Hi All,
I hope everyone has had a good 1st week and settled back in to Oxford life. It was great to see so many people at Freshers' Drinks on Tuesday.
This week we have two events planned, a talk on 'Using Machine Learning To Solve Real-World Problems' on Tuesday and a film screening on Saturday.
Read more below to find out about these events and this weeks 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
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The Oxford Computer Society
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Using Machine Learning To Solve Real-World Problems: Tuesday 18, 20.00-22.00 St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=266683403374448
How do you approach a classification problem involving thousands of categories rather than the 'usual' five or six? What happens when your data-set is several gigabytes and growing? What open-source tools are available, are they any good, and can they be put to commercial use? How do you measure the system's effectiveness when you're not allowed to see the real data because of client confidentiality?
David North and Richard Ashby, from local software company CoreFiling, will aim to answer all these questions and more in their talk on machine learning from an industry perspective. There will be free drinks afterwards.
David has for some time been a CompSoc Systems Administration Co-ordinator (http://compsoc.net/network/), if you think you might be interested in taking over this role or just want to know what it is then after the talk would be an excellent opportunity to ask about it.
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. We will meet at the lodge in Catz at 2000 for a 2015 start.
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Film Screening: Saturday 22, 19.30-22.00 St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=302974333051482
We will be screening a film to be decided by Doodle poll. Refreshments will be provided.
Free for members, £2 for non members - got to cover pizza costs!
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
Doodle Poll: http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/poll.html
If you get truly lost in Catz, you can call Ben on 0754 999 3401. We will meet at the lodge in Catz at 1930 for a 1945 start.
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Technology Competition: Challenge 2:
This weeks challenge is to determine what the code below does: def f(b):n=b.find('0');~n or exit(b);[m in[(n-j)%9*(n/9^j/9)*(n/27^j/27|n%9/3^j%9/3) or b[j]for j in range(81)]or f(b[:n]+m+b[n+1:]) for m in'%d'%5**18]
Once you have figured it out go to http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/answer/<ANSWER GOES HERE>.
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@ox.compsoc.net
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Technology Competition: Challenge 1 Result:
Congratulations to Alaric Stephen for solving the first challenge the quickest - we will get in touch separately to arrange your prize.
Last weeks challenge was "What does our logo mean?". The correct answer was OX. This answer is found if you interpret each dot to be a 0 or 1 depending on shade and for the columns into values: 0100 1111 0101 1000 = 4 F 5 8. Now if you look up the ASCII symbols for 4F and 58 you get OX.
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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!
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 Internet Services Company Netcraft titled 'Defence Against the Dark Arts' (more information below - there will be a free buffet afterwards!).
Also, in 4th Week the Bank of America Merill Lynch will be taking us out to Quod for dinner at drinks. Please RSVP to president@ox.compsoc.net by this Thursday if you wish to attend as places are limited (and who says no to a free dinner at one of the fanciest places in town?!) - this is a members only event, please see the end of the email for how to become a member.
Read more below to find out about these events and this weeks 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
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The Oxford Computer Society
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Defence Against the Dark Arts: Wednesday 26, 17.30-19.00 St Catz JCR Lecture Theatre Link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=176936862390779
Phishing, hacking and Internet based fraud are growing very quickly, not only in absolute numbers, but also in diversity and complexity. We review contemporary Internet bank robbing, illustrating the scale of the activity, the technological arms race between attackers and defenders, some recent innovations, and mistakes from each side.
Internet Services Company Netcraft will be talking about the above as well as what it is like to work for them. They will be providing a buffet afterwards and an opportunity to talk to some of their staff.
The plan is to meet at St Catz lodge at 17.15 for a 17.30 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.
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Bank of America Merill Lynch Dinner and Drinks: Tuesday 1, 19.00 Quod
This event is only open to members - information about membership at the end of the email.
* Please RSVP to president@ox.compsoc.net by Thursday of Week 3 if you wish to attend the dinner as places are limited. *
Recent Oxford graduates and senior executives from the Technology division will discuss their experiences: from what a typical day involves, to careers paths on offer, and the application process.
Whether you are looking to apply this year, or working in this area is just on your horizon, this should be an excellent opportunity to find out more.
BoAML will be hosting this event (and buying us dinner) at Quod on High Street, the plan is to meet there at about 19.00.
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Can computers deal with infinite objects in finite time? Tuesday 25, 20.00 Maths Institute
For example, can they calculate with real numbers represented as infinite sequences of digits, so that all digits printed at any given time will be correct, and so that they print digit after digit in a never ending fashion? Can they check an infinite number of possibilities and answer yes or no after calculating for a finite amount of time? Sometimes they can, and sometimes they cannot. And sometimes we are able to tell whether they can or cannot. I will explore the mathematical tools and foundations for computing with infinite objects, including general topology and constructive logic (and excluding many useful branches of mathematics that time will not permit to cover). There will be theory and examples.
The Oxford Invariants will be having a talk by Martin Escardo, which may be of interest.
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Technology Competition: Challenge 3:
This weeks challenge is to find the message that was hidden in our termcard.
If you have lost your termcard (or never got one!) it can be downloaded here: http://tinyurl.com/5tp4q3j.
Once you have figured it out go to http://compsoc.dartoxia.com/answer/<ANSWER GOES HERE>.
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@ox.compsoc.net
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Technology Competition: Challenge 2 Result:
Congratulations to Thomas Ahle for solving the second challenge the quickest - we will get in touch separately to arrange your prize.
Last weeks challenge was "What does the following code do?" (code copied below). The correct answer was that it was a soduku solver, but we would have accepted any answer with the word soduku. To find out about how it does it, please see http://tinyurl.com/6jgsjj for a reasonably good explanation/discussion.
def f(b):n=b.find('0');~n or exit(b);[m in[(n-j)%9*(n/9^j/9)*(n/27^j/27|n%9/3^j%9/3) or b[j]for j in range(81)]or f(b[:n]+m+b[n+1:]) for m in'%d'%5**18]
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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-announce@lists.ox.compsoc.net
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Ben Gazzard