4 <eventitem date="2004-03-29" time="6:00 PM"
5 room="MC 4058" title="LaTeXing your work report">
6 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
9 The work report is a familiar chore for any co-op student. Not only is
10 there a report to write, but to add insult to injury, your report is
11 returned if you do not follow your departmental guidelines.
15 Fear no more! In this talk, you will learn how to use LaTeX and a
16 specially developed class to automatically format your work reports.
17 This talk is especially useful to Mathematics, Computer Science,
18 Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Software Engineeering co-op
19 students about to go on work term.
24 <eventitem date="2004-03-30" time="5:30 PM"
25 room="The Grad House" title="Pints with Profs!">
26 <short>Get to know your profs and be the envy of your
30 Come out and meet your professors!! This is a great opportunity to
31 meet professors for Undergraduate Research jobs or to find out who
32 you might have for future courses. One and all are welcome!
35 <p>And best of all... free food!!!</p>
39 <eventitem date="2004-03-23" time="6:00 PM"
40 room="MC4058" title="Extending LaTeX with packages">
41 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
44 LaTeX is a document processing system. What this means is you describe
45 the structure of your document, and LaTeX typesets it appealingly.
46 However, LaTeX was developed in the late-80s and is now showing its age.
50 How does it compete against modern systems? By being easily extensible,
51 of course. This talk will describe the fundamentals of typesetting in
52 LaTeX, and will then show you how to extend it with freely available
53 packages. You will learn how to teach yourself LaTeX and how to find
54 extensions that do what you want.
58 As well, there will be a short introduction on creating your own
59 packages, for your own personal use.
64 <eventitem date="2004-03-16" time="6:00 PM"
65 room="MC4058" title="Distributed programming for CS and Engineering
67 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
70 If you've ever worked with other group members, you know how difficult
71 it is to code simultaneously. You might be working on one part of your
72 assignment, and you need to send your source code to everyone else. Or
73 you might be fixing a bug in someone else's part, and need to merge in
74 the change. What a mess!
78 This talk will explain some Best Practices for developing code in a
79 distributed fashion. Whether you're working side-by-side in the lab, or
80 developing from home, these methods can apply to your team. You will
81 learn how to apply these techniques in the Unix environment using GNU
82 Make, CVS, GNU diff and patch.
87 <eventitem date="2004-03-15" time="5:30 PM"
88 room="MC4040" title="SPARC Architecture">
89 <short>A talk by James Morrison</short>
92 Making a compiler? Bored? Think CISC sucks and RISC rules?
96 This talk will run through the SPARC v8, IEEE-P1754, architecture.
97 Including all the fun that can be had with register windows and the
98 SPARC instruction set including the basic instructions, floating
99 point instructions, and vector instructions.
104 <eventitem date="2004-03-09" time="6:00 PM"
105 room="MC4062" title="Managing your home directory using CVS">
106 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
109 If you have used Unix for a while, you know that you've created
110 configuration files, or dotfiles. Each program seems to want its own
111 particular settings, and you want to customize your environment. In a
112 power-user's directory, you could have hundreds of these files.
116 Isn't it annoying to migrate your configuration if you login to another
117 machine? What if you build a new computer? Or perhaps you made a
118 mistake to one of your configuration files, and want to undo it?
122 In this talk, I will show you how to manage your home directory using
123 CVS, the Concurrent Versions System. You can manage your files, revert
124 to old versions in the past, and even send them over the network to
125 another machine. I'll also discuss how to keep your configuration files
126 portable, so they'll work even on different Unices, with different
132 <eventitem date="2004-03-02" time="6:00 PM"
133 room="MC4042" title="Graphing webs-of-trust">
134 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
137 In today's world, people have hundreds of connexions. And you can
138 express these connexions with a graph. For instance, you may wish to
139 represent the network of your friends.
143 Originally, webs-of-trust were directed acyclic graphs of people who had
144 identified each other. This way, if there was a path between you and
145 the person who want to identify, then you could assume that each person
146 along that path had verified the next person's identity.
150 I will show you how to generate your own web-of-trust graph using Free
151 Software. Of course, you can also use this knowledge to graph anything
157 <eventitem date="2004-02-18" time="7:00 PM"
158 room="DC2305" title="KW Perl Mongers">
159 <short>Perl Modules: A look under the hood</short>
162 <p>In Perl, a module is the basic unit of code-reuse. The talk will be
163 mostly a look into GD::Text::Arc, a module written to draw TrueType text
164 around the edge of a circle. The talk will consider:</p>
167 <li>using and writing object-oriented perl code</li>
168 <li>the Virtue of Laziness: or, reusing other peoples' code.</li>
169 <li>writing tests while coding</li>
170 <li>beer coasters</li>
176 <eventitem date="2004-02-05" time="3:30 PM"
177 room="MC4041" title="Constitutional Change">
178 <short>Vote to change the CSC Constitution</short>
181 <p>During the General Meeting on 19 January 2004, a proposed constitution
182 change was passed around. This change is in response to a change in the
183 MathSoc Clubs Policy (Policy 4, Section 3, Sub-section f).</p>
185 <p>This general meeting is called to vote on this proposed change. We must
186 have quorum of 15 Full Members vote on this change. The following text was
187 presented at the CSC Winter 2004 Elections.</p>
189 <pre>We propose to make a Constitutional change on this day, 19 January 2004.
190 The proposed change is to section 3.1 of the constitution which
193 In compliance with MathSoc regulations and in recognition of the
194 club being primarily targeted at undergraduate students, full
195 membership is open to all undergraduate students in the Faculty of
196 Mathematics and restricted to the same.
198 Since MathSoc has changed its requirements for club membership, we
199 propose that it be changed to:
201 In compliance with MathSoc regulations and in recognition of the
202 club being primarily targeted at undergraduate students, full
203 membership is open to all Social Members of the Mathematics Society
204 and restricted to the same.</pre>
208 <eventitem date="2004-01-12" time="3:00 PM"
209 room="DC1301" title="InstallFest">
210 <short>See <a href="http://uw-dig.uwaterloo.ca/installfest/">http://uw-dig.uwaterloo.ca/installfest/</a></short>
213 <p>An Installfest is an opportunity to install software on your computer.
214 People come with computers. Other people come with experience. The people
215 get together and (when all goes well) everybody leaves satisfied.</p>
217 <p>You are invited to our first installfest of the year. Come to get some
218 software or to learn more about Open Source Software and why it is relevant
219 to your life. The event is free, but you may want to bring blank CDs and/or
220 money to purchase some open source action for your computer at home.</p>
222 <p>See the <a href="http://uw-dig.uwaterloo.ca/installfest/">UW-DIG
223 website</a> for more details.</p>
230 <eventitem date="2003-12-01" time="7:00 PM"
231 room="RCH 101" title="Jon 'maddog' Hall: Free and Open Source: Its uses in Business and Education">
232 <short> Free and Open Source software has been around for a long
233 time, even longer then shrink-wrapped code.</short>
235 <p>Free and Open Source software has been around for a long time, even
236 longer then shrink-wrapped code. It has a long and noble history in the annals
237 of education. Even more than ever, due to the drop of hardware prices and the
238 increase of worldwide communications, Free and Open Source can open new
239 avenues of teaching and doing research, not only in computer science, but in
240 other university fields as well.</p>
241 <p>Learn how Linux as an operating system can
242 run on anything from a PDA to a supercomputer, and how Linux is reducing the
243 cost of computing dramatically as the fastest growing operating system in the
244 world. Learn how other Free and Open Source projects, such as office suites,
245 audio and video editing and playing software, relational databases, etc. are
246 created and are freely available.</p>
248 <p><a href="http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~cpbell/">Map and directions</a></p>
249 <h3>Speaker's Biography</h3>
250 <p>Jon "maddog" Hall is the Executive Director of <a href="http://www.li.org/">Linux International</a>,
251 a non-profit association of computer vendors who wish to support and promote
252 the Linux Operating System. During his career which spans over thirty years,
253 Mr. Hall has been a programmer, systems designer, systems administrator,
254 product manager, technical marketing manager and educator. He has
255 worked for such companies as Western Electric Corporation, Aetna Life and
256 Casualty, Bell Laboratories, Digital Equipment Corporation, VA Linux Systems,
257 and is currently funded by SGI.</p>
259 <p>He has taught at Hartford State Technical College, Merrimack College and
260 Daniel Webster College. He still likes talking to students over pizza and beer
261 (the pizza can be optional).</p>
263 <p>Mr. Hall is the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles, many
264 presentations and one book, "Linux for Dummies".</p>
266 <p>Mr. Hall serves on the boards of several companies, and several non-profit
267 organizations, including the USENIX Association.</p>
269 <p>Mr. Hall has traveled the world speaking on the benefits of Open Source
270 Software, and received his BS in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel
271 University, and his MSCS from RPI in Troy, New York.</p>
273 <p>In his spare time maddog is working on his retirement project:</p>
275 <center>maddog's monastery for microcomputing and microbrewing</center>
280 <eventitem date="2003-11-05" time="4:30 PM - 8:30 PM"
281 room="Grad House Pub (Green Room)" title="CS Pints With Profs">
282 <short>Come have a pint with your favourite CS profs!</short>
284 <p>Come meet CS profs in a relaxed atmosphere this Wednesday at
285 the Grad House (by South Campus Hall). This is your chance to meet those CS profs
286 you enjoyed in lectures in person, have a chat with them
287 and find out what they're doing outside the lecture halls.</p>
289 <p>We'll be providing free food, including hamburgers and nachos,
290 and the Grad House offers a great selection of drinks.</p>
292 <p>If you'd like to invite a particular prof, stop by on the third
293 floor of the MC (outside of the Comfy) to pick up an invitation.</p>
295 <p>Persons of all ages are welcome!</p>
300 <eventitem date="2003-10-21" time="4:30 PM - 5:30 PM" room="MC2065"
301 title=".NET & Linux: When Worlds Collide">
302 <short>A talk by James Perry</short>
305 <p>.NET is Microsoft's new development platform, including amongst
306 other things a language called C# and a class library for various
307 operating system services. .NET aims to be portable, although it is
308 currently mostly only used on Windows systems.</p>
310 <p>With the full backing of Microsoft, it seems unlikely that .NET
311 will disappear any time soon. There are several efforts underway to
312 bring .NET to the GNU/Linux platform. Hosted by the Computer Science
313 Club, this talk will discuss a number of the issues surrounding .NET
319 <eventitem date="2003-10-22" time="4:30 PM - 5:30 PM" room="MC4061"
320 title="Real-Time Graphics Compilers">
321 <short>Sh is a GPU metaprogramming language developed at the UW
322 Computer Graphics Lab</short>
325 <p>Sh is a GPU metaprogramming language developed at the University of
326 Waterloo Computer Graphics Lab. It allows graphics programmers to
327 write programs which run directly on the GPU (Graphics Processing
328 Unit) using familiar C++ syntax. Furthermore, it allows
329 metaprogramming of such programs, that is, writing programs which
330 generate other programs, in an easy and natural manner.</p>
332 <p>This talk will give a brief overview of how Sh works, the design of
333 its intermediate representation and the (still somewhat simplistic)
334 optimizer that the current reference implementation has and problems
335 with applying traditional compiler optimizations.</p>
337 <p>Stefanus Du Toit is an undergraduate student at the University of
338 Waterloo. He is also a Research Assistant for Michael McCool from the
339 University of Waterloo Graphics Lab. Over the Summer of 2003 Stefanus
340 reimplemented the Sh reference implementation and designed and
341 implemented the current Sh optimizer.</p>
345 <eventitem date="2003-10-17" time="3:00 PM" room="MC3001 (Comfy)"
346 title="Poster Team Meeting">
347 <short>More free pizza from the Poster Team</short>
349 <p>Are you interested in getting involved in the Computer Science
352 <p>Come on out to the second meeting of our Poster Team, a bunch of
353 students helping out with promotion for our events. The agenda for
354 this meeting will include painting posters, designing event
355 invitations, and organizing poster runs. Once again, we will be
356 serving free pizza!</p>
358 <p>See you there!</p>
362 <eventitem date="2003-10-16" time="4:00 PM - 5:30 PM" room="MC2037"
363 title="UNIX 103: Development Tools">
364 <short>GCC, GDB, Make</short>
366 <p>This tutorial will provide you with a practical introduction to GNU
367 development tools on Unix such as the gcc compiler, the gdb debugger
368 and the GNU make build tool.</p>
370 <p>This talk is geared primarily at those mostly unfamiliar with these
371 tools. Amongst other things we will introduce:</p>
374 <li>gcc options, version differences, and peculiarities</li>
375 <li>using gdb to debug segfaults, set breakpoints and find out what's
377 <li>tiny Makefiles that will compile all of your 2nd and 3rd year CS
381 <p>If you're in second year CS and unfamiliar with UNIX development it
382 is highly recommended you go to this talk. All are welcome, including
383 non-math students.</p>
389 <eventitem date="2003-10-02" time="4:00 PM - 5:30 PM" room="MC2037"
390 title="UNIX 101: Text Editors">
391 <short>vi vs. emacs: The Ultimate Showdown</short>
394 Have you ever wondered how those cryptic UNIX text editors work? Have you
395 ever woken up at night with a cold sweat wondering "Is it CTRL-A, or CTRL-X
396 CTRL-A?" Do you just hate pico with a passion?</p>
398 <p>Then come to this tutorial and learn how to use vi and emacs!</p>
400 <p>Basic UNIX commands will also be covered. This tutorial will be especially
401 useful for first and second year students.</p>
406 <eventitem date="2003-10-06" time="4:00 PM" room="MC3001 (Comfy)"
407 title="Poster Team Meeting">
408 <short>Join the Poster Team and get Free Pizza!</short>
411 <li>Do you like computer science?</li>
412 <li>Do you like posters?</li>
413 <li>Do you like free pizza?</li>
415 <p>If the answer to one of these questions is yes, then come
416 out to the first meeting of the Computer Science Club Poster Team! The
417 CSC is looking for interested students to help out with promotion and
418 publicity for this term's events. We promise good times and free
423 <eventitem date="2003-09-17" time="4:30 PM" room="MC3001 (Comfy)"
424 title="CSC Elections">
425 <short>CSC Fall 2003 Elections</short>
427 <p>Elections will be held on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 at 4:30 PM in the
429 Comfy Lounge, MC3001.</p>
431 <p>I invite you to nominate yourself or others for executive positions,
432 starting immediately. Simply e-mail me at cro@csclub.uwaterloo.ca
433 with the name of the person who is to be nominated and the position
434 they're nominated for.</p>
436 <p>Nominees must be full-time undergraduate students in Math. Sorry!</p>
438 <p>Positions open for elections are:</p>
440 <ul><li>President: Organises the club, appoints committees, keeps everyone busy.
441 If you have lots of ideas about the club in general and like bossing
442 people around, go for it!</li>
444 <li>Vice President: Organises events, acts as the president if he's not
445 available. If you have lots of ideas for events, and spare time, go
448 <li>Treasurer: Keeps track of the club's finances. Gets to sign cheques
449 and stuff. If you enjoy dealing with money and have ideas on how to
450 spend it, go for it!</li>
452 <li>Secretary: Takes care of minutes and outside correspondence. If you
453 enjoy writing things down and want to use our nifty new letterhead
454 style, go for it!</li></ul>
456 <p>Nominations will be accepted until Tuesday, September 16 at 4:30 PM.</p>
458 <p>Additionally, a Sysadmin will be appointed after the elections. If you
459 like working with unix systems and have experience setting up and
460 maintaining them, go for it!</p>
462 <p>I hope that lots of people will show up; hopefully we'll have a great
463 term with plenty of events. We always need other volunteers, so if you
464 want to get involved just talk to the new exec after the
465 meeting. Librarians, webmasters, poster runners, etc. are always
468 <p>There will also be free pop.</p>
470 <p>Memberships can be purchased at the elections or at least half an hour
471 prior to at the CSC. Only undergrad math members can vote, but anyone can
478 <eventitem date="2003-07-31" time="4:30 PM" room="MC4064"
479 title="LaTeX and Work Reports">
480 <short>Writing beautiful work reports</short>
483 <p>The work report is a familiar chore for any co-op student. Not only is
484 there a report to write, but to add insult to injury, your report is
485 returned if you do not follow your departmental guidelines.</p>
487 <p>Fear no more! In this talk, you will learn how to use LaTeX and a
488 specially developed class to automatically format your work reports.
489 This talk is especially useful to Mathematics, Computer Science,
490 Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Software Engineeering co-op
491 students about to go on work term.</p>
494 href="http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~sfllaw/programs/uw-wkrpt/">http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~sfllaw/programs/uw-wkrpt/</a></p>
499 <eventitem date="2003-07-24" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
500 title="vi: the visual editor">
501 <short>It's not 6.</short>
504 <p>In 1976, a University of California Berkeley student by the name of
505 Bill Joy got sick of his text editor, ex. So he hacked it such that
506 he could read his document as he wrote it. The result was "vi", which
507 stands for VIsual editor. Today, it is shipped with every modern
508 Unix system, due to its global influence.</p>
510 <p>In this talk, you will learn how to use vi to edit documents
511 quickly and efficiently. At the end, you should be able to:</p>
514 <li>Navigate and search through documents</li>
515 <li>Cut, copy, and paste across documents</li>
516 <li>Search and replace regular expressions</li>
519 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be lent
520 to you for the duration of this class.</p>
525 <eventitem date="2003-07-24" time="3:00 PM" room="CSC Office" title="July
527 <short> See Abstract for minutes </short>
530 --paying Simon for Sugar
533 Expense this to MathSoc in lieu of foreign speaker.
535 --We currently have (including CD-R and pop-income not
536 currently in safe) $972.85
537 -We have $359.02 on budget that we can expense to MathSoc.
539 --We got MEF money for books and video card. Funding for
540 wireless microphone is dependent on whether MFCF is
542 -Funding for casters was denied.
543 -Shopping for the Video card.
544 -Expecting it after auguest (Stefanus shopping for it.)
545 -Will have to hear back regarding the microphone, best to
546 delay that now, discuss it with MEF.
547 -Better to do it this term, so it doesn't get lost.
548 -Let MFCF know about this concern.
549 -Regarding books, can be done anytime before September.
552 -Generally, Jim Eliot talk when really well.
553 -Apparently he was generally offensive.
554 -When was the LaTeX talk? End of the month.
555 -Kegger at Jim's place on the 16th.
557 --Getting people in on the 6th, 7th, 8th for csc commercials
559 -Hang out in here, and he'll make a CSC commercial.
560 -Co-ordinate when everyone should be in here, so we can email Jason.
563 -CEO needs it's database changed to use ISBN as a primary key.
564 -Needs functionality to take out/return books.
566 --Mark just entered financial stuff into GNUcash
568 --Choose CRO for next term.
569 -Stefanus has expressed desire not to be CRO.
570 -Gary Simmons was suggested (and he accepted)
573 --Mike Biggs has to get here naked.
574 -Four unanimous votes.
575 -Nakedness only applies to getting here, not being here.
579 ACTION ITEM: Biggs and Cass
580 -get labelmaker tape, masking tape
581 whiteboard makers, coloured paper, CD sleeves
582 -keep reciepts for CSC office expenses.
584 How is the progess on allowing executives and voters to be non-math
586 -The vote is coming up Monday.
587 -Proposal: Anyone who is a paying member can be a member
588 -So you can either do two things:
590 Get your faculty society to recognize CSC as a club.
592 Stefanus wanted to mention that we shoudl talk to Yolanda,
593 Craig or Louie about a EYT event for frosh week.
595 -Sugar Mountain trying to hook all the Frosh
599 Reminder for Next Year's executive.
600 -September 16th @ 5:00pm, get a table for Clubs day, and 17th
601 and 18th, maintain the booth (full day events).
604 -There should be executive before then
606 Note: There needs to be a private section in the CSC Procedures Manual.
607 (Only accessible by shell)
612 -Talk to Plantops about:
620 <eventitem date="2003-06-27" time="2:30 PM" room="DC1302"
621 title="Friday Flicks">
622 <short> SIGGRAPH Electronic Theatre Showing </short>
625 SIGGRAPH is the ACM's Special Interest Group for Graphics and
626 simultaneously the world's largest graphics conference and
627 exhibition, where the cutting edge of graphics research is presented
630 With support from UW's Computer Graphics Lab, the CSC invites you to
631 capture a glimpse of SIGGRAPH 2002. We will be presenting the
632 Electronic Theatre showings from 2002, demonstrating the best of the
633 animated, CG-produced movies presented at SIGGRAPH.
634 </p><p> Don't miss this free showing!</p>
637 <eventitem date="2003-07-08" time="4:00 PM" room="MC2065"
638 title="Mainframes and Linux">
639 <short>A talk by Jim Elliott. Jim is responsible for IBM's in Open Source
640 activities and IBM's mainframe operating systems for Canada and the
644 Linux and Open Source have become a significant reality in the
645 working world of Information Technology. An indirect result has been a
646 "rebirth" of the mainframe as a strategic platform for enterprise
647 computing. In this session Jim Elliott, IBM's Linux Advocate, will provide
648 an overview of these technologies and an inside look at IBM's participation
649 in the community. Jim will examine Linux usage on the desktop, embedded
650 systems and servers, a reality check on the common misconceptions that
651 surround Linux and Open Source, and an overview of the history and current
652 design of IBM's mainframe servers.</p>
654 Jim Elliott is the Linux Advocate for IBM Canada. He is responsible
655 for IBM's participation in Linux and Open Source activities and IBM's
656 mainframe operating systems in Canada and the Caribbean. Jim is a popular
657 speaker on Linux and Open Source at conferences and user groups across the
658 Americas and Europe and has spoken to over 300 organizations over the past
659 three years. Over his 30 years with IBM he has been the co-author of over
660 15 IBM publications and he also coordinated the launch of Linux on IBM
661 mainframes in the Americas. In his spare time, Jim is addicted to reading
662 historical mystery novels and travel to their locales.
664 <p><a href="http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/jelliott/events.html">Slides</a>
668 <eventitem date="2003-07-04" time="3:30 PM" room="University of Guelph"
670 <short>Come Visit the University of Guelph's Computer Science Club</short>
672 The University of Waterloo Computer Science Club is going to visit the
673 University of Guelph Computer Science Club. There will be a talk given
674 as well as dinner with a fun social atmosphere.</p><p>Drivers Wanted</p>
675 <p>Cancelled -- sorry Guelph cancelled on us.</p>
678 <eventitem date="2003-07-17" time="4:30 PM" room="MC4064"
680 <short>Metaprogramming your way to stunning effects.</short>
683 Modern graphics processors allow developers to upload small "shader
684 programs" to the GPU, which can be executed per-vertex or even
685 per-pixel during the rendering. Such shaders allow stunning effects to
686 be performed in real-time, but unfortunately aren't very easy to
687 program since one generally has to write them at the assembly level.
689 Recently a few high-level languages for shader programming have become
690 available. Sh, a result of research at UW, is one such language. It
691 allows programming powerful shaders in simple and intuitive ways. Sh
692 is particularily interesting because of the way it is
693 implemented. Instead of coming up with a language grammar and writing
694 a full-fledged compiler, Sh is implemented as a C++ library, and
695 shader programs are effectively written in C++. The actual compilation
696 then takes place in a manner similar to JIT (Just-in-time)
697 compilers. This has many advantages over the traditional approach,
698 including C++'s familiar syntax for users, and much less work for the
701 In this talk I will give an overview of GPUs and the Sh language as
702 well as some interesting details on how Sh was implemented.
703 </p><p> <!-- Is there a bio tag -->
704 Stefanus Du Toit is a research assistant at the University of
705 Waterloo. He has implemented the current version of Sh from scratch
706 and is actively developing it under supervision of Michael McCool, the
707 original designer of the language.
711 <eventitem date="2003-06-19" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
712 title="vi: the visual editor">
713 <short>It's not 6.</short>
716 <p>In 1976, a University of California Berkeley student by the name of
717 Bill Joy got sick of his text editor, ex. So he hacked it such that
718 he could read his document as he wrote it. The result was "vi", which
719 stands for VIsual editor. Today, it is shipped with every modern
720 Unix system, due to its global influence.</p>
722 <p>In this talk, you will learn how to use vi to edit documents
723 quickly and efficiently. At the end, you should be able to:</p>
726 <li>Navigate and search through documents</li>
727 <li>Cut, copy, and paste across documents</li>
728 <li>Search and replace regular expressions</li>
731 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be lent
732 to you for the duration of this class.</p>
737 <eventitem date="2003-06-12" time="3:30 PM" room="MC3036 CSC Office" title="June 12 Exec Meeting">
738 <short>Have an issue that should be brought up? We'd love to hear it!</short>
742 Budget: All the money we requested
743 --No money from Pints from Profs
744 --MathSoc has promised us $1250
746 Feedback from Completed Events
747 UNIX Talks: 17 people for first
748 --12 people for second
754 --People Jim didn't know talked to him for 1/2 hour
756 History of CSC talk went well
757 --Good variety of people
761 --Only 1 E& CE prof
763 --Jim will harrass the profs at the School of CS Council meeting.
765 We're starting to fall behind in planning
769 --Might have to move RSB back
770 --International site has a few test samples
771 --Stefanus had some ideas
772 --Coding will probably take an afternoon/evening
773 --We need volunteers to run the competition
774 --We have volunteers to code: Phil and Stefanus
776 ACTION ITEM: Phil and Stefanus
777 --code whatever you volunteered to code for.
779 --Mike intends to visit classes and directly advertise
780 --Email Christina Hotz
782 --GH guy: Mike has an abstract, will have posters by tomorrow
785 --Mathnet, Hackers, Wargames, Tron
786 --Mike will get a room
787 --Will be closed member
789 Mike McCool is offering rooms for showing SIGGRAPH
791 -check with Mike McCool.
794 -Make posters for Movie Nights
796 When is other movie night? (Will plan some time in July)
798 Who is our foreign speaker?
799 Action Item: jelliot@ca.ibm.com (Check name first) about
800 getting a foreign speaker -- Note: Has already been contacted.
802 Simon got money from Engsoc
804 Cass meeds coloured paper (CSC is out)
806 ACTION ITEM: Cass and Mark
807 --get labelmaker tape, masking tape,
808 whiteboard makers, coloured paper
809 --keep reciepts for CSC office expenses
811 NOTICE: Mike is now Imapd
813 Simon distibuted budget list
814 Mark got the money from Mathsoc for last budget, deposited it.
817 --Get MEF funding by July 4th (equipment)
819 --Get WEEF funding by June 27th (book)
821 Jim still working on allowing executives and voters to be
824 We get free photocopying from MathSoc
826 --write down code for free photocopying from MathSoc
828 Simon has been able to get into the cscdisk account, still
829 looking into getting into the cscceo account.
831 Damien got an e-mail stating that the files for cscdisk are
835 --provide SSH key to Phil for getting into cscdisk, cscceo, etc...
836 --Renumber bootup scripts for sugar and powerpc so that they
839 ACTION ITEM: Mike needs to do all the plantops stuff again.
841 ACTION ITEM: Mike -- "Stapler if you say please" sign.
843 CVS Tree for CEO has been exported.
844 Damien has volunteered to finish CEO (found by Cass)
846 All books with barcodes have been scanned
847 All books without barcodes need to be bar-coded.
850 --Find a Credit-card with a $500 or less limit.
852 Note: There needs to be a private section in the
853 CSC Procedures Manual. (Only accessible by shell)
855 Stefanus Wanted to mention that we should talk to
856 Yolanda, Craig or Louie about a EYT event for Frosh Week.
861 <eventitem date="2003-06-10" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2066"
862 title="A Brief History of Computer Science">
865 <p>War, insanity, espionage, beauty, domination, sacrifice, and tragic
866 death... not what one might associate with the history of computer
867 science. In this talk I will focus on the origin of our discipline in
868 the fields of engineering, mathematics, and science, and on the
869 complicated personalities that shaped its evolution. No advanced
870 technical knowledge is required.</p>
875 <eventitem date="2003-06-09" time="5:00 - 9:00 PM" room="The Grad House"
876 title="Pints with Profs!">
877 <short>Get to know your profs and be the envy of your friends!</short>
880 <p>Come out and meet your professors!! This is a great opportunity to
881 meet professors for Undergraduate Research jobs or to find out who you might
882 have for future courses. One and all are welcome!</p>
884 <p>Best of all... free food!!!</p>
889 <eventitem date="2003-05-29" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
890 title="Unix 101: First Steps With Unix">
891 <short>Learn Unix and be the envy of your friends!</short>
894 <p>This is the first in a series of seminars that cover the use of the
895 Unix Operating System. Unix is used in a variety of applications, both
896 in academia and industry. We will provide you with hands-on experience
897 with the Math Faculty's Unix environment in this seminar.</p>
899 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
902 <li>Navigating the Unix environment</li>
903 <li>Using common Unix commands</li>
904 <li>Using the PICO text editor</li>
905 <li>Reading electronic mail and news with PINE</li>
908 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be lent
909 to you for the duration of this class.</p>
914 <eventitem date="2003-06-05" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
915 title="Unix 102: Fun With Unix">
916 <short>Talking to your Unix can be fun and profitable</short>
919 <p>This is the second in a series of seminars that cover the use of the
920 Unix Operating System. Unix is used in a variety of applications, both in
921 academia and industry. We will provide you with hands-on experience with
922 the Math Faculty's Unix environment in this tutorial.</p>
924 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
927 <li>Interacting with Bourne and C shells</li>
928 <li>Editing text with the vi text editor</li>
929 <li>Editing text with the Emacs display editor</li>
930 <li>Multi-tasking and the screen multiplexer</li>
933 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be
934 lent to you for the duration of this class</p>
939 <eventitem date="2003-06-12" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
940 title="Unix 103: Scripting Unix">
941 <short>You too can be a Unix taskmaster</short>
944 <p>This is the third in a series of seminars that cover the use of the
945 Unix Operating System. Unix is used in a variety of applications, both in
946 academia and industry. We will provide you with hands-on experience with
947 the Math Faculty's Unix environment in this tutorial.</p>
949 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
952 <li>Shell scripting</li>
953 <li>Searching through text files</li>
954 <li>Batch editing text files</li>
957 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be
958 lent to you for the duration of this class</p>
963 <eventitem date="2003-05-22" time="4:30 PM" room="MC3036 CSC Office" title="May 22 Exec Meeting">
964 <short>The execs discuss what needs discussion</short>
968 Minutes for CSC Exec Meeting
972 * Add staff to burners group.
973 -- Only office staff (people who do stuff) on burners list
974 -- No objections from executives
976 * We still need a webmaster, imapd
978 --Check for pop delivery services (Like Grocery Gateway)
979 so that we can replace imapd with an automated cronjob
980 -- If this gets implemented, we must make sure that
981 someone is around to receive the pop whenever it is
986 -- Make sure execs receive a copy of the proposed budget
988 -- Look into claiming money from Mathsoc for the last
990 --Will be looked over the week after next Monday at the Mathsoc
992 --June 27th is the WEF (Engineering Endowment Fund) deadline
993 --EngSoc proposal for donations by the end of the month
994 -- Around 15 events planned
996 --CS Departmant will pay for flight
997 -- We can pay local expenses
1001 *Changes in the MathSoc Clubs Policy
1002 Action Item: Jim and Stefanus
1003 --Bring thus up with MathSoc
1004 --Might be good to talk to Bioinformatics about this, as
1005 they have science faculty members to take care of as well.
1006 --Major issue: People who revoke their Mathsoc fees can still be
1008 --We want it so that only people who have paid dues to Mathsoc
1010 --Execs should not take back fees, as that is bad form.
1011 --All execs unanimously agreed with this proposal
1013 *Confirming that we have free printing and photocopying
1015 --Does Faculty of Math billing code apply to CSC
1016 (as Faculty of Math department?)
1017 -- Procedures manual has a billing code, but it should
1019 -- Ask MUO, then Shirley after that.
1021 --Apparently there is a special Watcard that provides
1022 free printing from MFCF
1023 --We do not know what account it is mapped to,
1026 * Getting csc_disk, csc, csc_ceo accounts on undergrad to work again.
1028 -- Get csc-disk back up for student use.
1029 -- What group permissions do we need?
1030 -- CSC-Disk should be used as a repository for custom
1031 window managers, Mozilla, etc... (selling factor for
1033 -- We should also have an announcement (MOTD, perhaps?)
1034 that we are providing and supporting this software.
1035 --Consider: Having university-wide accessible
1036 binaries might be a pain, as different machines
1037 might require different compilations.
1038 -- CSC-Disk is full of user data. Should that be blown away?
1040 *Getting locker #7 from MathSoc (Don't we already have lockers 788 and
1042 --Why were the locks snipped? (Bring up at council meeting)
1043 --We would prefer one combo-lock and one key-lock.
1045 * Review of the CSC office organization
1047 --Give Mike sudo access for shutdown
1048 --Will be rewiring stuff on Saturday
1049 --involves re-plugging machines
1051 --Get rubber wheels for chairs
1054 -- Ask PlantOps about:
1056 --Installing Electronic Lock (asap)
1057 --According to Faculty of Math,
1058 we shouldn't need keys.
1059 --Currently, we still need keys
1060 --It is kosher to install Electronic lock
1061 --This provides access right control as
1062 compared to key-control.
1063 --Might be long term project.
1064 --Will green men do it?
1065 --Steam-clean chairs (at least once a term)
1067 --Making ugly wall prettier
1068 --PlantOps knows about office
1069 organization, making environment better.
1070 --Whiteboards need to be put up
1071 --Proposal: Cork-board on pillar (no objections)
1072 --Metal frames on Whiteboard will be in least annoying place
1074 *Do we provide public stapler access?
1075 --People are often unappreciative and rude
1076 --Sign - "Stapler if you say please" -- Unanimously voted
1081 --Find out where to get CSC sign before Monday so we
1082 can claim it in old budget.
1084 * Librarian's Report
1086 --Find perl volunteer to finish CEO
1087 --Force Stefanus to export CVS tree and put onto Peri
1089 --Books were scanned into system with help of Mark
1090 --All books with valid barcodes entered into system on
1092 --Books without valid barcodes are not in system
1093 --Someone needs to do it
1094 --Plan is to implement Dewey decimal system
1095 --May be inefficient as all books are about CS
1096 --We will figure out a system later
1097 --No plans to purchase new books
1098 --Librarian's Request: Office Staff should not lend out books
1099 that do not have barcodes (No objects to request)
1100 --We are still using /media/iso/request to track books
1101 --Should be charge late fees for books?
1102 --We should have money in budget for repairing,maintaining books
1103 --Before spending money on maintaining books, check if DC will
1105 --will it be cheaper/easier/better?
1107 *Setting up extra quota for fun and profit.
1108 -- We don't implement quota properly right now
1109 -- Low demand for extra quota
1110 -- Counterpoint: Old CSC made tons of money
1111 -- Counter-counter-point: It's not that necessary for extra
1113 -- Executives voted against proposal.
1115 *Jim will spam with an update about the term
1116 --Consider making it opt-in
1117 --One email from a service you are using should be considered
1118 reasonable mass mailing
1120 *Should Jim bring anything up at the MathSoc meeting?**
1123 * Student branches for ACM and IEEE
1125 --Contact IEEE Computing Society in UW and ask if they want
1126 to merge or transfer society to us
1127 --Simon volunteers to be put down as exec for ACM
1128 --ACM rules state requirement that exec is a ACM member
1129 --Do we renew Calum's ACM membership?
1130 --Yes (3 Yes; 1 No; 1 Abstention)
1131 --ACM membership money in budget
1132 --ACM Student chapter form has not come in
1134 * What to do with the donated Procedures Manual?
1135 --Term Task for webpage:
1136 --Put procedures manual on web-page.
1137 --Merge with current manual
1138 --We don't have a hard copy
1139 --Would be a good thing to read.
1140 --Many parts need updating
1146 <eventitem date="2003-05-14" time="4:30 PM" room="MC3001 Comfy Lounge"
1147 title="Spring 2003 Elections">
1148 <short>Come on out and vote for your exec!</short>
1150 <p>Elections will be held on Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 4:30 PM in the
1151 Comfy Lounge, MC3001.</p>
1153 <p>I invite you to nominate yourself or others for executive positions,
1154 starting immediately. Simply e-mail me at sjdutoit@uwaterloo.ca or
1155 cro@csclub.uwaterloo.ca with the name of the person who is to be
1156 nominated and the position they're nominated for.</p>
1158 <p>Nominees must be full-time undergraduate students in Math. Sorry!</p>
1160 <p>Positions open for elections are:</p>
1164 President: Organises the club, appoints committees, keeps everyone busy.
1165 If you have lots of ideas about the club in general and like bossing
1166 people around, go for it!
1170 Vice President: Organises events, acts as the president if he's not
1171 available. If you have lots of ideas for events, and spare time, go
1176 Treasurer: Keeps track of the club's finances. Gets to sign cheques
1177 and stuff. If you enjoy dealing with money and have ideas on how to
1178 spend it, go for it!
1182 Secretary: Takes care of minutes and outside correspondence. If you
1183 enjoy writing things down and want to use our nifty new letterhead
1188 <p>Nominations will be accepted until Tuesday, May 13 at 4:30 PM.</p>
1190 <p>Additionally, a Sysadmin will be appointed after the elections. If you
1191 like working with unix systems and have experience setting up and
1192 maintaining them, go for it!</p>
1194 <p>I hope that lots of people will show up; hopefully we'll have a great
1195 term with plenty of events. We always need other volunteers, so if you
1196 want to get involved just talk to the new exec after the
1197 meeting. Librarians, webmasters, poster runners, etc. are always
1200 <p>There will also be free pop, and if I remember, timbits :).</p>
1202 <p>Memberships can be purchased at the elections. Only undergrad math
1203 members can vote, but anyone can become a member.</p>
1205 <p>Don't forget! Mark it on your calendar/wrist watch/PDA/brain implant!</p>
1210 <!-- Winter 2003 -->
1212 <eventitem date="2003-02-04" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
1213 title="Unix 101 Tutorial">
1214 <short>Learn Unix and be the envy of your friends!</short>
1217 <p>This is the first in a series of seminars that cover the use of the
1218 UNIX Operating System. UNIX is used in a variety of applications, both
1219 in academia and industy. We will provide you with hands-on experience
1220 with the Math Faculty's UNIX environment in this seminar.</p>
1222 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
1225 <li> Navigating the UNIX environment</li>
1226 <li> Using common UNIX commands</li>
1227 <li>Using the PICO text editor</li>
1228 <li>Reading electronic mail and news with PINE</li>
1231 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be lent
1232 to you for the duration of this class.</p>
1237 <eventitem date="2003-02-11" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
1238 title="Unix 102 Tutorial">
1239 <short>Learn more Unix and be the envy of your friends!</short>
1242 <p>Abstract to come soon.</p>
1247 <eventitem date="2003-02-18" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2037"
1248 title="Unix 103 Tutorial">
1249 <short>Learn more Unix and be the envy of your friends!</short>
1252 <p>Abstract to come soon. </p>
1257 <eventitem date="2003-01-13" time="6:00 PM" room="MC3001"
1258 title="W03 Elections">
1259 <short>Come out and vote for the new exec!</short>
1262 <p>This term's elections will take place on Monday, January 13 at 6:00 PM in the
1263 MC "comfy lounge" (MC3001). Nominations are open from now on (Thursday,
1264 January 2) until 4:30 PM of the day before elections (Sunday, January 12).
1265 In order to nominate someone you can either e-mail me directly, by depositing
1266 a form with the required information in the CSC mailbox in the Mathsoc office
1267 or by writing the nomination and clearly marking it as such on the large
1268 whiteboard in the CSC office. E-mail is probably the best choice.
1269 Please include the name of the person to be nominated as well as the position
1270 you wish to nominate them for.</p>
1272 <p>Candidates must be full members of the club. This means they must have paid
1273 their membership for the given term and (due to recent changes in the
1274 constitution) must be full-time undergraduate math students.
1275 The same requirements hold for those voting. Please bring your Watcard to
1276 the elections so that I can verify this. I will have a list of members with
1279 <p>The positions open are:</p>
1281 <p><b>President</b> -- appoints all commitees of the club, calls and presides at all
1282 meetings of the club and audits the club's financial records. Really, this
1283 is the person in charge.</p>
1285 <p><b>Vice President</b> -- assumes President's duties in case he/she is absent,
1286 plans and coordinates events with the programmes committee and assumes any
1287 other duties delegated by the President.
1288 This is a really fun job if you enjoy coordinating events!</p>
1290 <p><b>Secretary</b> -- keeps minutes of the meetings and cares for any correspondence.
1291 A fairly light job, good choice if you just want to see what being an exec
1294 <p><b>Treasurer</b> -- maintains all the finances of the club.
1295 If you like money and keeping records, this is the job for you!</p>
1297 <p>Additionally a Systems Administrator will be picked by the new executive.</p>
1299 <p>Last term was a great term for the CSC -- many events, some office renovations
1300 and a much improved image were all part of it. I hope to see the next term's
1301 exec continue this. If you're interested in seeing this happen, do consider
1302 going for a position, or helping out as office staff or on one of the
1305 <p>Anyways, hopefully I'll see many of you at the elections.
1306 Remember: Monday, January 13, 6:00 PM, MC3001/Comfy Lounge.</p>
1308 <p>If you have any further questions don't hesitate to contact the CRO,
1309 Stefanus Du Toit <a href="mailto:sjdutoit@uwaterloo.ca">by e-mail</a>.</p>
1313 <eventitem date="2003-01-23" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1314 title="Regular Expressions">
1315 <short>Find your perfect match</short>
1318 <p>Stephen Kleene developed regular expressions to describe what he
1319 called <q>the algebra of regular sets.</q> Since he was a pioneering
1320 theorist in computer science, Kleene's regular expressions soon made
1321 it into searching algorithms and from there to everyday tools.</p>
1323 <p>Regular expressions can be powerful tools to manipulate text.
1324 You will be introduced to them in this talk. As well, we will go
1325 further than the rigid mathematical definition of regular
1326 expressions, and delve into POSIX regular expressions which are
1327 typically available in most Unix tools.</p>
1332 <eventitem date="2003-01-30" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1333 title="sed & awk">
1334 <short>Unix text editing</short>
1337 <p><i>sed</i> is the Unix stream editor. A powerful way to
1338 automatically edit a large batch of text. <i>awk</i> is a
1339 programming language that allows you to manipulate structured data
1340 into formatted reports.</p>
1342 <p>Both of these tools come from early Unix, and both are still
1343 useful today. Although modern programming languages such as Perl,
1344 Python, and Ruby have largely replaced the humble <i>sed</i> and
1345 <i>awk</i>, they still have their place in every Unix user's
1351 <eventitem date="2003-02-06" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1352 title="LaTeX: A Document Processor">
1353 <short>Typesetting beautiful text</short>
1356 <p>Unix was one of the first electronic typesetting platforms. The
1357 innovative AT&T <i>troff</i> system allowed researches at Bell
1358 Labs to generate high quality camera-ready proofs for their papers.
1359 Later, Donald Knuth invented a typesetting system called
1360 T<small>E</small>X, which was far superior to other typesetting
1361 systems in the 1980s. However, it was still a typesetting language,
1362 where one had to specify exactly how text was to be set.</p>
1364 <p>L<sup><small>A</small></sup>T<small>E</small>X is a macro package
1365 for the T<small>E</small>X system that allows an author to describe
1366 his document's function, thereby typesetting the text in an
1367 attractive and correct way. In addition, one can define semantic
1368 tags to a document, in order to describe the meaning of the
1369 document; rather than the layout.</p>
1374 <eventitem date="2003-02-13" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1375 title="LaTeX: Reports">
1376 <short>Writing reports that look good.</short>
1379 <p>Work term reports, papers, and other technical documents can be
1380 typeset in L<sup><small>A</small></sup>T<small>E</small>X to great
1381 effect. In this session, I will provide examples on how to typeset
1382 tables, figures, and references. You will also learn how to make
1383 tables of contents, bibliographics, and how to create footnotes.</p>
1385 <p> I will also examine various packages of
1386 L<sup><small>A</small></sup>T<small>E</small>X that can help you
1387 meet requirements set by users of inferior typesetting systems.
1388 These include double-spacing, hyphenation and specific margin
1394 <eventitem date="2003-02-20" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1395 title="LaTeX: Beautiful Mathematics">
1396 <short>LaTeX => fun</short>
1399 <p>It is widely acknowledged that the best system by which to
1400 typeset beautiful mathematics is through the T<small>E</small>
1401 typesetting system, written by Donald Knuth in the early 1980s.</p>
1403 <p>In this talk, I will demonstrate
1404 L<sup><small>A</small></sup>T<small>E</small>X and how to typeset
1405 elegant mathematical expressions.</p>
1410 <eventitem date="2003-02-27" time="6:00 PM" room="MC1085"
1411 title="The BSD License Family">
1412 <short>Free for all</short>
1415 <p>Before the GNU project ever existed, before the phrase
1416 "Free Software" was ever coined, students and researchers
1417 at the University of California, Berkeley were already
1418 practising it. They had acquired the source cdoe to a
1419 little-known operating system developed at AT&T
1420 Bell Laboratories, and were creating improvments at a
1423 <p>These improvements were sent back to Bell Labs, and
1424 shared to other Universities. Each of them were licensed
1425 under what is now known as the "Original BSD license". Find
1426 out what this license means, its implications, and what are
1427 its decendents by attending this short talk.</p>
1432 <eventitem date="2003-02-27" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1433 title="The GNU General Public License">
1434 <short>The teeth of Free Software</short>
1437 <div style="font-style: italic"><blockquote>
1438 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
1439 freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General
1440 Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and
1441 change free software---to make sure the software is free for all
1444 <div style="text-align:right">--- Excerpt from the GNU GPL</div>
1447 <p> The GNU General Public License is one of the most influencial
1448 software licenses in this day. Written by Richard Stallman for the
1449 GNU Project, it is used by software developers around the world to
1450 protect their work.</p>
1452 <p>Unfortunately, software developers do not read licenses
1453 thoroughly, nor well. In this talk, we will read the entire GNU GPL
1454 and explain the implications of its passages. Along the way, we
1455 will debunk some myths and clarify common misunderstandings.</p>
1457 <p>After this session, you ought to understand what the GNU GPL
1458 means, how to use it, and when you cannot use it. This session
1459 should also give you some insight into the social implications of
1465 <eventitem date="2003-03-13" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1467 <short>Give your documents more markup</short>
1470 <p>XML is the <q>eXtensible Markup Language,</q> a standard
1471 maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium. A descendant of IBM's
1472 SGML. It is a metalanguage which can be used to define markup
1473 languages for semantically describing a document.</p>
1475 <p>This talk will describe how to generate correct XML documents,
1476 and auxillary technologies that work with XML.</p>
1481 <eventitem date="2003-03-20" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1483 <short>Transforming your documents</short>
1486 <p>XSLT is the <q>eXtended Stylesheet Language Transformations,</q>
1487 a language for transforming XML documents into other XML
1490 <p>XSLT is used to manipulate XML documents into other forms: a sort
1491 of glue between data formats. It can turn an XML document into an
1492 XHTML document, or even an HTML document. With a little bit of
1493 hackery, it can even be convinced to spit out non-XML conforming
1499 <eventitem date="2003-03-24" time="8:00 PM"
1500 room="Humanities Theatre, Hagey Hall"
1501 title="Judy, or What Is It Like To Be A Robot?">
1502 <short>Held in co-operation with the UW Cognitive Science Club</short>
1505 <p>A lot of claims have been made lately about the intelligence of
1506 computers. Some researchers say that computers will eventually attain
1507 super-human intelligence. Others call thse claims... um, poppycock.
1508 Oddly enough, in the search for the truth of the matter, both camps
1509 have overlooked an obvious strategy: interviewing a computer and asking
1512 <p>"Judy is as much fun as a barrel of wind-up cymbal-monkeys, and
1513 lots more entertaining." --- Bill Rodriguez, <i>Providence Phoenix</i></p>
1515 <p>"Tom Sgouros's witty play, co-starring the charming robot Judy, is an
1516 imagination stretcher that delights while it exercises your mind. If you
1517 think you can't imagine a conscious robot, you're wrong---you can,
1518 especially once you've met Judy." --- Daniel C. Dennett,
1519 author of <i>Consciousness Explained</i>, <i>Brainchildren</i>,
1522 <p>"...an engrossing evening... Real questions about
1523 consciousness, freedom to act, the relationship between the creator
1524 and the created are woven into a bravura performance." --- Will
1525 Stackman, <i>Aislesay.com</i></p>
1527 <p>Sponsored by the Mathematics Society, the Federation of Students, the
1528 Arts Student Union, the Graduate Student Association, and the Department of
1529 Philosophy. Tickets available at the Humanities box office (888-4908) and
1530 the offices of the Psychology Society and the Computer Science Club for
1532 more information: <a
1533 href="http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/cogsci/">http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/cogsci</a>.</p>
1538 <eventitem date="2003-03-25" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2065"
1539 title="Stream Processing">
1540 <short>A talk by Assistant Professor Michael McCool</short>
1543 <p>Stream processing is an enhanced version of SIMD processing that
1544 permits efficient execution of conditionals and iteration. Stream
1545 processors have many similarities to GPUs, and a hardware prototype,
1546 the Imagine processor, has been used to implement both OpenGL and
1549 <p>It is possible that GPUs will acquire certain properties
1550 of stream processors in the future, which should make them easier
1551 to use and more efficient for general-purpose computation that includes
1552 data-dependent iteration and conditionals.</p>
1557 <eventitem date="2003-03-26" time="6:00 PM" room="MC2065"
1558 title="Abusing the C++ Compiler">
1559 <short>Abusing template metaprogramming in C++</short>
1562 <p>Templates are a useful feature in C++ when it comes to writing
1563 type-independent data structures and algorithms. But that's not all
1564 they can be used for. Essentially, it is possible to write certain
1565 programs in C++ that execute completely at compile-time rather
1566 than run-time. Combined with some optimisations this is an interesting
1567 twist on regular C++ programming.</p>
1569 <p>This talk will give a short overview of the features of templates
1570 and then go on to describe how to "abuse" templates to perform complex
1571 computations at compile time. The speaker will present three programs of
1572 increasing complexity which execute at compile time. First a factorial
1573 listing program, then a prime listing program will be presented. Finally
1574 the talk will conclude with the presentation of a <i>Mandelbrot
1575 generator running at compile time.</i></p>
1577 <p>Some basic knowledge of C++ will be assumed.</p>
1582 <eventitem date="2003-03-27" time="6:30 PM" room="MC1085"
1583 title="SSH and Networks">
1584 <short>Once more into the breach</short>
1587 <p>The Secure Shell (SSH) has now replaced traditional remote login
1588 tools such as <i>rsh</i>, <i>rlogin</i>, <i>rexec</i> and
1589 <i>telnet</i>. It is used to provide secure, authenticated,
1590 encrypted communications between remote systems. However, the SSH
1591 protocol provides for much more than this.</p>
1593 <p>In this talk, we will discuss using SSH to its full extent. Topics
1594 to be covered include:</p>
1596 <li>Remote logins</li>
1597 <li>Remote execution</li>
1598 <li>Password-free authentication</li>
1599 <li>X11 forwarding</li>
1600 <li>TCP forwarding</li>
1601 <li>SOCKS tunnelling</li>
1609 date="1994-09-13" time="9:00 PM"
1610 room="Princess Cinema"
1611 title="Movie Outing: Brainstorm">
1613 No description available.
1617 The first of this term's CSC social events, we will be going to see
1618 the movie ``Brainstorm'' at the Princess Cinema. This outing is
1619 intended primarily for the new first-year students.
1622 The Princess Cinema is Waterloo's repertoire theatre. This month
1623 and next, they are featuring a ``Cyber Film Festival''. Upcoming
1628 <li>Bladerunner (director's cut)</li>
1629 <li>2001: A Space Odyssey</li>
1630 <li>Naked Lunch</li>
1633 Admission is $4.25 for a Princess member, $7.50 for a non-member.
1634 Membership to the Princess is $7.00 per year.
1639 date="1994-09-16" time="4:30 PM"
1641 title="CSC Elections">
1642 <short>No description available</short>
1643 <abstract>No abstract available</abstract>
1646 date="1994-09-19" time="4:30 PM"
1648 title="UNIX I Tutorial">
1649 <short>No description available</short>
1650 <abstract>No abstract available</abstract>
1653 date="1994-09-21" time="6:30 PM"
1655 title="SIGGRAPH Video Night">
1656 <short>No description available</short>
1657 <abstract>No abstract available</abstract>
1660 date="1994-09-22" time="4:30 PM"
1662 title="UNIX I Tutorial">
1663 <short>No description available</short>
1664 <abstract>No abstract available</abstract>
1667 date="1994-09-26" time="4:30 PM"
1669 title="UNIX II Tutorial">
1670 <short>No description available</short>
1671 <abstract>No abstract available</abstract>
1674 date="1994-10-13" time="5:00 PM"
1676 title="Prograph: Picture the Future">
1677 <short>No description available</short>
1680 What is the next step in the evolution of computer languages?
1681 Intelligent agents? Distributed objects? or visual languages?
1684 Visual languages overcome many of the drawbacks and limitations
1685 of the textual languages that software development is based on
1686 today. Do you think about programming in a linear fashion? Or do
1687 you draw a mental picture of your algorithm and then linearize it
1688 for the benefit of your compiler? Wouldn't it be nice if you could
1689 code the same way you think?
1692 Visual C++ and Visual BASIC aren't visual languages, but Prograph
1693 is. Prograph is a commercially available, visual, object-oriented,
1694 data-flow language. It is well suited to graphical user interface
1695 development, but is as powerful for general-purpose programming as
1696 any textual language.
1699 The talk will comprise a discussion of the problems of textual
1700 languages that visual languages solve, a live demonstration of
1701 Prograph, and some of my observations of the applications of
1702 Prograph to software development.
1707 date="1994-10-15" time="10:00 AM"
1709 title="ACM-Style Programming Contest">
1710 <short>No description available</short>
1712 <h3>Big Money and Prizes!</h3>
1714 So you think you're a pretty good programmer? Pit your skills
1715 against others on campus in this triannual event! Contestants will
1716 have three hours to solve five programming problems in either C or
1720 Last fall's winners went on to the International Finals and came
1721 first overall! You could be there, too!
1726 date="1994-10-20" time="4:30 PM"
1728 title="Exploring the Internet">
1729 <short>No description available</short>
1731 <h3>Need something to do between assignments/beers?</h3>
1733 Did you know that your undergrad account at Waterloo gives you
1734 access tothe world's largest computer network? With thousands
1735 of discussion groups, gigabytes of files to download, multimedia
1736 information browsers, even on-line entertainment?
1739 The resources available on the Internet are vast and wondrous, but
1740 the tools for navigating it are sometimes confusing and arcane. In
1741 this hands-on tutorial you will get the chance to get your feet wet
1742 with the world's most mind-bogglingly big computer network, the
1743 protocols and programs used, and how to use them responsibly and
1749 date="1994-11-02" time="4:30 PM"
1751 title="Game Theory">
1752 <short>No description available</short>
1754 <h3>From the Minimax Theorem, through Alpha-Beta, and beyond...</h3>
1756 This will be a descussion of the pitfalls of using mathematics and
1757 algorithms to play classical board games. Thorough descriptions
1758 shall be presented of the simple techniques used as the building
1759 blocks that make all modern computer game players. I will use
1760 tic-tac-toe as a control for my arguements. Other games such as
1761 Chess, Othello and Go shall be the be a greater measure of progress;
1762 and more importantly the targets of our dreams.
1765 To enhance the discussion of the future, Barney Pell's Metagamer
1766 shall be introduced. His work in define classes of games is
1767 important in identifying the features necessary for analysis.
1774 <eventitem date="1999-10-18" time="2:30 PM" room="DC1304"
1775 title="Living Laboratories: The Future Computing Environments at
1777 <short>By Blair MacIntyre and Elizabeth Mynatt</short>
1779 <p>by Blair MacIntyre and Elizabeth Mynatt</p>
1780 <p>The Future Computing Environments (FCE) Group at Georgia Tech
1781 is a collection of faculty and students that share a desire to
1782 understand the partnership between humans and technology that
1783 arises as computation and sensing become ubiquitous. With
1784 expertise covering the breadth of Computer Science, but
1785 focusing on HCI, Computational Perception, and Machine
1786 Learning, the individual research agendas of the FCE faculty
1787 are grounded in a number of shared "living laboratories" where
1788 their research is applied to everyday life in the classroom
1789 (Classroom 2000), the home (the Aware Home), the office
1790 (Augmented Offices), and on one's person. Professors
1791 MacIntyre and Mynatt will discuss a variety of these projects,
1792 with an emphasis on the HCI and Computer Science aspects of
1796 In addition to their affiliation with the FCE group,
1797 Professors Mynatt and MacIntyre are both members of the
1798 Graphics, Visualization and Usability Center (GVU) at Georgia
1799 Tech. This interdisciplinary center brings together research
1800 in computer science, psychology, industrial engineering,
1801 architecture and media design by examining the role of
1802 computation in our everyday lives. During the talk, they will
1803 touch on some of the research and educational opportunities
1804 available at both GVU and the College of Computing.
1809 <eventitem date="1999-10-19" time="4:30 PM" room="DC1304"
1810 title="GDB, Purify Tutorial">
1811 <short>No description available.</short>
1814 Debugging can be the most difficult and time consuming part of
1815 any program's life-cycle. Far from an exact science, it's more
1816 of an art ... and close to some kind of dark magic. Cryptic
1817 error messages, lousy error checking, and icky things like
1818 implicit casts can make it nearly impossible toknow what's
1819 going on inside your program.
1822 Several tools are available to help automate your
1823 debuggin. GDB and Purify are among the most powerful
1824 debugging tools available in a UNIX environment. GDB is an
1825 interactive debugger, allowing you to `step' through
1826 aprogram, examine function calls, variable contents, stack
1827 traces and let you look at the state of a program after it
1828 crashes. Purify is a commercial program designed to help find
1829 and remove memory leaks from programs written inlanguages
1830 without automatic garbage collection.
1833 This talk will cover how to compile your C and C++ programs
1834 for use with GDB and Purify, as well as how to use the
1835 available X interfaces. If a purify license is available on
1836 undergrad at the time of the talk, we will cover how to use it
1842 <eventitem date="1999-12-01" time="4:30 PM" room="MC2066"
1843 title="Homebrew Processors and Integrated Systems in FPGAs">
1844 <short>By Jan Gray</short>
1848 <p> With the advent of large inexpensive field-programmable gate
1849 arrays and tools it is now practical for anyone to design and
1850 build custom processors and systems-on-a-chip. Jan will discuss
1851 designing with FPGAs, and present the design and implementation
1852 of xr16, yet another FPGA-based RISC computer system with
1853 integrated peripherals.</p>
1855 <p> Jan is a past CSC pres., B.Math. CS/EEE '87, and wrote
1856 compilers, tools, and middleware at Microsoft from 1987-1998. He
1857 built the first 32-bit FPGA CPU and system-on-a-chip in
1862 <eventitem date="1999-12-01" time="7:00 PM" room="Golf's Steakhouse"
1864 <short>End-of-term dinner</short>
1866 No abstract available.
1870 <eventitem date="1999-12-02" time="1:30 PM" room="DC1302"
1871 title="Calculational Mathematics">
1872 <short>By Edgar Dijkstra</short>
1874 <p> By Edgar Dijkstra</p>
1876 <p> This talk will use partial orders, lattice theory, and, if
1877 time permits, the Galois connection as carriers to illustrate
1878 the use of calculi in mathematics. We hope to show the brevity
1879 of many calculations (in order tofight the superstition that
1880 formal proofs are necessarily unpractically long), and the
1881 strong heuristic guidance that is available for their
1884 <p> Dijkstra is known for early graph-theoretical algorithms,
1885 the first implementation of ALGOL 60, the first operating system
1886 composed of explicitly synchronized processes, the invention of
1887 guarded commands and of predicate transformers as a means for
1888 defining semantics, and programming methodology in the broadest
1889 sense of the word. </p>
1891 <p> His current research interests focus on the formal
1892 derivation of proofs and programs, and the streamlining of the
1893 mathematical argument in general.</p>
1895 <p> Dijkstra held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computer
1896 Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin until retiring in
1902 <eventitem date="1999-12-03" time="10:00 AM" room="Siegfried Hall,
1903 St Jerome's" title="Proofs and Programs">
1904 <short>By Edsger Dijkstra</short>
1906 <p> This talk will show the use of programs for the proving of
1907 theorems. Its purpose is to show how our experience gained in
1908 the derivations of programs might be transferred to the
1909 derivation of proofs in general. The examples will go beyond the
1910 (traditional) existence theorems. </p>
1912 <p> Dijkstra is known for early graph-theoretical algorithms,
1913 the first implementation of ALGOL 60, the first operating system
1914 composed of explicitly synchronized processes, the invention of
1915 guarded commands and of predicate transformers as a means for
1916 defining semantics, and programming methodology in the broadest
1917 sense of the word. </p>
1919 <p> His current research interests focus on the formal
1920 derivation of proofs and programs, and the streamlining of the
1921 mathematical argument in general.</p>
1923 <p> Dijkstra held the Schlumberger Centennial Chair in Computer
1924 Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin until retiring in
1930 <eventitem date="1999-12-03" time="3:00 PM" room="DC1351"
1931 title="Open Q&A session">
1932 <short>By Edsger Dijkstra</short>
1933 <abstract>No description available.</abstract>
1936 <!-- Winter 2000 -->
1938 <eventitem date="2000-03-24" time="4:30 PM" room="DC1304"
1939 title="Enterprise Java APIs and Implementing a Web Portal">
1940 <short>No description available.</short>
1942 <h3>by Floyd Marinescu
1946 The first talk will be an introduction to the Enterprise Java
1947 API's: Servlets, JSP, EJB, and how to use them to build
1952 The second talk will be about how these technologies were used
1953 to implement a real world portal. The talk will include an
1954 overview of the design patterns used and will feature
1955 architectural information about the yet to be release portal
1956 (which I am one of the developers) called theserverside.com.
1961 <eventitem date="2000-03-30" time="4:30 PM" room="DC1304"
1962 title="Enterprise Java APIs and Implementing a Web Portal (1)">
1963 <short>No description available.</short>
1965 <p>Real World J2EE - Design Patterns and architecture behind the
1966 yet to be released J2EE portal: theserverside.com</p>
1968 <p>This talk will feature an exclusive look at the architecture
1969 behind the new J2EE portal: theserverside.com. Join Floyd
1970 Marinescu in a walk-through ofthe back-end of the portal,
1971 while learning about J2EE and its real world patterns,
1972 applications, problems and benefits.</p>
1976 <!-- Spring 2000 -->
1978 <eventitem date="2000-07-20" time="7:00 PM" room="Ali Babas Steak
1979 House, 130 King Street S, Waterloo" title="Ctrl-D">
1980 <short>End-of-term dinner</short>
1981 <abstract>No abstract available.</abstract>
1986 <eventitem date="2000-09-14" time="6:00 PM" room="DC1302"
1987 title="CSC Elections">
1988 <short>Fall 2000 Elections for the CSC.</short>
1991 Would you like to get involved in the CSC? Would you like to have a
1992 say in what the CSC does this term? Come out to the CSC Elections!
1993 In addition to electing the executive for the Fall term, we will be
1994 appointing office staff and other positions. Look for details in
1998 <p>Nominations for all positions are being taken in the CSC office, MC
2003 <eventitem date="2000-09-14" time="7:00 PM" room="DC1302"
2004 title="SIGGraph Video Night">
2005 <short> SIGGraph Video Night Featuring some truly awesome computer
2006 animations from Siggraph '99. </short>
2008 <p> Interested in Computer Graphics?
2011 <p> Enjoy watching state-of-the-art Animation?
2014 <p> Looking for a cheap place to take a date?
2017 <p> SIGGraph Video Night -
2018 Featuring some truly awesome computer animations from Siggraph '99.
2021 <p>Come out for the Computer Science Club general elections at 6:00
2022 pm, right before SIGGraph!</p>
2026 <eventitem date="2000-09-25" time="2:30 PM" room="DC1302"
2027 title="Realising the Next Generation Internet">
2028 <short>By Frank Clegg of Microsoft Canada</short>
2033 <dd>Frank Clegg</dd>
2034 <dd>President, Microsoft Canada</dd>
2037 <dd>Monday, September 25, 2000</dd>
2039 <dd>14:30 - 16:00</dd>
2042 <dd>(Davis Centre, Room 1302, University of Waterloo)</dd>
2046 <dt>Pre-registration</dt>
2047 <dd>Recommended</dd>
2048 <dd><a HREF="http://infranet.uwaterloo.ca:81/infranet/semform.htm">http://infranet.uwaterloo.ca:81/infranet/semform.htm</a></dd>
2049 <dd>(519) 888-4004</dd>
2054 <p>The Internet and the Web have revolutionized our communications, our access
2055 to information and our business methods. However, there is still much room
2056 for improvement. Frank Clegg will discuss Microsoft's vision for what is
2057 beyond browsing and the dotcom. Microsoft .NET (pronounced "dot-net") is a
2058 new platform, user experience and set of advanced software services planned
2059 to make all devices work together and connect seamlessly. With this next
2060 generation of software, Microsoft's goal is to make Internet-based
2061 computing and communications easier to use, more personalized, and more
2062 productive for businesses and consumers. In his new position of president
2063 of Microsoft Canada Co., Frank Clegg will be responsible for leading the
2064 organization toward the delivery of Microsoft .NET. He will speak about
2065 this new platform and the next generation Internet, how software developers
2066 and businesses will be able to take advantage of it, and what the .NET
2067 experience will look like for consumers and business users.</p>
2069 <h3>The Speaker</h3>
2070 <p>Frank Clegg was appointed president of Microsoft Canada Co. this month.
2071 Prior to his new position, Mr. Clegg was vice-president, Central Region,
2072 Microsoft Corp. from 1996 to 2000. In this capacity, he was responsible for
2073 sales, support and marketing activities in 15 U.S. states. Mr. Clegg joined
2074 Microsoft Corp. in 1991 and headed the Canadian subsidiary until 1996.
2075 During that time, Mr. Clegg was instrumental in introducing several key
2076 initiatives to improve company efficiency, growth and market share. Mr.
2077 Clegg graduated from the University of Waterloo in 1977 with a B. Math.</p>
2079 <h3>For More Information</h3>
2081 Shirley Fenton<br />
2082 The infraNET Project<br />
2083 University of Waterloo<br />
2084 519-888-4567 ext. 5611<br />
2085 <a HREF="http://infranet.uwaterloo.ca/">http://infranet.uwaterloo.ca/</a>
2091 <!-- Winter 2001 -->
2093 <eventitem date="2001-01-15" time="4:30 PM" room="MC3036"
2094 title="Executive elections">
2095 <short>Winter 2001 CSC Elections.</short>
2097 <p>Would you like to get involved in the CSC? Would you like to
2098 have a say in what the CSC does this term? Come out to the CSC
2099 Elections! In addition to electing the executive for the
2100 Winter term, we will be appointing office staff and other
2101 positions. Look for details in uw.csc.
2104 Nominations for all positions are being taken in the CSC
2109 <eventitem date="2001-01-22" time="3:30 PM" room="MC3036"
2111 <short>Second CSC meeting for Winter 2001.</short>
2113 <h3>Proposed agenda</h3>
2115 <dt>Book purchases</dt>
2117 <p>They haven't been done in 2 terms.
2118 We have an old list of books to buy.
2119 Any suggestions from uw.csc are welcome.</p>
2124 <p>For doing linux burns. It was allocated money on the budget
2125 request - about $300. We should be able to get a decent 12x
2126 burner with that (8x rewrite).</p>
2127 <p>The obvious things to sell are Linux Distros and BSD variants.
2128 Are there any other software that we can legally burn and sell
2133 <p>Just a talk of the topics to be covered, when, where, whatnot.
2134 Mike was right on this one, this should have been done earlier
2135 in the term. Oh well, maybe we can fix this for next fall term.</p>
2138 <dt>Game Contest</dt>
2140 <p>We already put a bit of work into planning the Othello contest
2141 before I read Mike's post. I still think it's viable. I've got
2142 at least 2 people interested in writing entries for it. This
2143 will be talked about more on monday. Hopefully, Rory and I will
2144 be able to present a basic outline of how the contest is going
2145 to be run at that time.</p>
2147 <dt>Peri's closet cleaning</dt>
2150 <p>Current sysadmin (jmbeverl) and I (kvijayan) and
2151 President (geduggan) had a nice conversation about this 2
2152 days ago, having to do with completely erasing all of
2153 peri, installing a clean stable potato debian on it, and
2154 priming it for being a gradual replacement to calum. We'll
2155 probably discuss how much we want to get done on this
2156 front on Monday.</p>
2160 <p>Any <a HREF="nntp://news.math.uwaterloo.ca/uw.csc/8305">comments</a> from <a HREF="news:uw.csc">the newsgroup</a> are welcome.</p>
2164 <eventitem date="2001-01-27" time="10:30 AM" room="MC3006"
2165 title="ACM-Style programming contest">
2166 <short>Practice for the ACM international programming
2169 <p>Our ACM-Style practice contests involve answering five questions in three
2170 hours. Solutions are written in Pascal, C or C++. Seven years in a row,
2171 Waterloo's teams have been in the top ten at the world finals.
2172 For more information, see
2173 <a HREF="http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~acm00/">the contest web page</a>.</p>
2175 <h3>Easy Question:</h3>
2176 <p>A palindrome is a sequence of letters that reads the same backwards and
2177 forwards, such as ``Madam, I'm Adam'' (note that case doesn't matter and
2178 only letters are important). Your task is to find the longest palindrome in
2179 a line of text (if there is a tie, print the leftmost one).</p>
2183 asfgjh12dsfgg kj0ab12321BA wdDwkj abBA
2184 abcbabCdcbaqwerewq abCdcba
2187 <h3>Hard Question:</h3>
2188 <p>An anagram is a word formed by reordering the letters of another word.
2189 Find all sets of anagrams that exist within a large dictionary. The
2190 input will be a sorted list of words (up to 4000 words), one per line.
2191 Output each set of anagrams on a separate line. Each set should be
2192 in alphabetical order, and all lines of sets should be in alphabetical
2193 order. A word with no anagrams is a set of anagrams itself, and should
2194 be displayed with no modifications.</p>
2207 <eventitem date="2001-01-29" time="02:39 PM" room="MC3036"
2209 <short>No description available.</short>
2210 <abstract>No abstract available.</abstract>
2213 <eventitem date="2001-02-05" time="03:30 PM" room="MC3036"
2215 <short>No description available.</short>
2216 <abstract>No abstract available.</abstract>
2219 <eventitem date="2001-02-12" time="03:30 PM" room="MC3036"
2221 <short>No description available.</short>
2222 <abstract>No abstract available.</abstract>
2225 <!-- Spring 2001 -->
2227 <eventitem date="2001-06-02" time="10:30 AM" room="MC3006"
2228 title="ACM-Style programming contest">
2229 <short>Practice for the ACM international programming
2232 <p>Our ACM-Style practice contests involve answering five questions in three
2233 hours. Solutions are written in Pascal, C or C++. Seven years in a row,
2234 Waterloo's teams have been in the top ten at the world finals.
2235 For more information, see
2236 <a HREF="http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~acm00/">the contest web page</a>.</p>
2238 <h3>Easy Question:</h3>
2239 <p>A palindrome is a sequence of letters that reads the same backwards and
2240 forwards, such as ``Madam, I'm Adam'' (note that case doesn't matter and
2241 only letters are important). Your task is to find the longest palindrome in
2242 a line of text (if there is a tie, print the leftmost one).</p>
2246 asfgjh12dsfgg kj0ab12321BA wdDwkj abBA
2247 abcbabCdcbaqwerewq abCdcba
2250 <h3>Hard Question:</h3>
2251 <p>An anagram is a word formed by reordering the letters of another word.
2252 Find all sets of anagrams that exist within a large dictionary. The
2253 input will be a sorted list of words (up to 4000 words), one per line.
2254 Output each set of anagrams on a separate line. Each set should be
2255 in alphabetical order, and all lines of sets should be in alphabetical
2256 order. A word with no anagrams is a set of anagrams itself, and should
2257 be displayed with no modifications.</p>
2271 <!-- Winter 2002 -->
2273 <eventitem date="2002-01-26" time="2:00 PM"
2274 room="Comfy Lounge MC3001"
2275 title="An Introduction to GNU Hurd">
2276 <short>Bored of GNU/Linux? Try this experimental operating
2279 <p>GNU Hurd is an operating system kernel based on the microkernel
2280 architecture design. It was the original GNU kernel, predating Linux,
2281 and is still being actively developed by many volunteers.</p>
2282 <p>The Toronto-area Hurd Users Group, in co-operation with the Computer
2283 Science Club, is hosting an afternoon to show the Hurd to anyone
2284 interested. Jeff Bailey, a Hurd developer, will give a presentation on
2285 the Hurd, followed by a GnuPG/PGP keysigning party. To finish it off,
2286 James Morrison, also a Hurd developer, will be hosting a Debian
2287 GNU/Hurd installation session.</p>
2288 <p>All interested are invited to attend. Bring your GnuPG/PGP fingerprint
2289 and mail your key to sjdutoit@uwaterloo.ca with the subject
2290 ``keysigning'' (see separate announcement).</p>
2291 <p>Questions? Suggestions? Contact <a
2292 href="ja2morri@uwaterloo.ca">James Morrison</a>.</p>
2295 <eventitem date="2002-01-26" time="2:30 PM"
2296 room="Comfy Lounge MC3001"
2297 title="GnuPG/PGP Keysigning Party">
2298 <short>Get more signatures on your key!</short>
2301 GnuPG and PGP provide public-key based encryption for e-mail and
2302 other electronic communication. In addition to preventing others
2303 from reading your private e-mail, this allows you to verify that an
2304 e-mail or file was indeed written by its perceived author.
2307 In order to make sure a GnuPG/PGP key belongs to the respective
2308 person, the key must be signed by someone who has checked the
2309 user's key fingerprint and verified the user's identification.
2312 A keysigning party is an ideal occasion to have your key signed by
2313 many people, thus strengthening the authority of your key. Everyone
2314 showing up exchanges key signatures after verifying ID and
2315 fingerprints. The Computer Science Club will be hosting such a
2316 keysigning party together with the Hurd presentation by THUG (see
2317 separate announcement). See
2318 <a href="http://www.student.math.uwaterloo.ca/~sjdutoit/"> the
2319 keysigning party homepage</a> for more information.
2322 Before attending it is important that you mail your key to
2323 sjdutoit@uwaterloo.ca with the subject ``keysigning.'' Also make
2324 sure to bring photo ID and a copy of your GnuPG/PGP fingerprint on
2325 a sheet of paper to the event.
2329 <eventitem date="2002-01-31" time="6:00 PM" room="MC2037"
2330 title="UNIX 101: First Steps With UNIX">
2332 This is the first in a series of seminars that cover the use of
2333 the UNIX Operating System. UNIX is used in a variety of
2334 applications, both in academia and industy. We will be covering
2335 the basics of the UNIX environment, as well as the use of PINE, an
2336 electronic mail and news reader.
2339 <eventitem date="2002-02-13" time="4:00 PM" room="MC4060"
2340 title="DVD-Video Under Linux">
2341 <short>Billy Biggs will be holding a talk on DVD technology
2342 (in particular, CSS and playback issues) under Linux, giving some
2343 technical details as well as an overview of the current status of
2344 Free Software efforts. All are welcome.</short>
2346 <p>DVD copy protection: Content Scrambling System (CSS)</p>
2348 <li>A technical introduction to CSS and an overview of the ongoing
2349 legal battle to allow distribution of non-commercial DVD
2351 <li>The current Linux software efforts and open issues</li>
2352 <li>How applications and Linux distributions are handling the
2353 legal issues involved</li>
2355 <p>DVD-Video specifics: Menus and navigation</p>
2357 <li>An overview of the DVD-Video standard</li>
2358 <li>Reverse engineering efforts and their implementation status</li>
2359 <li>Progress of integration into Linux media players</li>
2363 <eventitem date="2002-02-07" time="6:00 PM" room="MC2037"
2364 title="Unix 102: Fun With UNIX">
2365 <short>This the second in a series of UNIX tutorials. Simon Law and
2366 James Perry will be presenting some more advanced UNIX
2367 techniques. All are welcome. Accounts will be provided for those
2368 needing them.</short>
2371 This is the second in a series of seminars that cover the use of
2372 the UNIX Operating System. UNIX is used in a variety of
2373 applications, both in academia and industry. We will provide you
2374 with hands-on experience with the Math Faculty's UNIX environment
2377 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
2379 <li>Interacting with Bourne and C shells</li>
2380 <li>Editing text using the vi text editor</li>
2381 <li>Editing text using the Emacs display editor</li>
2382 <li>Multi-tasking and the screen multiplexer</li>
2385 If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will
2386 be lent to you for the duration of this class.
2390 <eventitem date="2002-03-01" time="5:00 PM" room="MC4060"
2391 title="Computer Go, The Ultimate">
2392 <short>Thomas Wolf from Brock University will be holding a talk on
2393 the asian game of Go. All are welcome.</short>
2396 The asian game go is unique in a number of ways. It is the oldest
2397 board game known. It is a strategy game with very simple
2398 rules. Computer programs are very weak despite huge efforts and
2399 prizes of US$ > 1.5M for a program beating professional
2400 players. The talk will quickly explain the rules of go, compare go
2401 and chess, mention various attempts to program go and describe our
2402 own efforts in this field. Students will have an opportunity to
2403 solve computer generated go problems. Prizes will be available.
2408 <!-- Spring 2002 -->
2410 <eventitem date="2002-05-11" time="7:00 PM" room="MC3036" title="S02
2412 <short>Come and vote for this term's exec</short>
2415 Vote for the exec this term. Meet at the CSC office.
2423 <eventitem date="2002-09-16" time="5:30 PM" room="Comfy lounge"
2424 title="F02 elections">
2425 <short>Come and vote for this term's exec</short>
2428 Vote for the exec this term. Meet at the comfy
2429 lounge. There will be an opportunity to obtain or renew
2430 memberships. This term's CRO is Siyan Li
2431 (s8li@csclub.uwaterloo.ca).
2436 <eventitem date="2002-09-30" time="6:30 PM" room="Comfy lounge, MC3001"
2437 title="Business Meeting">
2438 <short>Vote on a constitutional change.</short>
2441 The executive has unanimously decided to try to change our
2442 constitution to comply with MathSoc policy. The clause we are trying
2443 to change is the membership clause. The following is the proposed new
2444 reading of the clause.
2447 In compliance with MathSoc regulations and in recognition of
2448 the club being primarily targeted at undergraduate students, full
2449 membership is open to all undergraduate students in the Faculty of
2450 Mathematics and restricted to the same.</i>
2454 The proposed change is illustrated <a
2455 href="http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/docs/constitution-change-20020920.html">on
2460 There will be a business meeting on 30 Sept 2002 at 18:30 in
2461 the comfy lounge, MC 3001. Please come and vote
2466 <eventitem date="2002-09-26" time="5:30 PM" room="MC3006"
2468 <short>First Steps with UNIX</short>
2471 Get to know UNIX and be the envy of your friends!
2474 This is the first in a series of seminars that cover the use
2475 of the UNIX Operating System. UNIX is used in a variety of
2476 applications, both in academia and industy. We will provide
2477 you with hands-on experience with the Math Faculty's UNIX
2478 environment in this seminar.
2481 Topics that will be discussed include:
2484 <li>Navigating the UNIX environment</li>
2485 <li>Using common UNIX commands</li>
2486 <li>Using the PICO text editor</li>
2487 <li>Reading electronic mail and news with PINE</li>
2490 If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be
2491 lent to you for the duration of this class.
2496 <eventitem date="2002-10-01" time="6:30 PM-9:30 PM" room="The Bomber"
2497 title="Pints with the Profs">
2498 <short>Get to know your profs and be the envy of your friends!</short>
2500 <p>Come out and meet your professors. This is a great opportunity to
2501 meet professors for Undergraduate Research jobs or to find out who you might
2502 have for future courses.</p>
2504 <p>Profs who have confirmed their attendance are:</p>
2506 <li>Troy Vasiga, School of Computer Science</li>
2507 <li>J.P. Pretti, St. Jerome's and School of Computer Science</li>
2508 <li>Michael McCool, School of Computer Science, CGL</li>
2509 <li>Martin Karsten, School of Computer Science, BBCR</li>
2510 <li>Gisli Hjaltason, School of Computer Science, DB</li>
2513 <p>There will also be...</p>
2522 <eventitem date="2002-10-03" time="5:30 PM" room="MC3006"
2524 <short>Talking to your UNIX can be fun and profitable.</short>
2526 <p>This is the second in a series of seminars that cover the use of
2527 the UNIX Operating System. UNIX is used in a variety of applications,
2528 both in academia and industry. We will provide you with hands-on
2529 experience with the Math Faculty's UNIX environment in this
2532 <p>Topics that will be discussed include:</p>
2533 <ul><li>Interacting with Bourne and C shells</li>
2534 <li>Editing text using the vi text editor</li>
2535 <li>Editing text using the Emacs display editor</li>
2536 <li>Multi-tasking and the screen multiplexer</li>
2539 <p>If you do not have a Math computer account, don't panic; one will be
2540 lent to you for the duration of this class.</p>
2545 <eventitem date="2002-10-08" time="4:30PM" room="MC4045"
2546 title="Video cards, Linux display drivers and the Kernel Graphics Interface (KGI)">
2547 <short>A talk by Filip Spacek, KGI developer</short>
2549 Linux has proven itself as a reliable operating system but arguably,
2550 it still lacks in support of high performance graphics
2551 acceleration. This talk will describe basic components of a PC video
2552 card and the design and limitations the current Linux display driver
2553 architecture. Finally a an overview of a new architecture, the Kernel
2554 Graphics Interface (KGI), will be given. KGI attempts to solve the
2555 shortcomings of the current design, and provide a lightweight and
2556 portable interface to the display subsystem.
2560 <eventitem date="2002-10-10" time="5:30pm" room="MC3006"
2563 <abstract>No abstract available yet.</abstract>
2566 <eventitem date="2002-11-05" time="4:30 PM" room="MC 2065"
2567 title="The Evil Side of C++">
2568 <short>Abusing template metaprogramming in C++; aka. writing a
2569 Mandelbrot generator that runs at compile time</short>
2571 <p>Templates are a useful feature in C++ when it comes to writing
2572 type-independent data structures and algorithms. Relatively soon
2573 after their appearance it was realised that they could be used to
2574 do much more than this. Essentially it is possible to write
2575 certain programs in C++ that execute <i>completely at compile
2576 time</i> rather than run time. Combined with constant-expression
2577 optimisation this is an interesting twist on regular C++
2579 <p>This talk will give a short overview of the features of
2580 templates and then go on to describe how to "abuse"
2581 templates to perform complex computations at compile time. The
2582 speaker will present three programs of increasing complexity which
2583 execute at compile time. First a factorial listing program, then a
2584 prime listing program will be presented. Finally the talk will
2585 conclude with the presentation of a <b>Mandelbrot generator running
2586 at compile time</b>.</p>
2588 <p>If you are interested in programming for the fun of it, the C++
2589 language or silly tricks to do with languages, this talk is for
2590 you. No C++ knowledge should be necessary to enjoy this talk, but
2591 programming experience will make it more worthwile for you.</p>
2593 </abstract> </eventitem>
2595 <eventitem date="2002-11-02" time="11:00AM-3:00PM"
2596 room="MC3002 (Math Coffee and Donut Store)"
2597 title="GNU/Linux InstallFest with KW-LUG and UW-DIG">
2598 <short>Bring over your computer and we'll help you install GNU/Linux</short>
2600 <p>The <a href="http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/">CSC</a>, the <a
2601 href="http://www.kwlug.org/">KW-Linux User Group</a>, and the <a
2602 href="http://uw-dig.uwaterloo.ca/">UW Debian Interest Group</a>
2603 are jointly hosting a GNU/Linux InstallFest. GNU/Linux is a
2604 powerful, free operating system for your computer. It is mostly
2605 written by talented volunteers who like to share their efforts
2606 and help each other.</p>
2608 <p>Perhaps you have are you interested in installing GNU/Linux.
2609 If so, bring your computer, monitor and keyboard; and we will
2610 help you install GNU/Linux on your machine. You can also find
2611 knowledgable people who can answer your questions about
2616 <h3>Frequently Asked Questions</h3>
2618 <p><b>Q: </b>What is GNU/Linux?<br />
2619 <b>A: </b>GNU/Linux is a free operating system for your computer. It is mostly
2620 written by talented volunteers who like to share their efforts.
2623 <p><b>Q: </b>Free?<br />
2624 <b>A: </b>GNU/Linux is available for zero-cost. As well, it allows you such
2625 freedom to share it with your friends, or to modify the software to
2626 your own needs and share that with your friends. It's very friendly.
2629 <p><b>Q: </b>What is an InstallFest?<br />
2630 <b>A: </b>An InstallFest is a meeting where volunteers help people install
2631 GNU/Linux on their computers. It's also a place to meet users, and
2632 talk to them about running GNU/Linux.
2635 <p><b>Q: </b>What kind of computer do I need to use GNU/Linux?<br />
2636 <b>A: </b>Almost any recent computer will do. If you have an old machine
2637 kicking around, you can install GNU/Linux on it as well. If it is
2638 at least 5 years old, it should be good enough.
2641 <p><b>Q: </b>Can I have Windows and GNU/Linux on the same computer?<br />
2642 <b>A: </b>If you can run Windows now, and you have an extra gigabyte (GB) of
2643 disk space to spare; then it should be possible.
2646 <p><b>Q: </b>What should I bring if I want to install GNU/Linux?<br />
2647 <b>A: </b>You will want to bring:</p>
2650 <li>Monitor and monitor cable</li>
2651 <li>Power cords</li>
2652 <li>Keyboard and mouse</li>
2658 <eventitem date="2002-11-07" time="5:30pm" room="MC4063"
2659 title="The GNU General Public License">
2660 <short>The teeth of Free Software</short>
2665 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
2666 to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License
2667 is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
2668 software---to make sure the software is free for all its users.
2669 </i><br/>--- Excerpt from the GNU GPL
2672 <p>The GNU General Public License is one of the most influencial
2673 software licenses in this day. Written by Richard Stallman for the
2674 GNU Project, it is used by software developers around the world to
2678 Unfortunately, software developers do not read licenses thoroughly, nor
2679 well. In this talk, we will read the entire GNU GPL and explain the
2680 implications of its passages. Along the way, we will debunk some myths
2681 and clarify common misunderstandings.
2684 After this session, you ought to understand what the GNU GPL means, how
2685 to use it, and when you cannot use it. This session should also give
2686 you some insight into the social implications of this work.
2691 <eventitem date="2002-11-19" time="4:30pm" room="MC4058"
2692 title="Metaprogramming GPUs">
2693 <short>A talk by Michael McCool of the Computer Graphics Lab.</short>
2696 Modern graphics accelerators, or "GPUs", have embedded high-performance
2697 programmable components in the form of vertex and fragment shading units.
2698 Recently, these units have evolved from 8-bit computations to floating-point,
2699 and other operations provide array gather, scatter, and summation.
2700 These capabilities make GPUs akin to array processors of the
2701 past, but with a difference: every PC now has one! I am interested
2702 in finding the best way to exploit this computational capacity for not
2703 only graphics but for general-purpose computation.
2705 Current APIs permit specification of the programs for GPUs
2706 using an assembly-language level interface. Compilers for high-level
2707 shading languages are available, such as NVIDIA's Cg, and OpenGL 2.0 and
2708 DirectX will also include standardized shading languages. This talk will
2709 review these. However, compilers for these languages read in an external
2710 string specification, which can be inconvenient.
2712 However, it is possible, using standard C++, to define a high-level
2713 shading language directly in the API. Such a language can be nearly
2714 indistinguishable from a special-purpose programming language, yet
2715 permits more direct interaction with the specification of textures
2716 (arrays) and parameters, simplifies implementation, and enables
2717 on-the-fly generation, manipulation, and specialization of shader programs.
2718 A shading language built into the API also permits the lifting of
2719 C++ host language type, modularity, and scoping constructs into the shading
2720 language without any additional implementation effort. Such an
2721 embedded language could be used to program other embedded processors
2722 (such as DSP chips in sound cards) or even to generate machine language
2723 on the fly for the host CPU.
2728 <eventitem date="2002-11-16" time="1:30pm" room="York University"
2729 title="Trip to York University">
2730 <short>Going to visit the York University Computer Club</short>
2731 <abstract><p>YUCC and the UW CSC have having a join meeting at York
2732 University. Dave Makalsky, the President of YUCC, will be giving a talk on
2733 Design-by-constract and Eiffel. Stefanus Du Toit, Vice-President of the UW
2734 CSC, will be giving a talk on the evil depths of the black art known as C++.
2736 <ul><li>1:30pm: Leave UW</li>
2737 <li>3:00pm: Arrive at York University.</li>
2738 <li>3:30pm: The Evil side of C++</li>
2739 <li>4:30pm: Design-by-Contract and Eiffel</li>
2740 <li>6:00pm: Dinner</li>
2741 <li>9:00pm: Arrive back at UW</li>
2746 <eventitem date="2002-11-21" time="6:00pm" room="MC2066"
2748 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
2751 Perl, the Practical Extraction and Reporting Language can only
2752 be described as an eclectic language, invented and refined by
2753 a deranged system administrator, who was trained as a
2754 linguist. This man, however, has declared:
2758 Perl 5 was my rewrite of Perl.
2759 I want Perl 6 to be the community's rewrite of Perl and of the
2761 </i><br/>--- Larry Wall
2764 Whenever a language is designed by a committee, it is common
2765 wisdom to avoid it. Not so with Perl, for it cannot get
2766 worse. However strange these Perl people seem, Perl 6 is a
2767 good thing coming. In this talk, I will demonstrate some Perl
2768 5 programs, and talk about their Perl 6 counterparts, to show
2769 you that Perl 6 will be cleaner, friendlier, and prettier.
2774 <eventitem date="2002-11-21" time="4:30pm" room="MC2066"
2775 title="Samba and You">
2776 <short>A talk by Dan Brovkovich, Mathsoc's Computing Director</short>
2778 Samba is a free implementation of the Server Message Block (SMB)
2779 protocol. It also implements the Common Internet File System (CIFS)
2780 protocol, used by Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP to share files and
2782 SMB was originally developed in the early to mid-80's by IBM and was
2783 further improved by Microsoft, Intel, SCO, Network Appliances, Digital
2784 and many others over a period of 15 years. It has now morphed into CIFS,
2785 a form strongly influenced by Microsoft. </p><p>
2786 Samba is considered to be one of the key projects for the acceptance of
2787 GNU/Linux and other Free operating systems (e.g. FreeBSD) in the
2788 corporate world: a traditional Windows NT/2000 stronghold. </p><p>
2789 We will talk about interfacing Samba servers and desktops with the
2790 Windows world. From a simple GNU/Linux desktop in your home to the
2791 corporate server that provides collaborative file/printer sharing,
2792 logons and home directories to hundreds of users a day. </p>
2796 <eventitem date="2002-10-26" time="1:30PM" room="MC2066"
2797 title="GNU/Linux on HPPA">
2798 <short>Carlos O'Donnell talks about "the last of the legacy processors to fall before the barbarian horde"</short>
2800 <p>This whirlwind talk is aimed at providing an overview of the
2801 GNU/Linux port for the HP PARISC processor. The talk will focus on
2802 the "intricacies" of the processor, and in particular the
2803 implementations of the Linux kernel and GNU Libc. After the talk
2804 you should be acutely aware of how little code needs to be written
2805 to support a new architecture! Carlos has been working on the port
2806 for two years, and enjoying the fruits of his labour on a 46-node
2811 Carlos is currently in his 5th year of study at the University
2812 of Western Ontario. This is his last year in a concurrent
2813 Computer Engineering and Computer Science degree. His research
2814 interest range from distributed and parallel systems to low
2815 level optimized hardware design. He likes playing guitar and
2816 just bought a Cort NTL-20, jumbo body, solid spurce top with
2817 a mahogany back. Carlos hacks on the PARISC Linux kernel, GNU libc,
2818 GNU Debugger, GNU Binutils and various Debian packages.
2825 <eventitem date="2002-10-26" time="3:00PM" room="MC2066"
2826 title="The Hurd Interfaces">
2827 <short>Marcus Brinkmann, a GNU Hurd developer, talks about the Hurd server interfaces, at the heart of a GNU/Hurd system</short>
2829 <p>The Hurd server interfaces are at the heart of the Hurd system. They
2830 define the remote procedure calls (RPCs) that are used by the servers, the
2831 GNU C library and the utility programs to communicate with the Hurd system
2832 and to implement the POSIX personality of the Hurd as well as other
2835 <p>This talk is a walk through the Hurd RPCs, and will give an overview of how
2836 they are used to implement the system. Individual RPCs will be used to
2837 illustrate important or exciting features of the Hurd system in general,
2838 and it will be shown how those features are accessible to the user at the
2839 command line, too.</p>
2843 <p>Marcus Brinkmann is a math student at the Ruhr-Universitaet Bochum in
2844 Germany. He is one of maintainers of the GNU Hurd project and the
2845 initiator of the Debian GNU/Hurd binary distribution. He designed and
2846 implemented the console subsystem of the Hurd, wrote the FAT filesystem
2847 server, and fixed a lot of bugs, thus increasing the stability and
2848 usability of the system.</p>
2853 <eventitem date="2002-10-26" time="4:30PM" room="MC2066"
2854 title="A GNU Approach to Virtual Memory Management in a Multiserver Operating System">
2855 <short>Neal Walfield, a GNU Hurd developer, talks about a possible Virtual Memory Management subsystem for the GNU Hurd</short>
2857 <p>Virtual memory management is one of the cornerstones of multiuser
2858 operating systems. Most systems available today place all of the
2859 policy in a monolithic virtual memory manager, VMM, isolated from the
2860 rest of the system. Although secure and lightweight, users have no
2861 way to communicate their anticipated memory needs and usage to the
2862 system pager. As a result, the VMM can only implement a global paging
2863 policy (typically, an approximation of LRU) which may be good on
2864 average but is best for nobody.</p>
2866 <p>With the port of Hurd to the L4 microkernel, this situation is being
2867 readdressed. Due to its more distributed nature, a centralized
2868 resource manager is not only more difficult to implement efficiently
2869 but also contrary to the philosophy of the rest of the system. We are
2870 currently exploring a model whereby each program is fully self-paged
2871 and all compete for memory from a physical memory server. This talk
2872 will first discuss how paging currently works in Mach and other
2873 systems. An argument for an external paging policy will then be
2874 presented followed by the requirements of such a design and the design
2879 <p>Neal Walfield, a GNU Hurd developer, is from the University of Massachusetts
2880 Lowell. Neal spent the summer of 2002 at University of Karlsruhe working
2881 on porting the GNU Hurd to L4.</p>
2886 <eventitem date="2002-10-17" time="5:30PM" room="MC2065"
2887 title="Debian in the Enterprise">
2888 <short>A talk by Simon Law</short>
2890 <p>The Debian Project produces a "Universal Operating System" that is
2891 comprised entirely of Free Software. This talk focuses on using Debian
2892 GNU/Linux in an enterprise environment. This includes:</p>
2894 <li>Where Debian can be deployed</li>
2895 <li>Strategic advantages of Debian</li>
2896 <li>Ways for business to give back to Debian</li>
2901 <eventitem date="2002-11-12" time="4:30PM" room="MC4058"
2902 title="Automatic Memory Management and Garbage Collection">
2903 <short>A talk by James A. Morrison</short>
2906 Do you ever wonder what java is doing while you wait? Have you ever used
2907 Modula-3? Do you wonder how lazily you can Mark and Sweep? Would you like to
2908 know how to Stop-and-Copy?
2910 Come out to this talk and learn these things and more. No prior knowledge of
2911 Garbage Collection or memory management is needed.