compsoc-freshers

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Week 8: Annual General Meeting - ELECTIONS!
by Thomas Denney 06 Mar '17

06 Mar '17

Hello all, I hope that you've all had a great term and that you're looking forward to a well deserved vacation :). Last week we had our final Learn to Code session, and I would once again like to thank all the attendees and volunteers that made the course a success. I had great fun teaching it, and I look forward to doing it again next year. If you missed any of the sessions then please check the resources out on GitHub <https://github.com/oxcompsoc/learntocode>. Over the vacation we will also consider releasing audio recordings from some of the sessions. This 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. There will be a semi-official Geek Night this Saturday, feel free to come along for free pizza and drinks. Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Events 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. Geek Night 8 <https://www.facebook.com/events/396494164039562/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (8th week)* Join us for an evening of relaxing, chatting, games, coding, and the usual selection of food and drinks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 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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Week 3: Learn to Code and Geek Night
by Thomas Denney 31 Jan '17

31 Jan '17

Hello all, I'd firstly like to thank everyone that attended Learn to Code, especially our wonderful volunteers. It was great to see Lecture Theatre A packed out ten minutes before the session even began, with even more people overflowing into Lecture Theatre B! If you missed the first session then you can find notes on it here <https://goo.gl/LPXnRS>, and we'd be delighted to see you this week. If you are still interested in volunteering then we would really appreciate your help this week as the sessions become more interactive. As per usual, we will have our weekly Geek Night on Saturday. Learn to Code attendees are more than welcome, and there will be plenty of people more than happy to provide one to one advice on programming. Regular Geek Night attendees will know that this year we've been doing a different programming challenge each week, and I'm more than happy to receive suggestions for future Geek Nights. Next Wednesday we will be hosting a Bloomberg talk on efficiently implementing quick sort. Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/1698101570480173/> *Lecture Theatre A + Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (2nd week)* Learn to Code is back! If you've ever wanted to learn the basics of programming, refresh your Python knowledge, or get an idea of what computer scientists actually do all day then this is going to be a great course for you :). We aren't going to assume any prior programming experience, although to get the best out of the sessions we highly recommend that you bring a laptop so that you can follow along with some of the examples. In this second session we will be looking at executing different code based on conditions (if/elif/else) and looping (for/while). Both Matt and Thomas' sessions will cover the same content, but you may wish to go to the same session as last week for continuity. 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. Events Geek Night 3 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1851746301738212/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (3nd 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. If anyone is in need of suggestions for a side project, I have a few cool ideas that I'd be more than happy to share. 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. Sponsor notices Microsoft Imagine Cup One of the biggest student competitions is back and you can be part of it. Microsoft is hosting their annual Imagine Cup <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2016/11/30/microsoft…> competition, looking for the 'next big thing.' Previous entries have included everything from innovative games <https://www.imaginecup.com/en-us/team/99043>, to life changing apps, with many teams going on to form their own business <http://www.nacue.com/from-soundsynk-to-gloop-how-winning-microsoft-imagine-…>. This year we are partnering with our start-up team, to provide you with the skills you need to take your idea to the next level. Whether you are in your 1st year of University, or finishing up a PhD, you are eligible to enter. There are no categories for this year's competition, so you are free to be as creative as you like. The secret to success is blending the skills of technical and entrepreneurial students, to develop something that is not only amazing, but also has real world business value. There can be a maximum of 3 people to represent each team at the finals, but supporting members or mentors are encouraged to develop the idea. The winners will receive some incredible prizes, with the worldwide winners taking home $100,000 in prize money, $120,000 worth of Azure and a once in a lifetime experience they won't forget. That's everything you need to take your idea to the next level. Dates to remember: * Create your team and register <https://compete.imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/imaginecup?wt.mc_id=DX_874656> - Open now * Registration and submissions close - March 24th, 2017 * National finalists announced - 6pm April 3rd, 2017 * UK National finals - April 14th, 2017 * Worldwide finals - July 2017 Your submission doesn't need to be 100% polished and perfected for UK finals. We will be looking for a strong concept at the shortlisting stage, then if you are successful at the UK finals we will work with you to refine your idea and coach you, ready for the worldwide finals in July. You will be judged on the use of technology, the concept, innovation and feasibility of your idea. Utilising Microsoft Azure will be a key focal point for this year's competition and to support you we have a range of online resources <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/tag/github/>. So, what are you waiting for? Get inspired by last year's UK finalists <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2016/06/09/interview…>, create your team and register <https://compete.imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/> for the Imagine Cup today! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 2: Learn to Code is back!
by Thomas Denney 23 Jan '17

23 Jan '17

Hello all, Learn to Code is back! This term, in conjunction with our regular talks and geek nights, we are going to be running an introductory Python programming course. If you've never programmed before then this is going to be a fantastic opportunity to get started, and if you have then please do share it with your friends. The course starts on Thursday and will continue until seventh week, by which point we'll have introduced core programming concepts. As this mailing list goes out to CompSoc members, I'm sure that many of you have experience programming in Python. If you would like to share some of your time and enthusiasm please get in contact with me, as we'd love to see as many volunteers as possible. On Wednesday this week we'll also be running another session playing CoreWars, a competitive assembly game, and on Saturday we will host our usual geek night. Have a great week :) Thomas and the rest of the committee Learn to Code <https://www.facebook.com/events/1924850771083014/> *Lecture Theatre A+B, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Thursday (1st week)* Learn to Code is back! If you've ever wanted to learn the basics of programming, refresh your Python knowledge, or get an idea of what computer scientists actually do all day then this is going to be a great course for you :). We aren't going to assume any prior programming experience, although to get the best out of the sessions we highly recommend that you bring a laptop so that you can follow along with some of the examples. It doesn't matter whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux, and in the first session we'll explain how to get started on any of these platforms. In this course we are going to be using the programming language Python, which is one of the easiest languages to pick up if you've never programmed before and it is widely used in the technology industry - YouTube, NASA, and Wikipedia are just three examples. If you need to learn R at some point during your degree you may find that an introduction to Python will help you pick up basic computational thinking ideas faster. 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. Events Core War <https://www.facebook.com/events/357839857936747/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (2nd week)* CompSoc will be learning and playing Core War, a classic programming game where players build competing programs to battle over control of a virtual computer. No experience needed, so join us as we battle for the core. Bring your own laptop and consider familiarising yourself with the basics beforehand. Pizza, snacks, and drinks provided. You may want to follow the guide here <http://vyznev.net/corewar/guide.html>. Geek Night 2 <https://www.facebook.com/events/207800419691585/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (2nd 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. Sponsor notices Microsoft Imagine Cup One of the biggest student competitions is back and you can be part of it. Microsoft is hosting their annual Imagine Cup <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2016/11/30/microsoft…> competition, looking for the 'next big thing.' Previous entries have included everything from innovative games <https://www.imaginecup.com/en-us/team/99043>, to life changing apps, with many teams going on to form their own business <http://www.nacue.com/from-soundsynk-to-gloop-how-winning-microsoft-imagine-…>. This year we are partnering with our start-up team, to provide you with the skills you need to take your idea to the next level. Whether you are in your 1st year of University, or finishing up a PhD, you are eligible to enter. There are no categories for this year's competition, so you are free to be as creative as you like. The secret to success is blending the skills of technical and entrepreneurial students, to develop something that is not only amazing, but also has real world business value. There can be a maximum of 3 people to represent each team at the finals, but supporting members or mentors are encouraged to develop the idea. The winners will receive some incredible prizes, with the worldwide winners taking home $100,000 in prize money, $120,000 worth of Azure and a once in a lifetime experience they won't forget. That's everything you need to take your idea to the next level. Dates to remember: * Create your team and register <https://compete.imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/imaginecup?wt.mc_id=DX_874656> - Open now * Registration and submissions close - March 24th, 2017 * National finalists announced - 6pm April 3rd, 2017 * UK National finals - April 14th, 2017 * Worldwide finals - July 2017 Your submission doesn't need to be 100% polished and perfected for UK finals. We will be looking for a strong concept at the shortlisting stage, then if you are successful at the UK finals we will work with you to refine your idea and coach you, ready for the worldwide finals in July. You will be judged on the use of technology, the concept, innovation and feasibility of your idea. Utilising Microsoft Azure will be a key focal point for this year's competition and to support you we have a range of online resources <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/tag/github/>. So, what are you waiting for? Get inspired by last year's UK finalists <https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/uk_faculty_connection/2016/06/09/interview…>, create your team and register <https://compete.imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/> for the Imagine Cup today! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 8: Termly General Meeting
by Thomas Denney 28 Nov '16

28 Nov '16

Hello all, CompSoc has had a great Michaelmas, and we hope you've enjoyed our events this term. If you have any feedback, please don't hesitate to contact a committee member :). Before I wish you a great vac, I'd like to slip in a few eighth week notices. Firstly, we have our Termly General Meeting on Wednesday, when the committee will report on the term and we plan to pass some minor changes to the constitution. *If you can't come and you're a member, please contact me with your intention to vote by proxy.* We won't have an /official/ geek night this Saturday, but if you're still in Oxford at least one committee member will be in the department on Saturday evening. Have a great vac! Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Termly General Meeting <https://www.facebook.com/events/211158335995232/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (8th week)* The committee will report on its activity this term, and we plan to pass a few minor changes to our constitution. In order to meet quorum, we need at least 20 people to attend. If you cannot attend but you are a member of the society, please inform a committee member of your intention to vote by proxy. Food will be provided :). Sponsor notices Bloomberg Tech Talk and Trading Game <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tech-talk-and-trading-game-at-bloombergs-lon…> *Bloomberg HQ, London - 5:30pm Tuesday (8th week)* This event is in London, but Bloomberg have kindly offered to pay for train tickets for CompSoc members wishing to attend the event. If you're interested in going, please sign up via the above link and contact me so that I can pass on your name to Bloomberg if you'd like your ticket refunded. *Tech Talk: Data Mining usage patterns for building the right thing, building the thing right and supporting the thing better!* This talk will cover how Data Analysis and Machine Learning from usage patterns across large data sets is being used to predict bug reports, improve automated testing, and make tough decisions on what features to add to our software. We realised that data gathered for regulatory audit purposes, on millions of daily trades at Bloomberg, is an invaluable resource for analysis of our system's behaviour. In this talk, we'll share the various opportunities this data has uncovered, the techniques we used for statistical analysis-based machine learning, and the data visualization behind it. The work we're planning and discoveries we've made promise to answer some very hard questions around prioritizing features to implement, reducing support costs, improving the automated test coverage and beyond. This also spawned an automated testing framework that allows the system to self-test by replicating the millions of daily trades in a secure test environment to achieve quality assurance. This has opened up horizons to build autonomic systems in the future systems that can both self-test and self-repair. *Trading Game* The talk will be followed by the Bloomberg Trading Game! This is a fun simulation where participants will be invited to understand the financial markets and trading activities through an active, sometimes frantic team trading game. Mentors will show you how to play the role of traders, sales and market makers and understand how these different players add value to the trading ecosystem. This is a great opportunity to learn how Bloomberg's technologies help bring transparency and efficiency to the exciting and sometimes volatile financial market Entrepreneur First: Flexciton <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/flexciton-a-revolution-in-industrial-automat…> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 1pm Tuesday (8th week)* 25% of the worlds electricity consumption is consumed by a certain type of industrial machine, rotating equipment. An industrial plant can spend hundreds of millions of pounds annually operating these machines yet their operation is still highly inefficient. The operation of these machines is highly complex and their inefficiency is driven by human operators making ad-hoc decisions about their operation - usually based on the operators past experience. They have significant amounts of data at their disposal but it is far too complex for the human brain to comprehend on its own. In this talk we will demonstrate the problem at hand and show how Flexciton technology applies statistical models and mathematical optimisation to determine the optimal operation of these machines. Jamie Potter, 25, is CEO and co-founder of Flexciton, a startup company disrupting the industrial world. He graduated from Oxford with a masters in Mathematics and Statistics and then began his career in a consultancy firm specialising in energy. There he built statistical software for several large companies including DECC, National Grid and RWE where his software was used to make multi-billion pound decisions. Entrepreneur First Careers Fair <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/entrepreneur-first-engineering-careers-fair-…> *EF headquarters, London - 4:30pm 8th December* On 8th December Entrepreneur First are hosting an engineering careers fair for startups in our portfolio who are looking to grow their teams. Our alumni companies are some of the fastest-growing tech startups in Europe - they're building anything from low-cost robot arms, to deep learning visual inspection software; AI assistants for personal finance, to affordable nano-satellites. You can find out more about the companies attending here <https://www.joinef.com/alumni>. *N.B. This careers fair isn't open to the general public and will be focused on technical positions only. Capacity is limited to 150 tickets, but if you'd like to reserve a free spot please RSVP.* If you would like to send across a CV ahead of the day to be submitted to all companies please email apply(a)joinef.com. Jane Street Estimathon <https://docs.google.com/a/janestreet.com/forms/d/1TDMDha6KO6Qm-ohIJX7U6Q5vF…> *7pm Tuesday (8th week)* "What's an Estimathon" you ask?! It's a team contest where the goal is to create confidence intervals to difficult math and science questions. e.g., what's the volume of the earth's oceans (in cubic km); or, how many prime number contain strictly increasing digits. It's a very interactive game and focuses on some ideas that are central to what we do at Jane Street: thinking about hard problems, assessing confidence levels, trying to strike a balance between quick-and-rough estimates versus more refined solutions. There'll be prizes for the winning team and of course food and drinks will be provided. Please sign up here <https://docs.google.com/a/janestreet.com/forms/d/1TDMDha6KO6Qm-ohIJX7U6Q5vF…> Jane Street: Women in Trading & Technology This December, we're excited to host our second edition of Women in Trading and Technology (WITT) at Jane Street. We're inviting women to spend two days in our London office to learn more about what we do and how we do it through a series of classes and activities. Attendees will receive an in-depth look into the ways we use math and computer science, as well as insight into the different roles that exist within our firm. Selected students will arrive in London the morning of Thursday 8th December and will depart the evening of Friday 9th December. Jane Street will provide all travel to and from London, housing and of course food and drinks throughout the event. The workshop itself will be an introduction to Jane Street. You will learn about how we use maths and statistics to decide what to trade and also find out how we use OCaml, a functional programming language, to build complex distributed systems. You will take part in some problem solving sessions and interactive games that will give you some insight in to how we work. *Application Process* Women interested in attending should apply here <https://www.janestreet.com/apply-witt/> to be considered for a spot in the program. Soon after applying, you’ll receive an invitation to complete a puzzle. *The deadline to apply for this event is Wednesday 30th November.* If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email lborgo(a)janestreet.com Good luck with the application process and we hope to meet you soon! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 7: Microsoft machine learning talk and Oxmas Geek Night
by Thomas Denney 21 Nov '16

21 Nov '16

Hello all, We're celebrating Oxmas with our final talk of the term from Microsoft and a special Oxmas themed Geek Night. Microsoft will be giving an introduction to machine learning, and we expect this talk to have high attendance so /please be sure to arrive early/ if you want to guarantee a seat. Shortly before the Microsoft talk on Wednesday there is another Microsoft talk on their Bot Framework, which will serve as preparation for a hackathon hosted by CodeSoc and Microsoft in Hilary (details below). Next week we will be holding our termly general meeting, which can be attended by any CompSoc member. If you're interested in joining the society, please remember to bring five pounds to any of our upcoming events, and we can provide you with a membership form. Have a great week, Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Microsoft: Machine Learning Demystified <https://www.facebook.com/events/240022973081334/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (7th week)* Bianca Furtuna from Microsoft will be joining us for a talk on machine learning, which will be followed by free pizza and drinks. Machine Learning can solve all your problems, it can tell you what to do better and how to improve your business processes, increase revenue, reduce waste etc. Well, not really. Machine Learning is not magic. You don't just apply machine learning in your organisation and intelligent, innovative solutions come out of nowhere. Machine Learning has its limitations and its beauty, but it all comes down to data and questions. You need good data and the right questions and then you are good to go. In this session, we are going to look at a typical machine learning process and how to apply it to some real world data. We are going to use Azure Machine Learning to transform data and ideas into models that are production ready in minutes, all of this while keeping the real world in mind. Geek Night 7: Oxmas <https://www.facebook.com/events/1055633714549169/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Saturday (7th week)* We're going to have some Christmas themed programming (and food!) to celebrate the final (official) Geek Night of the year. Bring your laptop, and we'll supply the food. Please note that there will be an "unofficial" Geek Night in 8th week, however we won't be creating a Facebook event for it. Termly General Meeting <https://www.facebook.com/events/211158335995232/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7pm Wednesday (8th week)* The committee will report on its activity this term, and we plan to pass a few minor changes to our constitution. In order to meet quorum, we need at least 20 people to attend. If you cannot attend but you are a member of the society, please inform a committee member of your intention to vote by proxy. Food will be provided :). Sponsor notices Bloomberg Information Session *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 1pm Tuesday (7th week)* Zahir Hussain is doing a talk in the department tomorrow on what it is like working at Bloomberg. The information session will give you an overview of what the 3500+ Bloomberg developers do and how the software we build drives some of the world's most important financial decisions. We will discuss some of the complex challenges our developers can face including dealing with billions of messages a day. We will also discuss how Bloomberg embraces open source and the languages we use followed by the campus opportunities and how you can apply. Zahir looks after the training needs for Engineering new hires and experienced developers. He teaches on the graduate training program and guides new hires towards successful careers at Bloomberg. In addition, he runs a software development team that builds applications to support our internal training and documentation departments. When he is not learning, coding or teaching, he is running... moving from newbie to completing his 3rd half marathon in a year. Introducing the Microsoft Bot Framework <https://www.facebook.com/events/1125955697483229> *Department of Computer Science - 4:30pm Wedenesday (7th week)* We hope you are as excited as we are about the upcoming CodeSoc Hackathon! To give you the tools you need we are happy to host the Pre-Hackathon Prep Talk "Introducing the Microsoft Bot Framework" by Microsoft. This talk will give an introduction to the Technology that will be used in the upcoming Hackathon in Hilary. No matter what your coding back ground is, experienced hacker to complete beginner, you are welcome to join the CodeSoc hackathon. Experienced or beginner, do come along to this talk as it will tell you what you need to know to allow you to create the coolest apps in the hackathon and simply have more fun hacking! This is also a good way of meeting all of the CodeSoc committee members and potential teammates/fellow coders :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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: Metaswitch talk and Jane Street etc
by Thomas Denney 14 Nov '16

14 Nov '16

Hello all, This week we have our penultimate tech talk of the term from Metaswitch and the Jane Street etc hackathon. Metaswitch will be "putting the science back in computer science" as they discuss testing. Tomorrow one of our sponsors, Ensoft, will be doing a talk on internet security at the department. Please note that the Jane Street hackathon is close to capacity, so if you are keen on participating please register soon! We will not be running a Geek Night this week as it would clash with Jane Street etc. Next week, for the final talk of the term, Microsoft will be joining us for an introductory talk on machine learning. If you're interested in joining the society, please remember to bring five pounds to any of our upcoming events, and we can provide you with a membership form. Have a great week, Thomas and the rest of the committee Events Metaswitch: Putting the Science in Computer Science <https://www.facebook.com/events/329354574096043/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (6th week)* Edmund Pringle from Metaswitch will be joining us to discuss testing. The talk will be followed by free pizza and drinks. I'm perennially amazed as to how bad otherwise bright people are at testing (including me!). And that's not surprising – we don't really talk about it or get taught it as part of our undergraduate degree and just about everything we've encountered called "testing" in our lives up to and including our degree isn't actually testing. This talk (in among the ranting, chocolate and invisible spoons) is intended to cover what testing is (and isn't), what's interesting about it and to offer a very basic skeleton that will hopefully let you learn more, enjoy more, and be a vastly better computer scientist. Microsoft: Machine Learning Demystified <https://www.facebook.com/events/240022973081334/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (7th week)* Bianca Furtuna from Microsoft will be joining us for a talk on machine learning, which will be followed by free pizza and drinks. Machine Learning can solve all your problems, it can tell you what to do better and how to improve your business processes, increase revenue, reduce waste etc. Well, not really. Machine Learning is not magic. You don't just apply machine learning in your organisation and intelligent, innovative solutions come out of nowhere. Machine Learning has its limitations and its beauty, but it all comes down to data and questions. You need good data and the right questions and then you are good to go. In this session, we are going to look at a typical machine learning process and how to apply it to some real world data. We are going to use Azure Machine Learning to transform data and ideas into models that are production ready in minutes, all of this while keeping the real world in mind. Sponsor notices Ensoft: How to Break the Internet <http://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/seminars/1684.html> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 1pm Tuesday (6th week)* The Internet itself is under constant attack from hating hackers, authoritarian agencies, boring bugs and annoying accidents. Core routers stand alone in the hurricane, far beyond the capacity of any protective firewall, left to defend themselves. How can they do this? And how safe is the Internet really? This talk will reveal all. The presenter is Director & CTO of Ensoft, whose experience includes helping to bring into existence the Guinness Book of Records' "World's Highest Capacity Internet Router". Free food and drink will also be provided. Please note that this is a department event rather than a CompSoc event. Jane Street etc hackathon <https://www.facebook.com/events/1633180670308427/> *10am - 10pm 19/11/16 (Saturday 6th)* A day-long programming contest. Form teams and have your software compete against others and the markets. A significant cash prize is on the line for the winning team. There'll be lots of (free) food and drinks available. Absolutely no knowledge of finance, nor OCaml is required. You don't have to be a CS student or a full on programmer to participate but you'd need some knowledge of coding. You can use any language, but we'll provide some helper libraries in a few common ones. The contest is entirely technical in nature and you won't need any visual design skills. Check out our events <https://events.janestreet.com/home/etc/> website for more info and register on this link <https://docs.google.com/a/janestreet.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScPVl1z3y6rpao69P…> if you're interested in participating! Please bear in mind spaces are limited. We look forward to seeing you then! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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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