for the CSC, I will try to drop some chippy tracks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b172UA1smO0&t=3m20s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F21aifX0lZY&t=2m06s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v10GkrLbgKE&t=3m17s The facebook event is: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=145655702152203 You must be 19+ to attend and must bring your ID (health card doesn't count; driver's license, passport, or LCBO card are all fine.) Cover is free before 11pm and $5 afterwards. My set time is 11:30pm - 1:00am. The party usually lasts until about 2:45am. There is a guestlist available, which enables you to bypass the line anytime before 12am (so you get in more quickly). If you arrive before 10:45, there is usually not too big of a line. But if you arrive later than that, you may have to wait outside for a while, so you might want to consider guestlist if you think you'll be coming any later than that. Then, instead of getting in line to get in, you just talk to the guy with the clipboard who finds your name, checks it off, and lets you in right away. If you wish to be guestlisted, email me at egrant(a)uwaterloo.ca with your full name and number of guests before Friday at 6pm. Rev is a short walk from the #12 and #7 bus routes and has free parking. I don't think there's a dress code other than "no athletic wear" (essentially, no jerseys, baseball caps and gangsta stuff). You don't have to dress up; most people (including me) will be wearing normal clothes. The crowd is friendly, there is room to dance, there are lasers, and there are big (but not deafening) speakers. Cheers! Hope to see you Friday. ~ Elyot" -- 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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Mathematics and aesthetics in maze design
by Computer Science Club 15 Nov '10

15 Nov '10

Hello, the CSC is hosting a talk entitled "Mathematics and aesthetics in maze design" on 2010-11-17 at 04:30 PM in MC4061. It will be presented by Craig S. Kaplan. Abstract: For thousands of years, mazes and labyrinths have played an important role in human culture and myth. Today, solving mazes is a popular pastime, whether with pencil on paper or by navigating through a cornfield. The construction of compelling mazes encompasses a variety of challenges in mathematics, algorithm design, and aesthetics. The maze should be visually attractive, but it should also be an engaging puzzle. Master designers balance these two goals with wonderful results. In this talk, I discuss the role of the computer in the process of designing mazes. I present some well known algorithms for maze construction, and more recent research that attempts to novel mazes with non-trivial mathematical or aesthetic properties. 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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Grad School at UofT
by Computer Science Club 12 Nov '10

12 Nov '10

In case you're interested in grad school: Graduate Opportunities at the University of Toronto Speaker: C.C. Gotlieb, University of Toronto Date: Wednesday Nov 17 Time: 4:30 pm Location: DC 1304 ================== Bio.: Calvin C. (Kelly) Gotlieb has been called the "Father of Computing" in Canada. He received his MA in 1944 and his PhD in 1947 from the University of Toronto. In 1948, he was part of the first team in Canada assembled to design and construct digital computers and to provide computing services. In that year, he co-founded the original Computation Centre at the University of Toronto. He established the first university credit course on computing in Canada in 1950, and offered the first Canadian graduate courses in computing in 1951. In 1964, he founded the first graduate department of Computer Science in Canada, at the University of Toronto. Professor Gotlieb has over a hundred publications in many areas of Computer Science and Information Processing, and has co-authored four books: "High Speed Data Processing", "Social Issues in Computing", "Data Types and Structures", and "The Economics of Computers". Professor Gotlieb has dedicated much of his professional work to the promotion of information science and technology and the advancement of national and international cooperation in this field. He has been a consultant to the United Nations on Computer Technology and Development, and to the Privacy and Computers Task Force of the Canadian Federal Department of Communications and Justice. He was a founding member of the Canadian Information Processing Society in 1958, and served as Canada's representative at the founding meeting of the International Federation of Information Processing Societies in 1959, and from 1960-1966. He is a former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Association of Computing Machinery, and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Encyclopaedia Britannica and of the Annals of the History of Computing. Professor Gotlieb is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the British Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery. He received honorary DMath and DEng degrees from the University of Waterloo and the Technical University of Nova Scotia respectively. In 1994, he was awarded the Isaac L. Auerbach Medal by the International Federation of Information Processing Societies, and in 1996 the Order of Canada award. He is currently Professor Emeritus in Computer Science and in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto.

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REMINDER: Toronto Trip
by Computer Science Club 04 Nov '10

04 Nov '10

Hello everyone, This is a reminder that we are going to Toronto on Nov. 13. We will be meeting UofT's CSSU and going to the pub with them to discuss computer science and other things after touring some subset of their facilities. The bus leaves from in front of DC at 1pm, and we will leave Toronto at 11pm. Space is limited so please sign up in advance. The price for the bus is $2 per member. To sign up come to the office in MC3036. -- 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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Hackathon
by Computer Science Club 03 Nov '10

03 Nov '10

Hello, the CSC is hosting a Hackathon on 2010-11-05 at 07:00 PM in C&D Lounge (MC3002). Come join the CSC for a night of code, music with only 8 bits, and comradarie. We will be in the C&D Lounge from 7pm until 7am working on personal projects, open source projects, and whatever else comes to mind. If you're interested in getting involved in free/open source development, some members will be on hand to guide you through the process. 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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CSC Goes to Math Charity Ball
by Computer Science Club 03 Nov '10

03 Nov '10

Hello everyone, In case you weren't aware, our friends across the hall at MathSoc have cordially invited us to their Charity Ball, on Saturday Nov. 20th starting at 6pm. The event will include a three course dinner and a charity auction as well as a dance DJ'd by DJ Phat Albert. The CSC has reserved two tables for our members, if you are interested in attending with our group please contact either Gwynneth Leece (gnleece(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca) or the executive as soon as possible before Friday morning to reserve a place. Tickets are $20 per person, and we only have a limited number reserved. 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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Code Party Call for Projects
by Computer Science Club 28 Oct '10

28 Oct '10

Hello fellow members, Do you want to write some code for outside class? Ever wanted to participate in the open source software movement? Maybe you've got some bug in a program that you want to fix, but you're not sure where to get started. Sometime soon, the CSC will be having one of our famous code parties. Join us in the MC comfy for a night of writing code, playing games, eating snacks, and solving puzzles. If you've never been to one before, you should come out. And if you have, then come again! Details will be announced soon, but first, we need you to help us organize the event. During the code party, there's going to be plenty of code writing on lots of projects. If there's an open source project, or one of your own, that you know you'll be working on and you'd like others to work with you, let me know now so we can get some stuff prepared ahead of time. Ideally we'll have a couple projects with a bunch of people working together on, and we'd like to get some support for those projects ahead of time. If there's anything else you want to do, let me know too. There's lots of other things you can do besides write code at our parties too. You could test software, edit Wikipedia, debate technology topics, watch movies, play games, or just chat with all the other members. Tell me what you're interested in, and we'll make it happen! More details with things like the date will follow soon. See you there, Matthew McPherrin University of Waterloo Computer Science Club

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CSC Goes to Toronto
by Computer Science Club 26 Oct '10

26 Oct '10

Hello everyone, We (as promised some time ago) are finally organizing an invasion of Toronto. On Saturday, November 13th at 1pm we will board a bright yellow combat transport (school bus) and head to the UofT campus to tour their CSSU (CS Student Union), have lunch, meet them, and go get beer. We'll return that night, leaving Toronto at 11pm. If you would like to go, the bus will be $2 per member, sign up in advance in the club office, MC3036. If a friend would like to go and they are not a member, encourage them to join the club. As usual if you have any questions e-mail the executive. 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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This Week: Elyot Grant
by Computer Science Club 24 Oct '10

24 Oct '10

Hello everyone, We have a light week this week, with just the Tuesday talk. Member Elyot Grant will be presenting Tuesday at 4:30pm in MC4040. Title: Analysis of randomized algorithms via the probabilistic method Abstract: The probabilistic method is an extremely powerful tool in combinatorics that can be used to prove many surprising results. The idea is the following: to prove that an object with a certain property exists, we define a distribution of possible objects and use show that, among objects in the distribution, the property holds with non-zero probability. The key is that by using the tools and techniques of probability theory, we can vastly simplify proofs that would otherwise require very complicated combinatorial arguments. As a technique, the probabilistic method developed rapidly during the latter half of the 20th century due to the efforts of mathematicians like Paul Erdos and increasing interest in the role of randomness in theoretical computer science. In essence, the probabilistic method allows us to determine how good a randomized algorithm's output is likely to be. Possibly applications range from graph property testing to computational geometry, circuit complexity theory, game theory, and even statistical physics. In this talk, we will give a few examples that illustrate the basic method and show how it can be used to prove the existence of objects with desirable combinatorial properties as well as produce them in expected polynomial time via randomized algorithms. Our main goal will be to present a very slick proof from 1995 due to Spencer on the performance of a randomized greedy algorithm for a set-packing problem. Spencer, for seemingly no reason, introduces a time variable into his greedy algorithm and treats set-packing as a Poisson process. Then, like magic, he is able to show that his greedy algorithm is very likely to produce a good result using basic properties of expected value. Properties of Poisson and Binomial distributions will be applied, but I'll remind everyone of the needed background for the benefit of those who might be a bit rusty. Stat 230 will be more than enough. Big O notation will be used, but not excessively. Light refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome and I hope to see you there. -- 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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