- csc-general - CSC Mailman

This Week: BareMetal OS & Unix 103
by Computer Science Club 04 Oct '10

04 Oct '10

Hello, This week the CSC is holding a talk and another installment in our unix tutorials. The talk, entitled 'BareMetal OS' will be Today at 04:30 PM in MC4021. It will be presented by Ian Seyler of Return Infinity, the company that created BareMetal. Light refreshments will be provided. Talk Abstract: BareMetal is a new 64-bit OS for x86-64 based computers. The OS is written entirely in Assembly, while applications can be written in Assembly or C/C++. High Performance Computing is the main target application. We will also be holding Unix 103 on Wednesday October 6 at 4:30pm, in a lab to be announced. Unix 103 will cover version control systems and how to use them to manage your projects. Unix 101 would be helpful, but all that is needed is basic knowledge of the Unix command line (how to enter commands). -- 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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Office Staff Training
by Computer Science Club 02 Oct '10

02 Oct '10

Hello everyone, This is a notice for any members that wish to get involved in the management of the club office for the Fall term. Anyone that is interested should be present in the office (MC 3036) at 1630 on Tuesday October 5th for a staff training session. This training session will be used to select 5 office staffers to be key holding office staff for the term. This event will be comprised of a review of general Computer Science Club office policies as well as an informal evaluation of the office proficiency of those wishing to be keyed staffers. I look forward to seeing you all and if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at offsck(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca - Sayed Khader Office Manager Computer Science Club offsck(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca

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This week: Talk: 'A Brief Introduction to Video Encoding' & Unix 101
by Computer Science Club 27 Sep '10

27 Sep '10

Hello, this week the CSC is hosting two events. The first is a talk entitled 'A Brief Introduction to Video Encoding' on 2010-09-28 at 04:30 PM in MC4061. It will be presented by Peter Barfuss. Talk Abstract: With the recent introduction of digital TV and the widespread success of video sharing websites such as youtube, it is clear that the task of lossily compressing video with good quality has become important. Similarly, the complex algorithms involved require high amounts of optimization in order to run fast, another important requirement for any video codec that aims to be widely used/adopted. In this talk, I will go over the concepts used in video encoding (such as motion estimation/compensation, inter- and intra- frame prediction, quantization and entropy encoding), and then demonstrate these concepts and algorithms in use in the MPEG-2 and the H.264 video codecs. In addition, some clever optimization tricks using SIMD/vectorization will be covered, assuming sufficient time to cover these topics. The second is our popular Unix 101 on 2010-09-29 at 04:30 PM in MC3003. Need to use the Unix environment for a course, want to overcome your fears of the command line, or just curious? Attend the first installment in the CSC's popular series of Unix tutorails to learn the basics of the shell and how to navigate the unix environment. By the end of the hands on workshop you will be able to work efficiently from the command line and power-use circles around your friends. 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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Scholarships for CS Students
by Computer Science Club 26 Sep '10

26 Sep '10

Hello CSC members! I have been informed by Justin Wan that over the past couple of years there has been a decline in CS students applying for scholarships. Some of the scholarships are specifically for CS students and some are competed between CS and other programs. He says "it is disappointing that these scholarships are either unclaimed or offered to students of other programs because of a lack of qualified CS applicants." The list of upper year scholarships can be found at http://safa.uwaterloo.ca/scholarships/currentawards.html#mathematics It has all the application and deadline information. Sincerely, The CSClub Executive

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Call For Member Talks
by Computer Science Club 19 Sep '10

19 Sep '10

Hello everyone, This term, in addition to the prof talks and out of town speakers we will once again also run member talks. If you would like to present a talk, please send in a proposed title and an abstract (1-2 paragraph description). The deadline is this Thursday at 5:00pm. There are currently 4 slots scheduled for member talks. If I receive more proposals than that, the program committee and I will decide which ones to accept, and notify submitters of the decision by 5:00pm Friday. Talks are typically 1 hour in length, please keep this in mind when planning your abstracts. 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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Next week's talks: In the Beginning & Cooking for Geeks
by Computer Science Club 17 Sep '10

17 Sep '10

Hello, the CSC is hosting two talks this week. The first is entitled 'In the Beginning' and will be on 2010-09-21 at 04:30 PM in MC4061. It will be presented by Dr. Prabhakar Ragde, Cheriton School of Computer Science. Abstract: I'll be workshopping some lecture ideas involving representations of numbers, specification of computation in functional terms, reasoning about such specifications, and comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches. No prior background is needed; the talk should be accessible to anyone attending the University of Waterloo and, I hope, interesting to both novices and experts. The second is entitled 'Cooking for Geeks' and will be on 2010-09-22 at 06:00 PM in MC4045. It will be presented by Jeff Potter. The CSC is happy to be hosting Jeff Potter, author of "Cooking for Geeks" for a presentation on the finer arts of food science. Jeff's book has been featured on NPR, BBC and his presentations have wowed audiences of hackers & foodies alike. We're happy to have Jeff joining us for a hands on demonstration. But you don't have to take our word for it... here's what Jeff has to say: Hi! I'm Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks (O'Reilly Media, 2010), and I'm doing a "D.I.Y. Book Tour" to talk about my just-released book. I'll talk about the food science behind what makes things yummy, giving you a quick primer on how to go into the kitchen and have a fun time turning out a good meal. Depending upon the space, I’ll also bring along some equipment or food that we can experiment with, and give you a chance to play with stuff and pester me with questions. If you have a copy of the book, bring it! I’ll happily sign it. 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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CS Club Fall 2010 Preview
by Computer Science Club 16 Sep '10

16 Sep '10

Hello Members, Welcome to the Fall 2010 term. In this message we hope to give you a preview of what the club will be doing this term, and let you know how you can help out if you so choose. -- Membership Remember to renew your membership! If you can't remember if you have paid dues for this term just ask. Note that you can pay for several terms in advance. -- Election Results Our election for Fall 2010 was last Tuesday, the following were elected/appointed: President: Jacob Parker Vice President: Edgar Bering Treasurer: Rebecca Putinski Secretary: Kyle Spaans Systems Administrator: Jeremy Roman Office Manager: Sayed Khader Librarian: Matthew McPherrin -- Talks Each term we run a bunch of talks. This term we're planning to have a seminar every Tuesday at 4:30, starting next week. The seminar will have a mix of local professors, members, and out of town speakers presenting. If you have suggestions for speakers to invite, e-mail the program committee (progcom(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca) If you would like to give a talk, the Vice President will be sending out instructions on what to do in the next few days. -- Unix Tutorials New to Unix? Need a hand in figuring out what to do? We will once again be running our popular Unix tutorials. Experienced with Unix and want to help teach? We can always use more tutors, e-mail progcom(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca to find out how to help. -- Trips, Socials, Code Parties, etc. Last winter we promised a "CSC Invades U of T" or similar trip, but plans fizzled. We're going to try again. As you may or may not be aware, TRON: Legacy comes out this December. If there is enough interest we will look into going to a showing as a club, possibly getting discount tickets. We're also planning a code party or two, and there's a possibility there will be mini-contests at them. Stay tuned. -- And More! This is quite an ambitious program. If you would like to help run events or have an idea for an event you'd like to run with the help of the club, contact the Vice President (veep(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca) and ask about helping out with the program committee, who run the events. In addition to events, the club maintains an office, and we'll be looking for good office staff once again. Stay tuned for information on how to become an office staffer. Office staff keep the office functioning and clean, as well as check out library books and sign up members and are otherwise helpful to people coming by. If systems administration is more your bent, contact the Systems Administrator (sysadmin(a)csclub.uwaterloo.ca) for information on how to join the systems committee, who administer the club's computing environment. -- Fall 2010 Executive

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Talk: Elyot Grant: The Incompressibility Method: Tuesday July20th, 4:30pm, MC2066
by Computer Science Club 17 Jul '10

17 Jul '10

Elyot Grant is giving a talk on Tuesday July 20th at 4:30pm in MC2066. The information follows below: Title: The Incompressibility Method Abstract: Heapsort. It runs in $\Theta(n \log n)$ time in the worst case, and in $O(n)$ time in the best case. Do you think that heapsort runs faster than $O(n \log n)$ time on average? Could it be possible that on most inputs, heapsort runs in $O(n)$ time, running more slowly only on a small fraction of inputs? Most students would say no. It "feels" intuitively obvious that heapsort should take the full $n \log n$ steps on most inputs. However, proving this rigourously with probabilistic arguments turns out to be very difficult. Average case analysis of algorithms is one of those icky subjects that most students don't want to touch with a ten foot pole; why should it be so difficult if it is so intuitively obvious? In this talk, we shall explore the incompressibility method---an interesting and extremely powerful framework for determining the average-case runtime of algorithms. Within the right background knowledge, the heapsort question can be answered with an elegant 3-line proof. The crucial fact is that an overwhelmingly large fraction of randomly generated objects are incompressible. We can show that the inputs to heapsort that run quickly correspond to inputs that can be compressed, thereby proving that heapsort can't run quickly on average. Of course, "compressible" is something that must be rigourously defined, and for this we turn to the fascinating theory of Kolmogorov complexity. In this talk, we'll briefly discuss the proof of the incompressibility theorem and then see a number of applications. We won't dwell too much on gruesome mathemtical details. No specific background is required, but knowledge of some of the topics in CS240 will be helpful in understanding some of the applications.

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CSCTalk: Tuesday July 13th 4:30pm MC2066: Halftoning and Digital Art
by Computer Science Club 12 Jul '10

12 Jul '10

Edgar Bering will be giving a talk tomorrow in MC2066 at 4:30pm. Title: Halftoning and Digital Art Abstract: Halftoning is the process of simulating a continuous tone image with small dots or regions of one colour. Halftoned images may be seen in older newspapers with a specled apperance, and to this day colour halftoning is used in printers to reproduce images. In this talk I will present various algorithmic approaches to halftoning, with an eye not toward exact image reproduction but non-photorealistic rendering and art. Included in the talk will be an introduction to digital paper cutting and a tutorial on how to use the CSC's paper cutter to render creations. -- Brennan Taylor b4taylor at uwaterloo dot ca Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~b4taylor University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

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Friday Code Party!
by Computer Science Club 08 Jul '10

08 Jul '10

There is a CSC Code Party Friday starting at 7:00PM (1900) until we get bored (likely in the early in morning). Come out for fun hacking times. -- Brennan Taylor b4taylor at uwaterloo dot ca Computer Science Club http://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~b4taylor University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario CANADA N2L 3G1

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