compsoc-freshers February 2017

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Week 7 Newsletter: Microsoft HoloLens, LAN Night, AGM
by Thomas Denney 27 Feb '17

27 Feb '17

Hello all, Microsoft will be joining us later this week for a talk on developing apps for HoloLens, their augmented reality development. I had the opportunity to try the HoloLens last summer, and I strongly encourage you to come and have a look! After the talk there will be the opportunity to chat with the speaker, as well as the usual selection of food and drinks. Last Wednesday we hosted our first competitive programming event, and I'd like to begin by congratulating the winners - you can see their scores here <https://www.hackerrank.com/contests/compsoc-ht17/leaderboard>. After the success of this event we will definitely be running similar events in the future, so don't worry if you missed this one! This week's Learn to Code will be the final session of the term. We hope that those of you that attended enjoyed the experience and that you're planning to keep up the coding in the future! We would once again like to thank all of the volunteers that assisted with the sessions. The materials are available here <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/learntocode>. On Saturday, for the penultimate Geek Night of the term, we will be running a LAN Night. Next Wednesday we'll be holding our Annual General Meeting and electing a new committee. It is essential that we meet quorum for the election, so please be sure to either come or vote by proxy. If you are interested in standing for a committee position then please feel free to email Matt <mailto:president@ox.compsoc.net>, Chris <mailto:treasurer@ox.compsoc.net>, or me <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net> to find out what the roles entail. Additional roles may be created at the discretion of the new president and secretary. Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Microsoft Tech Talk: The Path to Mixed Reality <https://www.facebook.com/events/1150829498377582/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (7th week)* Microsoft HoloLens is the first fully self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10. It is completely self-contained-no wires, phones, or connection to a PC needed. Microsoft HoloLens allows you to place holograms in your physical environment and provides a new way to see your world. This session provides a mixed reality primer and an overview of the available tools & documentation to quick start your holographic application development. Pizza and drinks will be served after the event. Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/1804363963151491/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (7th week)* In the sixth and final session of the course we'll be reviewing all of the content, looking at Python modules and classes in more detail, and taking a look at other resources you might want to look at for learning to code. Like the previous sessions, much of the session will require you to work on a laptop, so we highly recommend taking one. We do expect demand to be very high for this course, so please try to arrive before the advertised start time as we need to register everyone (for fire regulations). You'll need to enter via the back door on Parks Road; there are CompSoc signs up at the department. If you're a CS student with a little spare time and enthusiasm, please consider volunteering by contacting the committee. Geek Night 7: LAN Night <https://www.facebook.com/events/377811005939167/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (7th week)* Join us for an evening of video games and pizza! Annual General Meeting <https://www.facebook.com/events/739607626208010/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (8th week)* As well as reports from the existing committee, we'll be electing a new committee; the president <mailto:president@ox.compsoc.net>, secretary <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net>, and treasurer <mailto:treasurer@ox.compsoc.net> roles are all up for election. Feel free to email any of us if you would like to get an idea what the roles entail, but here's a rough summary: * *President*: ultimately in charge, responsible for event organisation, and relations with sponsors * *Secretary*: shares many responsibilities with the president, along with managing social media, and sending these newsletters * *Treasurer*: keeping track of the accounts, producing termly reports for the proctors, and ordering pizza All of the committee are responsible for the smooth running of our events, and we all took part in the teaching of Learn to Code this year. Other notices Facebook London Hackathon <http://www.fb.me/LonHack17> *Facebook London, 10 Brock Street, NW1 3 London - 11th & 12th March* Here at Facebook, we believe that every engineer possesses amazing ideas and creativity. Hackathons are a longstanding tradition at Facebook where our engineers stay up all night to create a working product or prototype from scratch. Remember- done is better than perfect. *Please note - all members of your team must register individually for the opportunity to attend* Register here <https://fblonhack17.splashthat.com/> Join Facebook in London as we stay up all night hacking, learning and having a some fun! Start brainstorming ideas & forming teams (of up to 4 people). We'll supply the food, fun diversions, prizes, and some expert guidance in the form of our engineers. We'll also provide reimbursement for public transportation. You bring your laptop, appetite, skills and ideas. The winning team will get the chance to compete against teams from other Hackathons at the Hackathon Finals and be judged by our executives- held at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, California in November! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Oxford University Computer Society (CompSoc) aims to organise meetings and events for our members to use and further their computing interests. See all of our upcoming events on our Facebook Page <https://facebook.com/oxcompsoc>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/oxcompsoc>, or visit our website <https://ox.compsoc.net> for more information about the society. -- Thomas Denney Secretary - Oxford University Computer Society secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net>

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Week 6 newsletter: Competitive programming, chat bots, and learn to code
by Thomas Denney 20 Feb '17

20 Feb '17

Hello all, Later this week we'll be hosting our first competitive programming event, the fifth Learn to Code session, and a chat-bot themed Geek Night. Our programming competition, on Wednesday night, will have a selection of a problems from previous competitions of varying difficulties. As well as earning the pride of winning, we will be awarding winners with gift cards (there will be separate prizes for those that have and have not competed in these kind of competitions before). On Saturday we will be experimenting with building chat bots using Microsoft's Bot Framework <https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/downloads/>, which allows you to build bots for services like Facebook Messenger, Skype, or Slack. The tools work on any platform and use either C# or NodeJS (we'll focus on the latter). We will have our usual selection of food and drinks. Microsoft will be joining us next week for a talk on developed augmented reality apps for HoloLens. As I'm sure many of you are aware we've seen really great demand for Learn to Code, and I would once again like to thank all the volunteers that have assisted us with running the sessions. The materials from all the sessions will now be made available via GitHub <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/learntocode> (hint: if you want to see where future sessions are going, take a look at the |future| branch). Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Competitive Programming <https://www.facebook.com/events/408464376168242/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (6th week)* We're going to host a programming competition! We'll have a selection of ten programming problems to solve with points awarded for correct solutions submitted in as little time as possible. You can use any programming language you like, but we recommend C++, Java, or Python. You can compete individually or in teams of up to three people. For those of you that have never done competitive programming before, we recommend taking a look at websites like HackerRank and Kattis for sample problems. Make sure you drag you friends along too, as teams can work on more than one problem at once. If you have competed before, the level of difficulty should be similar to early rounds of ACM-ICPC. Pizza and drinks will be served after the event. Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/396719150705223> *Lecture Theatre A, Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (6th week)* In the fourth session we'll take a look at basic data structures in Python like lists and dictionaries, and explore how these data structures can be used to solve common programming problems. Like the previous sessions, much of the session will require you to work on a laptop, so we highly recommend taking one. We do expect demand to be very high for this course, so please try to arrive before the advertised start time as we need to register everyone (for fire regulations). You'll need to enter via the back door on Parks Road; there are CompSoc signs up at the department. If you're a CS student with a little spare time and enthusiasm, please consider volunteering by contacting the committee. Geek Night 6 <https://www.facebook.com/events/613787808811896/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (6th week)* We're going to be experimenting with the Microsoft Bot Framework SDK to build smart chat bots. Hopefully by the end of the evening we'll have the basics of a CompSoc Chat Bot! The usual selection of food and drinks will be on offer. Before coming, you may wish to look at some of the sample code and tools <https://docs.botframework.com/en-us/downloads/>. Please note that all the tools work on Windows, Mac, or Linux. Microsoft Tech Talk: The Path to Mixed Reality <https://www.facebook.com/events/1150829498377582/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (7th week)* Microsoft HoloLens is the first fully self-contained holographic computer running Windows 10. It is completely self-contained-no wires, phones, or connection to a PC needed. Microsoft HoloLens allows you to place holograms in your physical environment and provides a new way to see your world. This session provides a mixed reality primer and an overview of the available tools & documentation to quick start your holographic application development. Pizza and drinks will be served after the event. Other notices Facebook London Hackathon <http://www.fb.me/LonHack17> *Facebook London, 10 Brock Street, NW1 3 London - 11th & 12th March* Here at Facebook, we believe that every engineer possesses amazing ideas and creativity. Hackathons are a longstanding tradition at Facebook where our engineers stay up all night to create a working product or prototype from scratch. Remember- done is better than perfect. *Please note - all members of your team must register individually for the opportunity to attend* Register here <https://fblonhack17.splashthat.com/> Join Facebook in London as we stay up all night hacking, learning and having a some fun! Start brainstorming ideas & forming teams (of up to 4 people). We'll supply the food, fun diversions, prizes, and some expert guidance in the form of our engineers. We'll also provide reimbursement for public transportation. You bring your laptop, appetite, skills and ideas. The winning team will get the chance to compete against teams from other Hackathons at the Hackathon Finals and be judged by our executives- held at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, California in November! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Oxford University Computer Society (CompSoc) aims to organise meetings and events for our members to use and further their computing interests. See all of our upcoming events on our Facebook Page <https://facebook.com/oxcompsoc>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/oxcompsoc>, or visit our website <https://ox.compsoc.net> for more information about the society. -- Thomas Denney Secretary - Oxford University Computer Society secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net>

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Week 5 Newsletter: Ensoft talk, Learn to Code, Competitive Programming
by Thomas Denney 13 Feb '17

13 Feb '17

Hello all, This week Ensoft will be joining us for a talk on cloud-scale data centres. Next week, in a CompSoc first*, we'll be hosting a programming competition. For those of you that have never tried competitive programming before this will be a great opportunity to brush up your problem solving skills and see what the competitions are like. Meanwhile, for those that have competed before (and maybe you're even on this list <http://stats.ioinformatics.org/results/2016>), we hope that the problems will be of intermediate difficulty. As I'm sure many of you are aware we've seen really great demand for Learn to Code, and I would once again like to thank all the volunteers that have assisted us with running the sessions. The materials from all the sessions will now be made available via GitHub <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/learntocode> (hint: if you want to see where future sessions are going, take a look at the |future| branch). Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee * I'm not sure if this is strictly true, but it is certainly the first time under this committee... Events Ensoft Tech Talk: How to build a 300 acre computer <https://www.facebook.com/events/675360745957957/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (5th week)* Cloud-scale data centers are the biggest computing machines ever built, and warp the very structure of the Internet. This talk gives an accessible view into these creations, including how networking is evolving to enable them. Bio: Simon Chatterjee is Director & CTO of Ensoft, whose experience includes helping to bring into existence the Guinness Book of Records' "World's Highest Capacity Internet Router". Pizza will also be provided. Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/1296752107035202/> *Lecture Theatre A, Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (4th week)* In the fourth session we'll take a look at basic data structures in Python like lists and dictionaries, and explore how these data structures can be used to solve common programming problems. Like the previous sessions, much of the session will require you to work on a laptop, so we highly recommend taking one. We do expect demand to be very high for this course, so please try to arrive before the advertised start time as we need to register everyone (for fire regulations). You'll need to enter via the back door on Parks Road; there are CompSoc signs up at the department. If you're a CS student with a little spare time and enthusiasm, please consider volunteering by contacting the committee. Geek Night 5 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1336359586421973/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (5th week)* Join us for an evening of relaxing, chatting, games, coding, and the usual selection of food and drinks. We will also have an Adafruit IoT starterkit and a BBC micro:bit if you are interested in learning some embedded programming. Competitive Programming <https://www.facebook.com/events/408464376168242/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (6th week)* We're going to host a programming competition! We'll have a selection of ten programming problems to solve with points awarded for correct solutions submitted in as little time as possible. You can use any programming language you like, but we recommend C++, Java, or Python. You can compete individually or in teams of up to three people. For those of you that have never done competitive programming before, we recommend taking a look at websites like HackerRank and Kattis for sample problems. Make sure you drag you friends along too, as teams can work on more than one problem at once. If you have competed before, the level of difficulty should be similar to early rounds of ACM-ICPC. Pizza and drinks will be served after the event. Other notices Facebook London Hackathon <http://www.fb.me/LonHack17> *Facebook London, 10 Brock Street, NW1 3 London - 11th & 12th March* Here at Facebook, we believe that every engineer possesses amazing ideas and creativity. Hackathons are a longstanding tradition at Facebook where our engineers stay up all night to create a working product or prototype from scratch. Remember- done is better than perfect. *Please note - all members of your team must register individually for the opportunity to attend* Register here <https://fblonhack17.splashthat.com/> Join Facebook in London as we stay up all night hacking, learning and having a some fun! Start brainstorming ideas & forming teams (of up to 4 people). We'll supply the food, fun diversions, prizes, and some expert guidance in the form of our engineers. We'll also provide reimbursement for public transportation. You bring your laptop, appetite, skills and ideas. The winning team will get the chance to compete against teams from other Hackathons at the Hackathon Finals and be judged by our executives- held at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, California in November! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Oxford University Computer Society (CompSoc) aims to organise meetings and events for our members to use and further their computing interests. See all of our upcoming events on our Facebook Page <https://facebook.com/oxcompsoc>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/oxcompsoc>, or visit our website <https://ox.compsoc.net> for more information about the society. -- Thomas Denney Secretary - Oxford University Computer Society secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net>

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Week 4 newsletter: Bloomberg talk and Learn to Code
by Thomas Denney 06 Feb '17

06 Feb '17

Hello all, This week we have a talk from Bloomberg about how to efficiently implement quick sort in industry, the third Learn to Code session, and a Geek Night. In fifth week Ensoft will be joining us for a talk on cloud-scale data centres. As I'm sure many of you are aware we've seen really great demand for Learn to Code, and I would once again like to thank all the volunteers that have assisted us with running the sessions. The materials from all the sessions will now be made available via GitHub <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/learntocode> (hint: if you want to see where future sessions are going, take a look at the |future| branch). At last week's Geek Night we had a go at writing OpenGL shaders to generate an animated version of the CompSoc logo. You can take a look at some of the code here <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/shaders>. This one <https://www.shadertoy.com/view/ltKSW3> is my favourite, as it takes advantage of the text hidden in the logo! If you're interested at practising your programming skills or just learning something new, we often theme Geek Nights like this. Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Bloomberg: Quicker Sorting <https://www.facebook.com/events/707824112729406/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (4th week)* Quicksort is a well-known sorting algorithm used to implement sort functionality in many libraries. The presentation isn't really about the algorithm itself but rather about how to actually create an efficient implementation of the algorithm: a text-book implementation of the algorithm actually is not that quick (even if the pivot is chosen cleverly). It takes paying some attention to detail to improve the implementation significantly. This presentation starts with a simple implementation and makes incremental improvements to eventually yield a proper generic and fast sorting function. All code will be in C++ but it should be possible to follow the majority of the reasoning with knowledge of another programming language. After the talk we will have pizza and the opportunity to speak to the speaker. Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/1680272885603248/> *Lecture Theatre A, Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (3rd week)* In the third session we're going to continue looking at |while| loops by building a number guessing game before learning how to write your own functions. Like this second session, much of the session will require you to work on a laptop, so we highly recommend taking one. We do expect demand to be very high for this course, so please try to arrive before the advertised start time as we need to register everyone (for fire regulations). You'll need to enter via the back door on Parks Road; there are CompSoc signs up at the department. If you're a CS student with a little spare time and enthusiasm, please consider volunteering by contacting the committee. Geek Night 4 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1656689631300367/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (4th week)* Join us for an evening of relaxing, chatting, games, coding, and the usual selection of food and drinks. We will also have an Adafruit IoT starterkit and a BBC micro:bit if you are interested in learning some embedded programming. Ensoft Tech Talk: How to build a 300 acre computer <https://www.facebook.com/events/675360745957957/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (5th week)* Cloud-scale data centers are the biggest computing machines ever built, and warp the very structure of the Internet. This talk gives an accessible view into these creations, including how networking is evolving to enable them. Bio: Simon Chatterjee is Director & CTO of Ensoft, whose experience includes helping to bring into existence the Guinness Book of Records' "World's Highest Capacity Internet Router". Pizza will also be provided. Other notices Facebook London Hackathon <http://www.fb.me/LonHack17> *Facebook London, 10 Brock Street, NW1 3 London - 11th & 12th March* Here at Facebook, we believe that every engineer possesses amazing ideas and creativity. Hackathons are a longstanding tradition at Facebook where our engineers stay up all night to create a working product or prototype from scratch. Remember- done is better than perfect. *Please note - all members of your team must register individually for the opportunity to attend* Register here <https://fblonhack17.splashthat.com/> Join Facebook in London as we stay up all night hacking, learning and having a some fun! Start brainstorming ideas & forming teams (of up to 4 people). We'll supply the food, fun diversions, prizes, and some expert guidance in the form of our engineers. We'll also provide reimbursement for public transportation. You bring your laptop, appetite, skills and ideas. The winning team will get the chance to compete against teams from other Hackathons at the Hackathon Finals and be judged by our executives- held at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, California in November! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Oxford University Computer Society (CompSoc) aims to organise meetings and events for our members to use and further their computing interests. See all of our upcoming events on our Facebook Page <https://facebook.com/oxcompsoc>, Twitter <https://twitter.com/oxcompsoc>, or visit our website <https://ox.compsoc.net> for more information about the society. -- Thomas Denney Secretary - Oxford University Computer Society secretary(a)ox.compsoc.net <mailto:secretary@ox.compsoc.net>

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compsoc-freshers February 2017