A lot of claims have been made lately about the intelligence of + computers. Some researchers say that computers will eventually attain + super-human intelligence. Others call thse claims... um, poppycock. + Oddly enough, in the search for the truth of the matter, both camps + have overlooked an obvious strategy: interviewing a computer and asking + her opinion.
+ +"Judy is as much fun as a barrel of wind-up cymbal-monkeys, and + lots more entertaining." --- Bill Rodriguez, Providence Phoenix
+ +"Tom Sgouros's witty play, co-starring the charming robot Judy, is an + imagination stretcher that delights while it exercises your mind. If you + think you can't imagine a conscious robot, you're wrong---you can, + especially once you've met Judy." --- Daniel C. Dennett, + author of Consciousness Explained, Brainchildren, + &c.
+ +"...an engrossing evening... Real questions about + consciousness, freedom to act, the relationship between the creator + and the created are woven into a bravura performance." --- Will + Stackman, Aislesay.com
+ +Sponsored by the Mathematics Society, the Federation of Students, the + Arts Student Union, the Graduate Student Association, and the Department of + Philosophy. Tickets available at the Humanities box office (888-4908) and + the offices of the Psychology Society and the Computer Science Club for + $5.50. For + more information: http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/cogsci.
+ +Stream processing is an enhanced version of SIMD processing that + permits efficient execution of conditionals and iteration. Stream + processors have many similarities to GPUs, and a hardware prototype, + the Imagine processor, has been used to implement both OpenGL and + Renderman.
+ +It is possible that GPUs will acquire certain properties + of stream processors in the future, which should make them easier + to use and more efficient for general-purpose computation that includes + data-dependent iteration and conditionals.
+ +Templates are a useful feature in C++ when it comes to writing + type-independent data structures and algorithms. But that's not all + they can be used for. Essentially, it is possible to write certain + programs in C++ that execute completely at compile-time rather + than run-time. Combined with some optimisations this is an interesting + twist on regular C++ programming.
+ +This talk will give a short overview of the features of templates + and then go on to describe how to "abuse" templates to perform complex + computations at compile time. The speaker will present three programs of + increasing complexity which execute at compile time. First a factorial + listing program, then a prime listing program will be presented. Finally + the talk will conclude with the presentation of a Mandelbrot + generator running at compile time.
+ +Some basic knowledge of C++ will be assumed.
+ +