Hi All,
I can't believe it's week 8 already, this term has completely flown by!
We will be holding our Termly General Meeting this Wednesday. We will discuss the term just gone and the term coming. We'd love to hear any ideas you have for the society. There will be free pizza and mince pies if the sheer thrill of a general meeting is not enough alone.
Read more below to find out about this event and the results of the technology challenge for last week, as well as the overall winners this term.
Ben and Alex
CompSoc Co-Presidents
************************************************************************
The Oxford Computer Society
************************************************************************
Termly General Meeting:
Wednesday 30, 18.00 St Catz PDR
Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=204645699613911
Please note the change of date compared to our printed term card.
We will be reviewing progress the society has made this term and discussing any other issues that arise. In addition we will be discussing our plans for next term.
If you are interested in the intricacies of how the TGM/society works then please see the constitution. (http://compsoc.net/constitution/)
Pizza and mince pies will be provided.
Here is a handy map for finding Catz: http://g.co/maps/eeut2. If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401.
This event, like most CompSoc events, is free for anyone to attend. Although only members of the society may vote in the meeting.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 7 result:
Congratulations to Katrina Spensley for solving this challenge the quickest. We will get in touch separately to arrange your prize.
Last week's challenge was related to http://xkcd.com/426/.
The challenge was to find the 440th element in the following series:
1st Element: The last date, x, such that the geohash x was somewhere in Oxford. Rather than using the DOW opening use the word CompSoc (with that capitalisation).
(N+1)th Element: The first date before the Nth date such that the geohash of this date was somewhere in Oxford. Rather than using the DOW opening, use the Nth date.
For the purposes of this challenge, Oxford is bounded by the points (51. 7903, -1. 2899) and (51.7154, -1.1763) - forming a rectangle using these points in the obvious way. As a hint, the solution is within the last 500 years.
The correct answer was 1869-02-27. With associated Latitude: 51.0.71987286514556, Longitude: -1.0.26429017908372.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Michaelmas Term Results:
Congratulations to everyone who has solved any of the challenges this term (12 people), and thanks to everyone who tried but were unsuccessful (15 people). The 3 fastest average times of the term will each receive a £20 prize.
The fastest average times were:
326382.8 achieved by Alaric Stephen
405102.2 achieved by Katrina Spensley
481331.2 achieved by Jonathan Tuckwell
We will get in touch separately to arrange a prize.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Hilary Term:
If you have any good ideas for a challenge we'd love to hear - send them through to committee(a)ox.compsoc.net. I'm sure we can arrange some sort of chocolate based reward for any assistance you provide...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Membership:
Our current membership rates are £5 for life and £3 for a year. Being a member entitles you to free socials, prizes in the technology competition and you can attend (obviously) members only events - such as the upcoming Bank of America dinner. You will also receive a CompSoc membership card!
Membership forms can be downloaded from http://compsoc.net/forms/Compsoc_Membership_Application.pdf - please return them completed and money to a committee member.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Hi guys,
Just a quick reminder that Deloitte are doing a talk at St Catz today titled "Technology at Deloitte". This would be an excellent opportunity to learn more about a career in a global organisation as well as a little about consultancy.
The talk starts at 20.15 (welcome drinks from 20.00) in the St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre.
There will be a free buffet and drinks afterwards if the lure of Deloitte alone isn't quite enough.
All the best,
Ben
An invite from Sam Roddick, a Partner at Deloitte, follows about our event this Thursday.
[cid:image001.jpg@01CCA939.E6D6AB40]
United Kingdom
Exploring a career in consulting, technology or development?
Technology at Deloitte - Thursday 24th November 2011
"Want a career in business? Want a career in technology? Not sure what you want? Here at Deloitte, we offer the best of both worlds in our Consulting practice. Come along to our event 'Technology at Deloitte' to find out our views on all things technical - examining why projects go wrong, what we as an industry and firm do to address them, and examples of where we've put theory into practice to deliver solutions that are on the cutting edge of technical innovation. We'll also delve into the wider spectrum of Consulting work we do at the firm and look at what makes Deloitte different from its competitors.
Interested? Come along and find out what Deloitte has to offer as a career within Management Consulting."
Venue & Time:
St Catherine's College, Manor Road, Oxford OX1 3UJ on Thursday 24th November
The Guest Lecture begins at 20:00 and will be followed by a drinks reception and buffet providing an opportunity to talk to Deloitte's technology Consultants.
[cid:image006.jpg@01CCA939.E6D6AB40]
Sam Roddick
Partner | Consulting
Deloitte MCS Limited
http://www.deloitte.co.uk/graduates/technologyintegration
[cid:image007.jpg@01CCA939.E6D6AB40]
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Hi All,
It's that time of the week to find out about what CompSoc is doing again!
This week we have a talk from Deloitte titled 'Technology in Deloitte' (more information below - there will be a free buffet + drinks afterwards!). The talk will last no longer than an hour and should be well worth going to, if only to find out what Deloitte actually do (they operate globally across over 30 separate divisions).
Read more below to find out about this event and the final technology challenge of this term (which is open to anyone, but only members can win prizes) - as well as last weeks solution.
Ben and Alex
CompSoc Co-Presidents
************************************************************************
The Oxford Computer Society
************************************************************************
Technology at Deloitte:
Thursday 24, 20.00-21.00 St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre
Link: TBA
Representatives from Deloitte, including a Partner, will be coming to talk about the company and particularly its technology division. The talk will include some interesting case studies of their work.
A buffet and drinks will be provided afterwards.
Deloitte provide audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk management and tax services to selected clients. Their Technology Practice addresses numerous advancements, such as cloud computing, mobility, data analytics and social media, through the prism of new market creation.
The plan is to meet at St Catz lodge at 19.45 for a 20.00 start in the JCR Lecture theatre.
Here is a handy map for finding Catz: http://g.co/maps/eeut2. If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401.
This event, like most CompSoc events, is free for anyone to attend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 7 + Bonus:
This week's challenge is related to http://xkcd.com/426/.
The challenge is to find the 440th element in the following series:
1st Element: The last date, x, such that the geohash x was somewhere in Oxford. Rather than using the DOW opening use the word CompSoc (with that capitalisation).
(N+1)th Element: The first date before the Nth date such that the geohash of this date was somewhere in Oxford. Rather than using the DOW opening, use the Nth date.
For the purposes of this challenge, Oxford is bounded by the points (51. 7903, -1. 2899) and (51.7154, -1.1763) - forming a rectangle using these points in the obvious way. As a hint, the solution is within the last 500 years.
Once you have figured it out go to
http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/answer/<ANSWER GOES HERE>. The answer should be of the form YYYY-MM-DD (ie it should include leading zeroes, hyphens and be represented by digits).
A bonus prize will go to the first person who sends me (president(a)ox.compsoc.net) a picture of them at the location corresponding to the 440th element of the series.
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 if you have any questions contact committee(a)ox.compsoc.net
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 6 Result:
Congratulations to Jonathan Tuckwell for solving the sixth challenge the quickest - we will get in touch separately to arrange your prize.
Last week's challenge was to reorder the tiles at http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/dominoes.txt such that:
- You use exactly 8 tiles
- You use at least one of each type of tile
- When you read the top row you get a palindrome of a's and b's
- When you read the bottom row you get a palindrome of x's and y's
You then had to submit the answer as a string of a's and b's followed by a string of x's and y's. The correct solution was: abbabababababbaxyyxyxxyxxyxxyxxyxyyx
When you relax the second condition a number of other solutions can be found - this seemed to be the biggest stumbling block.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Membership:
Our current membership rates are £5 for life and £3 for a year. Being a member entitles you to free socials, prizes in the technology competition and you can attend (obviously) members only events - such as the upcoming Bank of America dinner. You will also receive a CompSoc membership card!
Membership forms can be downloaded from http://compsoc.net/forms/Compsoc_Membership_Application.pdf - please return them completed and money to a committee member.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Hi guys,
Apologies for the multiple email. My attempt at formatting an email nicely appears to have failed and so the dominoes as part of Challenge 6 didn't appear right. You can find them drawn correctly at the following page: http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/dominoes.txt
All the best,
Ben
Hi All,
It's that time of the week again: the time of the week for a CompSoc email!
This week, contrary to our printed termcard, we will be running a Team Fortress 2 night. It'd be great if you could let us know (through email or FB or...) if you plan on attending so that we can ensure we have adequate power splitters and jaffa cakes. There will also be free pizza.
Read more below to find out about this event and this week's technology challenge (which is open to anyone, but only members can win prizes) - as well as last week's solution.
Ben and Alex
CompSoc Co-Presidents
************************************************************************
The Oxford Computer Society
************************************************************************
Team Fortress 2 Night:
Wednesday 16, 19.00 PDR, St Catherine's College
Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191280997621191
This event is only open to members. If you're interested in joining please see http://compsoc.net/join/ - you can sign up at the event. (only £5 life or £3 year)
We will be running a Team Fortress 2 night in St Catz PDR. There will be free pizza and jaffa cakes!
If you plan on attending you will need to bring a laptop with Team Fortress 2 installed and up to date - please don't try and download it in Catz as it will be really slow :-( You will also need a LAN cable and probably a power supply for your laptop.
Team Fortress 2 can be downloaded, installed and played for free http://store.steampowered.com/app/440 (you'll need to install Steam, which is also free). If there are any other games you'd like to play (and think others will have) bring them along and we might play them too! (here's hoping for Minecraft... :-p )
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. Someone should be at the lodge to show you where to go between 1900 and 1915.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 6:
This week's challenge is to solve the following problem:
abba
yyx
b
yx
a
xy
ab
xyx
The above are dominoes which have strings as values. You have infinitely many of each of them, and for some reason want to arrange them such that:
* You use exactly 8 tiles
* You use at least one of each type of tile
* When you read the top row you get a palindrome of a's and b's
* When you read the bottom row you get a palindrome of x's and y's
You aren't allowed to break the dominoes up to make new dominoes. If you don't know what a palindrome is, it is a sequence which when read backwards is the same as reading it forwards (for example hgghhghhggh)
Once you have found an arrangement of the tiles satisfying the above condition go to http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/answer/<STRING OF a's AND b's><STRING OF x's AND y's>
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 - or if you think something has gone wrong - see http://compsoc.net/technology_competition or contact committee(a)ox.compsoc.net<mailto:committee@ox.compsoc.net>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 5 Result:
Congratulations to Dominic Hargreaves (our senior member) who solved the problem quickest. He has kindly offered to pass the prize on to the next quickest participant though, so further congratulations to Sam Lanning. We will get in contact separately to arrange your prize.
The challenge last week was to find the cumulative filesize of all the files in http://garbage.dartoxia.com/s/. The correct answer was 945238 (Bytes). In case you are interested, a sample crawler for solving this challenge can be found at http://garbage.dartoxia.com/crawl.txt.
Also worth a mention, congratulations Alaric Stephen for counting each file by hand - a most productive use of your time...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Membership:
Our current membership rates are £5 for life and £3 for a year. Being a member entitles you to free socials, prizes in the technology competition and you can attend (obviously) members only events - such as the upcoming Bank of America dinner. You will also receive a CompSoc membership card!
Membership forms can be downloaded from http://compsoc.net/forms/Compsoc_Membership_Application.pdf - please return them completed and money to a committee member.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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<mailto:compsoc-jobs-request@lists.ox.compsoc.net> with 'subscribe' in the subject line.
A message from one of our sponsors, Metaswitch:
Are you looking for that elusive career that combines challenge,
opportunity, reward and fun?
Do you enjoy solving complex problems?
Do you want to join one of the Sunday Times ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’?
If so, come along to our presentation to find out about our graduate, postgraduate and internship opportunities for all disciplines.
Metaswitch Networks Presentation
Wednesday 16 November, 6.30pm
The Randolph Hotel
(Food and drink will be provided and you could win an iPad2!)
Why us?
*Metaswitch is one of the world’s leading communications technology companies. We work with industry giants including BT, AT&T, Cisco, Ericsson and Microsoft. We continually innovate and are accelerating our expansion into new markets and technologies. Join us and you’ll see the effect of your work in how the whole world communicates.
*We treat you as an individual, but with plenty of training and support. This means you can decide where your career goes – and how fast. You’ll start in a development or customer
support role. You can then choose to stay on a technical path or move into project and people management, sales, marketing, or product management.
*On top of a great basic salary (£30,000) and the standard benefits, we have some pretty amazing perks. For example, we have team and office morale events with a very generous budget. Activities can vary from drinks at the pub to a day or weekend trip away in larger groups (where New York, Paris and Center Parcs have been recent destinations). In addition, we have share plans and a performance related bonus plan which gives employees a significant stake in the increasing value of the company.
*The vast majority of our senior management team joined the company as interns and graduates, including our Chairman!
Please register your interest on the link below to be entered into a prize draw to win an iPad2. The winner will be announced (and must be present) at the presentation.
http://careers.metaswitch.com/careers/registration.aspx?uni=oxford
We look forward to seeing you there!
James Madeley
Recruitment
Metaswitch Networks
careers(a)metaswitch.com
+44 (0) 20 8366 1177
www.metaswitch.com<http://www.metaswitch.com/>
[cid:image001.png@01CC82B5.73D3BED0]<http://twitter.com/#!/JoinMetaswitch>[cid:image002.png@01CC82B5.73D3BED0]<http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Metaswitch-Networks-Recruitment/1871479079…>[cid:image003.jpg@01CC82B5.73D3BED0]<http://www.linkedin.com/company/metaswitch-networks> [cid:image004.jpg@01CC82B5.73D3BED0] <http://www.metaswitch.com/careers/>
*Smashing IT - Data Processing at Large Hadron Collider
<http://www.oxon.bcs.org/2011/09/12/smashing-it-data-processing-at-large-had…>
Dr Neil Geddes, Head of e-Science
Thursday 10th November at 7:30pm
Venue: Oxford e-Research Centre, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QG *
*Abstract:*
The Large Hadron Collider presents unique challenges to those involved
in analysing the massive volume of information produced. In one year the
Large Hadron Collider will generate roughly 15 petabytes (15 million
gigabytes) of data -- enough to fill more than 1.7 million dual-layer
DVDs a year!
Dr Neil Geddes will present an overview of the data processing chain for
the experiments being carried out at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at
CERN covering the event triggering and data acquisition of the Compact
Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector including subsequent data analysis in the
global Grid network. The experiments investigate a wide range of
physics, including the search for the Higgs boson and particles that
could make up dark matter.
Dr Neil Geddes leads the Science and Technology Facilities Council
(STFC) e-Science Department at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, with
responsibility for data storage and management, scientific computing and
grid technology development and exploitation in support of the
scientific facilities operated by STFC. He is also a visiting Professor
of e-Science at the University of Oxford.
*Event Information*
The event is free and both members and non-members are very welcome.
Reservations are not required.
Tea, coffee and sandwiches will be served from 7:00pm. The lecture
starts at 7:30pm.
Hi All,
I hope everyone enjoyed the fireworks last night - I didn't realise how many displays there were in Oxford!
This week Dr Michael Spivey is presenting a talk titled "The Beauty of Bootstrapping and The Joy of JIT", a summary is copied below. Please note, this talk will be in the Department of Computer Science, due to its favourable proximity to the pub.
Read more below to find out about this event and this week's technology challenge (which is open to anyone, but only members can win prizes) - as well as last weeks solution.
Ben and Alex
CompSoc Co-Presidents
************************************************************************
The Oxford Computer Society
************************************************************************
The Beauty of Bootstrapping and The Joy of JIT:
Wednesday 9, 18.00 Lecture Theatre A, The Department of Computer Science
Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=270345939673763
Dr Michael Spivey, Oxford University Department of Computer Science will be presenting this talk. Summary below:
A compiler written in its own input language that generates code for a non-existent machine? Surely that's hopelessly impractical! I will talk about my recent experiences in improving GeomLab, a simple functional language, by using a bootstrapped compiler to generate code for the Java Virtual Machine. Good results are surprisingly easy to obtain.
After the talk we will be heading down to the Lamb and Flag for drinks and 'intellectual discussion' with Dr Spivey - anyone is welcome to join us, we may even buy you a drink.
If you don't know where the department is there are handy directions here: http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/contact/directions.html. Once you have found the department enter the shadowy door behind the bins in http://g.co/maps/p4nqr. Then follow the signs =]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a message from Becky Jowsey who is organising an exciting Elder Scrolls event:
Elder Scrolls : Skyrim Video Game Launch Party
On 11/11/11, as I am sure you are all aware, the next chapter of the Elder Scrolls video game series: SKYRIM is coming out! We are very excited about this and so are having a Skyrim launch party in the Jean Robinson Room of Keble College from around 8.00pm until around 10.40ish. It promises be a friendly and fun evening of gaming, chatting, party food and hopefully, a few competitions! Bring along your console and a copy of Skyrim if you have one (not a problem if you don't) and unite with fellow gamers to share and celebrate this latest chapter of one of our favourite franchises. This should be a great opportunity to meet other people who share your hobby, exchange gamer-tags, chat, relax and generally have a nice informal evening of gaming.
If this sounds like a friendly and relaxing way to spend a Friday night, then please send a quick email to becky.jowsey(a)keble.ox.ac.uk expressing an interest and with the following information:
Which console platform are you bringing? Xbox, PS3, PC, none etc
Will you have a copy of Skyrim on 11.11.11? Y / N
Can you bring other games, plug-banks, extra controllers etc?
With these preliminary details sorted out I can send you an invite and an outline of all the fun stuff we hoping to have on the night.We hope to hear from you soon!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technology Competition:
Challenge 5:
This weeks challenge is to write a simple crawler to find the cumulative filesize of all the files in http://garbage.dartoxia.com/s/ (or do it by hand, but that is boring and tedious - yet not infeasible).
A few hints: the answer ignores the size of folders - so you can too, all folders have the prefix folder, no file is greater than 999B in size, there are no urls in any of the files (just garbage).
Once you have calculated it go to http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/answer/<ANSWER GOES HERE>, the answer should be in bytes.
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:
Challenge 4 Result:
Congratulations to Jonathan Tuckwell who solved the challenge with impressive speed - next time a challenge of this type will have to be much harder! We will get in touch separately to arrange your prize.
The challenge last week was to find a 'vulnerability' in http://compsoc.dartoxia.com and exploit it. The solution was to change the value of a cookie (found_exploit) which was stored on log in to 1 and then visit the answer page.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Membership:
Our current membership rates are £5 for life and £3 for a year. Being a member entitles you to free socials, prizes in the technology competition and you can attend (obviously) members only events - such as the upcoming Bank of America dinner. You will also receive a CompSoc membership card!
Membership forms can be downloaded from http://compsoc.net/forms/Compsoc_Membership_Application.pdf - please return them completed and money to a committee member.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Hi All,
A short message from two of our sponsors who would like to let you know about separate events they are running in Oxford next week.
All the best,
Ben
--
Co-President, CompSoc
Gloucester Research<http://www.gresearch.co.uk/>:
Hello
Gloucester Research invites students in the Oxford Computer Science Society to a meet and greet informal drinks and canapés with Software Developers to find out about careers in High-tech Investment Firms.
Gloucester Research is a fast growing, London based technology business seeking bright talent to join our software development and systems administration teams. We have developed and operate a sophisticated, bespoke research platform to leverage investment knowledge in a systematic way. Our software systems and trade settlement services are used for trading in markets around the globe and around the clock. Equally we have infrastructure that dwarfs that used in companies many times our size, providing the best of both worlds to someone who would like to pursue a career in financial IT.
Working at Gloucester Research is rewarding, challenging, intellectually stimulating, and provides exposure to a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and technical challenges. The working environment is positive and informal: there is no dress code, and people are judged on the quality of their work rather than rigid adherence to fixed hours
Please join us for an informal afternoon, pop by and have a chat on 9th November 2011 at 5pm in the Atrium (Computer Science Building). An opportunity to speak one-on-one and ask questions to Developers within the business.
RSVP not strictly necessary but much appreciated: graduates(a)gresearch.co.uk<mailto:graduates@gresearch.co.uk>
We look forward to seeing you there.
Kindest regards
Lauren
Jane Street Capital<http://www.janestreet.com/>:
Jane Street Capital is a quantitative proprietary trading firm that operates around the clock and around the globe. Founded in 2000, Jane Street is over 280 committed people in New York, London, and Hong Kong. They will be presenting their Careers presentation at The Old Bank Hotel, High Street, Oxford, Tuesday 8 November at 6pm.