compsoc-announce January 2012

compsoc-announce@lists.ox.compsoc.net

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Week 3: Google: "My other computer is a data center" (and Gloucester Research meal info)
by Ben Gazzard 29 Jan '12

29 Jan '12

Good Afternoon All, This weeks talk, titled "My other computer is a data center", will be presented by Christoph Best - a software engineer at Google. In this talk, Christoph will try to give an impression of what it is like to work with such a unique infrastructure, and what its implications for computer science could be, with an emphasis on large-scale data processing. Google have kindly offered to provide drinks afterwards. They have also provided us with some Google T-Shirts to give away! On Wednesday Week 4 Gloucester Research have invited the society to a free 3 course dinner at Quod. If you would like to attend please RSVP to president(a)ox.compsoc.net by this Thursday. Read on for more details about the talk, results of the week 2 technology competition, as well as details of the upcoming Gloucester Research dinner. Have a good one, Ben and Alex CompSoc Co-Presidents ******************************************* The Oxford Computer Society ******************************************* "My other computer is a data center" - The warehouse-scale computing infrastructure at Google Wednesday 01, 20:15, St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre Christoph Best, Software Engineer, Google Google's mission, to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, is simple, but it entails running a large number of very different applications from web search and advertising over video, geo and commerce to enterprise. All these activities are supported by a single underlying computing infrastructure: Google's worldwide data centers. In this talk, Christoph will try to give an impression of what it is like to work with such a unique infrastructure, and what its implications for computer science could be, with an emphasis on large-scale data processing. Google have kindly offered to provide free drinks afterwards. They have also provided us with some Google T-Shirts to give away! Here is a handy map for finding Catz: http://g.co/maps/eeut2 And here is another one for finding the JCR lecture theatre (it joins on to the PDR): http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/map.png If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401. The talk starts at 20.15, he lodge are always happy to point you to the JCR Lecture Theatre (don't be afraid to ask!).. FB Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/351801234844571 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gloucester Research Networking Dinner Wednesday 08/02 (4th Week), 7pm, Quod Gloucester Research is hosting a networking dinner for Oxford Computer Society Members on 8th February at Quod. If you are interested in pursuing a career in financial IT whether as a software developer or within an infrastructure team - you are invited to a three course dinner, each course with different experienced members of the company. This is a unique opportunity for you to find out first-hand about Gloucester Research and how they develop and support a sophisticated trading platform. Please RSVP to president(a)ox.compsoc.net by Thursday of Week 3 if you wish to attend the dinner as places are limited, this is a members only event - although membership to the society is only £3 for a year or £5 for life, please get in touch with secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Careers in Computing: Tomorrow, 15:00, Department of Computer Science Interested in a career in Computing? I hope so. All of our sponsors (and dozens of other companies) will be at this event. It should be an excellent opportunity to learn more about what options are available after university. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Technology Competition: Challenge 3: This weeks challenge is to find the message hidden in our termcard. If, for some bizarre reason you haven't yet obtained your own copy of the termcard, it can be accessed at: http://compsoc.net/termcards/2012/hilary/termcard.pdf Once you have figured it out the way to stop the timer will be apparent. Anyone (with a .ox.ac.uk email address) can sign up to the competition through the http://compsoc.dartoxia.com website, but only members can receive prizes. Compsoc.dartoxia.com isn't connected to the compsoc network, and so you will need to make a new account to participate. For more details about the competition see http://compsoc.net/technology_competition or contact committee(a)ox.compsoc.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Technology Competition: Week 2 result: Congratulations to Thomas Ahle who achieved the highest score in the Facebook Hacker Cup that we received. We will get in touch separately to send you your prize. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CompSoc Jobs Mailing list The society receives a number of advertisements each week from companies and individuals interested in employing our members. The jobs range from graduate positions, to a bit of help with another societies website. If you would like to receive these emails just email compsoc-jobs-request(a)lists.ox.compsoc.net with 'subscribe' in the subject line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Upcoming CompSoc AGM Congratulations diligent reader for making it this far through the email. You may know that in week 6 CompSoc will be holding its Annual General Meeting during which the committee for 2012/2013 will be elected. If you think you might be interested in a role on the committee then please feel free to get in touch with us over committee(a)ox.compsoc.net and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Along with the positions required by the university (President, Secretary and Treasurer) a number of other roles could be suitably created, such as Vice President, Social Secretary, Sponsorship Secretary, Publications Officer, etc. (basically whatever title + support that you think could be provided to the society).

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Fwd: Topics in Complexity
by Alex Kavvos 26 Jan '12

26 Jan '12

Dear all, You might, perhaps, be interested in the following group study scheme! Best, Alex ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Owain Evans <owain(a)mit.edu> [snip] ---------------- Hi, I'm a visiting PhD student, working on philosophy and cognitive science. I'm going to be learning some topics in computational complexity theory from the textbook by Barak and Arora (draft copy<http://www.cs.princeton.edu/theory/complexity/> is free). In particular, randomized algorithms and BPP, interactive proofs, and average-case complexity. If anyone would like to join me, we can arrange a time to meet up, discuss the text and go through some of the problems in the book. I can start now or at the end of term. How much background is needed? The topics are fairly accessible. Reading the first couple of chapters of the book should suffice as background. Also, if you are interested in other topics in computational complexity or in other areas of theoretical CS (programming language semantics, algorithms or Kolmogorov complexity), then maybe we can plan to cover some other topics also. Owain Evans owain(a)mit.edu http://www.mit.edu/~owain/

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Week 2: NaturalMotion "Euphoria in the real world"
by Ben Gazzard 22 Jan '12

22 Jan '12

Good Morning All, By now we've all had the introductory lectures to this terms courses, including the obligatory examples of futuristic technology that they will help us implement - well this week CompSoc will be hosting a talk about such an implementation! This weeks talk, titled "Euphoria in the real world", is about a game animation engine called Euphoria which was used in developing a number of popular titles such as GTA IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Read on for more details about this talk, results of the week 1 technology competition, as well as details of the upcoming Gloucester Research dinner. Have a good one, Ben and Alex CompSoc Co-Presidents ******************************************* The Oxford Computer Society ******************************************* NaturalMotion: Euphoria in the Real World Wednesday 25, 18.00, St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre A short history of taking revolutionary procedural animation from academic research to commercial success. Delivered by Simon Mack, CTO of Oxford based NaturalMotion. After completing his Masters in Engineering at Oxford University, Simon worked at MathEngine Plc developing the Karma physics engine before joining NaturalMotion in 2003 as a developer. NaturalMotion is a leading game technology and development company based in Oxford (England) and San Francisco (California). The companys award-winning euphoria engine is a break-through in real-time character animation and is used in AAA titles such as Rockstar Games Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, and LucasArts Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. You can find more details about the product at http://www.naturalmotion.com/euphoria. Here is a handy map for finding Catz: http://g.co/maps/eeut2 And here is another one for finding the JCR lecture theatre (it joins on to the PDR): http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/map.png If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401. The talk starts at 1800, he lodge are always happy to point you to the JCR Lecture Theatre (don't be afraid to ask!).. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gloucester Research Networking Dinner Wednesday 08/02 (4th Week), 7pm, Venue TBC Gloucester Research is hosting a networking dinner for Oxford Computer Society Members on 8th February. If you are interested in pursuing a career in financial IT whether as a software developer or within an infrastructure team - you are invited to a three course dinner, each course with different experienced members of the company. This is a unique opportunity for you to find out first-hand about Gloucester Research and how they develop and support a sophisticated trading platform. Please RSVP to president(a)ox.compsoc.net by Thursday of Week 3 if you wish to attend the dinner as places are limited, this is a members only event - although membership to the society is only £3 for a year or £5 for life, please get in touch with secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net if interested. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Technology Competition: Week 1 result: Congratulations to Sam Lanning who successfully exploited a hidden open proxy on compsoc.dartoxia.com to read the contents of http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/secret.txt. We will get in touch separately to send you your prize. For those of you who missed the last compsoc email, the week 2 prize will go to the highest scoring member in the Facebook Hacker Cup qualifiers. Please send me evidence of your scores (if I cannot directly view them on FB already) on president(a)ox.compsoc.net once the qualifiers have ended or you have completed all three challenges. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CompSoc Jobs Mailing list The society receives a number of advertisements each week from companies and individuals interested in employing our members. The jobs range from graduate positions, to a bit of help with another societies website. If you would like to receive these emails just email compsoc-jobs-request(a)lists.ox.compsoc.net with 'subscribe' in the subject line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Upcoming CompSoc AGM Congratulations diligent reader for making it this far through the email. You may know that in week 6 CompSoc will be holding its Annual General Meeting during which the committee for 2012/2013 will be elected. If you think you might be interested in a role on the committee then please feel free to get in touch with us over committee(a)ox.compsoc.net and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have. Along with the positions required by the university (President, Secretary and Treasurer) a number of other roles could be suitably created, such as Vice President, Social Secretary, Sponsorship Secretary, Publications Officer, etc. (basically whatever title + support that you think could be provided to the society).

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Technology Competition Week 2
by Ben Gazzard 20 Jan '12

20 Jan '12

Hi All, Bit earlier than usual this week. At the end of this email are details of the Facebook Hacker Cup which I forwarded a while ago. The prize for week 2 will go to the best scoring compsoc member in the qualifiers for the Hacker Cup. Please send me evidence of your scores after the competition has closed (or as soon as you have completed all of the challenges in the qualifier). The competition already started nearly 2 hours ago, but don't worry only the first challenge of the qualifiers was released. Best get going now though! Details of this weeks winner, and our talk from NaturalMotion next week will follow on Sunday as usual. All the best, Ben Gazzard -- CompSoc Co-President What is the Hacker Cup? The Hacker Cup is Facebook's international coding competition. The contest consists of three online rounds and a final round held at Facebook's headquarters. This is your chance to compete against the world's best programmers and potentially win the title of world champion and other awesome prizes. You can read our engineering blog post here: https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook-engineering/announcing-facebooks-20… What prizes can be won? The top 25 scoring contestants from Online Round 3 will be flown out to Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, USA to compete in the Finals. The onsite finals will happen from March 16 - 17, 2012. All travel and accommodations will be covered by Facebook. The finalists will be competing for: 1st place: $5,000 USD 2nd place: $2,000 USD 3rd place: $1,000 USD 4th - 25th place: $100 USD The top 100 scoring contestants in Online Round 2 will get a Hacker Cup t-shirt. A cash prize of equivalent value may be given where required by law, or at Facebook's discretion. Any duties and taxes (if applicable) are the sole responsibility of the recipients. Where can I register? Register here<http://www.facebook.com/hackercup/reg.php>. Registration opens on January 1, 2012 at 8:00 AM Pacific Standard Time (PST) and ends on January 22, 2012 at 4:00 PM (PST). Advancement from the Qualification Round is necessary in order to participate in Online Round 1. Only competitors who correctly solve at least 1 problem will advance to Online Round 1. If you have any queries at all let me know. Thanks, Ruth Ruth McIntyre| Facebook | University Recruiting| *: +353 (0)1 5537444 mobile +353 (87) 7577933 *: Hanover Reach, 5-7 Hanover Quay, Dublin 2 *: ruth(a)fb.com<mailto:ruth@fb.com> Would you [cid:image001.png@01CCD79B.2908FF60] to work with us? Visit our careers site: www.facebook.com/careers<http://www.facebook.com/careers> [cid:image002.png@01CCD79B.2908FF60]

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Careers Event - 30th Jan (and Welcome Back Drinks (tomorrow, 8pm, st catz pdr) reminder!)
by Ben Gazzard 17 Jan '12

17 Jan '12

Hi All, The Computer Science would like me to forward on the attached details of the Computer Science Careers fair (apologies to the large number of you who will have already received this). Also, a chance to remind you that CompSoc's first event of the term, welcome back drinks, is on tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8pm in the St Catz PDR. Old and new faces all welcome! All the best, Ben -- Co-President, Oxford CompSoc -----Original Message----- From: Maureen York [mailto:maureen.york@cs.ox.ac.uk] Sent: 17 January 2012 13:03 To: all-ugrad(a)cs.ox.ac.uk; msc-cs-students(a)cs.ox.ac.uk; mfocs(a)cs.ox.ac.uk; cs-dphil-students(a)cs.ox.ac.uk Subject: Careers Event - 30th Jan Dear All The annual Computer Science Careers Fair is taking place on Monday 30th January. There will be approximately 37 companies in attendance this year. Kindest Regards Maureen Maureen York Academic Administrator Oxford University Department of Computer Science Wolfson Building Parks Road Oxford OX1 3QD Phone: 01865 273863 Email: maureen.york(a)cs.ox.ac.uk

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Week 1: Welcome back drinks and more...
by Ben Gazzard 15 Jan '12

15 Jan '12

Hi All, Welcome back to Oxford, I hope everyone had an enjoyable vacation and is looking forward to a studious Hilary, complemented with the weekly joys of a CompSoc event. We have got something every week for you this term, as usual you can find full details at http://compsoc.net. Alternatively, come to our welcome back drinks this Wednesday to pick one up, have some drinks and nibbles and generally relax after 3 days hard work... More details about that event, this terms technology competition and our jobs mailing list below. Ben and Alex CompSoc Co-Presidents ******************************************* The Oxford Computer Society ******************************************* Welcome Back Drinks: Wednesday 18, 20.00, St Catz PDR: Come along to talk geek, have a few drinks and nibbles on us and to generally find out what the society is doing this term. If you can't stay for long, feel free just to pop in for a quick drink and a chat. Here is a handy map for finding Catz: http://g.co/maps/eeut2 And here is another one for finding the PDR: http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/map.png If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401. The lodge are always happy to point you to the PDR (don't be afraid to ask!). FB Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/211806168910658/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Technology Competition: Challenge 1: This weeks challenge is to once again find a vulnerability in http://compsoc.dartoxia.com in order to read the file http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/secret.txt. Once you have figured it out the way to stop the timer will be apparent. Anyone (with a .ox.ac.uk email address) can sign up to the competition through the http://compsoc.dartoxia.com website, but only members can receive prizes. Compsoc.dartoxia.com isn't connected to the compsoc network, and so you will need to make a new account to participate. For more details about the competition see http://compsoc.net/technology_competition or contact committee(a)ox.compsoc.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The society receives a number of advertisements each week from companies and individuals interested in employing our members. The jobs range from graduate positions, to a bit of help with another societies website. If you would like to receive these emails just email compsoc-jobs-request(a)lists.ox.compsoc.net with 'subscribe' in the subject line.

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compsoc-announce January 2012