compsoc-freshers

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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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Bloomberg talk & Jane Street etc hackathon
by Thomas Denney 09 Nov '16

09 Nov '16

Hello all, In a break from our usual schedule we would like to remind you of the Bloomberg <https://www.facebook.com/events/208490852918521/> talk tonight on how Java is executed by the JVM and the forthcoming Jane Street etc hackathon <https://www.facebook.com/events/1633180670308427/>. If you want to participate in the Jane Street hackathon please remember to sign up (details below). 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 Bloomberg Tech Talk: How the JVM executes Java <https://www.facebook.com/events/208490852918521/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (5th week)* James Gough from Bloomberg will be joining us to discuss details about the implementation of Java. Pizza and drinks will be provided after the talk. When Java was released in 1995 it was slow, a reputation it has carried for many years... Today Java can give performance that is comparable to C++ and can emit instructions that are more optimal than code which is statically compiled. But how? This talk will take a tour of code and the journey through the JVM and the optimisations in between. Using practical examples, JVM flags and the Open Source JIT Watch we will explore what the JVM does in an adaptation of the classic Hello World program, you'll never look at Java in the same way again. 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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Week 5 Newsletter: Bloomberg talk and Geek Night
by Thomas Denney 07 Nov '16

07 Nov '16

Hello all, Fifth week is upon us. As we come to the terrifying realisation that we are /only/ half way through the term, hopefully the great events that we have coming up should ease the blues. As well as Geek Nights each Saturday, we also have three more tech talks from Bloomberg, Metaswitch, and Microsoft on the Java Virtual Machine, testing, and an introduction to machine learning coming up (descriptions below). Next Saturday Jane Street, one of our sponsors, are also running a hackathon. This week, to my amusement, I discovered that the society didn't have a Twitter account. As promoting society events is my job, I figured we might as well have one. If this is at all useful to you, please follow @oxcompsoc <https://twitter.com/oxcompsoc> and help get us more than a single-digit number of followers... 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 Bloomberg Tech Talk: How the JVM executes Java <https://www.facebook.com/events/208490852918521/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (5th week)* James Gough from Bloomberg will be joining us to discuss details about the implementation of Java. Pizza and drinks will be provided after the talk. When Java was released in 1995 it was slow, a reputation it has carried for many years... Today Java can give performance that is comparable to C++ and can emit instructions that are more optimal than code which is statically compiled. But how? This talk will take a tour of code and the journey through the JVM and the optimisations in between. Using practical examples, JVM flags and the Open Source JIT Watch we will explore what the JVM does in an adaptation of the classic Hello World program, you'll never look at Java in the same way again. Geek Night 5 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1823510761194036/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm 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 starter kit <https://www.adafruit.com/product/3031> and a BBC micro:bit <http://microbit.org> if you are interested in learning some embedded programming. 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 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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Week 4 Newsletter: CoreFiling talk, LAN night, Geek Night
by Thomas Denney 01 Nov '16

01 Nov '16

Hello all, Over the next week we have a bunch of cool events to hopefully pre-emptively counter fifth week blues ;). Tomorrow CoreFiling, a local tech company, will be giving a talk on open source software in the corporate world, and later in the week we have a LAN night with the eSports society <https://www.facebook.com/oxfordesports/> and a Geek Night. Bloomberg will be joining us next Wednesday for a talk on how the JVM executes Java. 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 CoreFiling Tech Talk: Open source software in a corporate world <https://www.facebook.com/events/1175973019156033/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (4th week)* An engineer from CoreFiling will join us to discuss how a proprietary software vendor can contribute and participate in the open source community. The talk will be followed by free pizza and drinks. LAN Night <https://www.facebook.com/events/1267375823303782/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Friday (4th week)* In collaboration with the Oxford eSports society <https://www.facebook.com/oxfordesports/>, CompSoc will be hosting a LAN night, with free pizza. Bring your laptop and we'll play games of your choosing! Geek Night 4 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1334404966583127/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Saturday (4th week)* Please note that we'll likely add a theme for this geek night later in the week :). Irrespective of whether there is a theme, I've got hold of an Adafruit IoT starter kit <https://www.adafruit.com/product/3031> from Microsoft, which is an Arduino with integrated WiFi and a load of sensors. I also have a BBC micro:bit <http://microbit.org>, and I'll be taking both of these to this Geek Night in case anyone wants to play with them or learn about embedded programming. Bring your laptop, and we'll provide free pizza. Bloomberg Tech Talk: How the JVM executes Java <https://www.facebook.com/events/208490852918521/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (5th week)* James Gough from Bloomberg will be joining us to discuss details about the implementation of Java. Pizza and drinks will be provided after the talk. When Java was released in 1995 it was slow, a reputation it has carried for many years... Today Java can give performance that is comparable to C++ and can emit instructions that are more optimal than code which is statically compiled. But how? This talk will take a tour of code and the journey through the JVM and the optimisations in between. Using practical examples, JVM flags and the Open Source JIT Watch we will explore what the JVM does in an adaptation of the classic Hello World program, you'll never look at Java in the same way again. Sponsor notices Jane Street <http://www.janestreet.com> *The Old Bank Hotel, 92-94 High Street - 7:30pm 3rd of November (Thursday of 4th)* Jane Street is always looking for great new people to join our talented team! We invite you to spend an evening with us and learn more about Quant Trading and the Technology we use at Jane Street. You'll get to meet our Traders and Developers and learn more about our recruitment process over finger food and drinks. Our entrepreneurial culture is driven by our talented team of traders and programmers. At Jane Street, we don't come to work wanting to leave. We come to work excited to test new theories, have thought-provoking discussions, and maybe sneak in a game of ping-pong or two. Keeping our culture casual and our employees happy is of paramount importance to us. We hope to meet you in Oxford! Please note that no sign up is required for this event. For more information on Jane Street, visit janestreet.com <http://www.janestreet.com>. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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/> 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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Coding Challenge 5PM Today Computer Science Department
by Matthew Burke 29 Oct '16

29 Oct '16

Hi all, *It's not too late to sign up for the GResearch Coding Challenge today at 5pm in the Computer Science Department Room 051. Non members are welcome to attend.* A great event that everyone enjoyed last year, the coding challenge will pit small teams against each other to build the best stock trading program. Laptops are provided, along with a basic working program to get you started. No prior experience necessary. Sign-up as a team of 4, or on your own and form a team when you arrive. *Please email GResearch (details below) to sign-up or just turn up and we'll do our best to fit you in.* There will be plenty of food and drink after the event, as well as leading into our usual geek night. Have a great week, Matthew and the rest of the committee Events G-Research Coding Challenge 2016 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1798724137031670/> *Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 5:00pm Saturday (3rd week)* G-Research is a well-established and rapidly growing firm with a leading platform for developing quantitative research and systematic investment ideas. We have created a community designed to inspire the best minds in the world to tackle the toughest intellectual challenges and deliver the best work of their careers. Our platforms and technologies are constantly evolving to meet the real-world scenarios we throw at them and we are seeking world-class software engineers to join us. Can your code beat the markets? Test your coding skills and systematic investment ideas on our simulated stock exchange. 1st place wins a Â£50 Amazon voucher for each member of your team, swag and other prizes for runners up! Which team will turn the largest profit? Here's a great chance to test your problem solving and coding skills, and to see what it's like to work in a dynamic, innovative environment on the cutting edge of finance and technology. Teams of three or four students will have one hour to devise and code their investment ideas to run on our simulated exchange. Final strategies will be run through the exchange and will compete against other teams. Pizza and drinks afterwards, plus opportunities to network with current staff to find out more about life at G-Research. *To register please either enter individually (any individual entries will be allocated into teams on the day) or in a team by sending names to graduates(a)gresearch.co.uk <mailto:graduates@gresearch.co.uk>.* Geek Night 3 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1632158010410028/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Saturday (3rd week)* An informal geek night following the G-Research event, with pizza and drinks. Feel free to come along with any games or coding projects you've been doing recently and share then with other members. CoreFiling Tech Talk: Open source software in a corporate world <https://www.facebook.com/events/1175973019156033/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (4th week)* An engineer from CoreFiling will join us to discuss how a proprietary software vendor can contribute and participate in the open source community. The talk will be followed by free pizza 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/> or visit our Website <https://ox.compsoc.net> for more information about the society. -- Matthew Burke President - Oxford University Computer Society president(a)ox.compsoc.net <mailto:president@ox.compsoc.net>

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Week 3 Newsletter - Palantir tech talk, G-Research coding event, Geek Night
by Thomas Denney 25 Oct '16

25 Oct '16

Hello all, We have a busy week ahead with a tech talk from Palantir, a coding event from G-Research, and Geek Night on Saturday. Tomorrow we will be joined by engineers from Palantir to discuss what it is like building tools and working with big data. On Saturday we will also be hosting a G-Research coding event, which will then run into Geek Night later in the evening. Please be aware that you *must register in advance* for the G-Research event (details below). Next week CoreFiling will be doing a tech talk on open source software in a corporate world. 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 Palantir Tech Talk: Think Like a Palantir Engineer <https://www.facebook.com/events/356324308042095/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (3rd week)* Palantir is a company of individuals who are passionate about building world-class data integration and analysis software. If you want to work on the global problems you read about on the front page of the newspaper, we want you to come work with us. Ever wonder what types of problems Palantir is fighting and how we work to solve them? Come hear about them first-hand and openly discuss your approach to solve them with us. We will be hosting an interactive workshop all around the hardest data problems the world is facing. G-Research Coding Challenge 2016 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1798724137031670/> *Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 5:00pm Saturday (3rd week)* G-Research is a well-established and rapidly growing firm with a leading platform for developing quantitative research and systematic investment ideas. We have created a community designed to inspire the best minds in the world to tackle the toughest intellectual challenges and deliver the best work of their careers. Our platforms and technologies are constantly evolving to meet the real-world scenarios we throw at them and we are seeking world-class software engineers to join us. Can your code beat the markets? Test your coding skills and systematic investment ideas on our simulated stock exchange. 1st place wins a £50 Amazon voucher for each member of your team, swag and other prizes for runners up! Which team will turn the largest profit? Here's a great chance to test your problem solving and coding skills, and to see what it's like to work in a dynamic, innovative environment on the cutting edge of finance and technology. Teams of three or four students will have one hour to devise and code their investment ideas to run on our simulated exchange. Final strategies will be run through the exchange and will compete against other teams. Pizza and drinks afterwards, plus opportunities to network with current staff to find out more about life at G-Research. *To register please either enter individually (any individual entries will be allocated into teams on the day) or in a team by sending names to graduates(a)gresearch.co.uk <mailto:graduates@gresearch.co.uk>.* Geek Night 3 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1632158010410028/> *Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Saturday (3rd week)* An informal geek night following the G-Research event, with pizza and drinks. Feel free to come along with any games or coding projects you've been doing recently and share then with other members. CoreFiling Tech Talk: Open source software in a corporate world <https://www.facebook.com/events/1175973019156033/> *Lecture Theatre A, Department of Computer Science - 7:00pm Wednesday (4th week)* An engineer from CoreFiling will join us to discuss how a proprietary software vendor can contribute and participate in the open source community. The talk will be followed by free pizza and drinks. Sponsor notices Metaswitch: "Your Career. Your Choice" - Insight and networking event <https://forms.akkroo.com/#/events/metaswitch/102977?type=preregister&backgr…> *Randolph Macdonald - 7:00pm - 1st November (Tuesday of 4th)* RSVP for Oxford via our website <https://forms.akkroo.com/#/events/metaswitch/102977?type=preregister&backgr…> to attend and find out about Metaswitch and the opportunities we have available for Interns and Graduates. The night will feature an insight into life at Metaswitch from the people that work here, games and competitions (with prizes!), a chance to meet Metaswitch employees from all levels of the business, plus FREE FOOD AND DRINK! Some keys things you should know about working for us. * At Metaswitch you will be solving complex problems every day, helping us to continue innovating and accelerating our expansion into new markets and technologies. * You will be treated as an individual, but with plenty of training and support. This means you can decide where your career goes - and how fast * No experience is necessary - yes really :). We take on interns (from all year groups - even first years) and graduates from ALL backgrounds! Register for the event now via our website (we don't want to run out of food and drink!) and please feel free to share this invite with anyone else you think might be interested. Jane Street <http://www.janestreet.com> *The Old Bank Hotel, 92-94 High Street - 7:30pm 3rd of November (Thursday of 4th)* Jane Street is always looking for great new people to join our talented team! We invite you to spend an evening with us and learn more about Quant Trading and the Technology we use at Jane Street. You'll get to meet our Traders and Developers and learn more about our recruitment process over finger food and drinks. Our entrepreneurial culture is driven by our talented team of traders and programmers. At Jane Street, we don't come to work wanting to leave. We come to work excited to test new theories, have thought-provoking discussions, and maybe sneak in a game of ping-pong or two. Keeping our culture casual and our employees happy is of paramount importance to us. We hope to meet you in Oxford! Please note that no sign up is required for this event. For more information on Jane Street, visit janestreet.com <http://www.janestreet.com>. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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/> 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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G-Research Coding Challenge 2016
by Thomas Denney 20 Oct '16

20 Oct '16

Hello all, We're excited to G-Research's Coding Challenge 2016, which will be at the department on Saturday of 3rd week. It will be great to see lots of CompSoc members there, but you don't need to be a member to register. We also have our usual Geek Night this Saturday (2nd) with code golfing, and a Palantir talk next week. 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 G-Research Coding Challenge 2016 <https://www.facebook.com/events/1798724137031670/> *Room 051, Department of Computer Science - 5:00pm Saturday (3rd week)* G-Research is a well-established and rapidly growing firm with a leading platform for developing quantitative research and systematic investment ideas. We have created a community designed to inspire the best minds in the world to tackle the toughest intellectual challenges and deliver the best work of their careers. Our platforms and technologies are constantly evolving to meet the real-world scenarios we throw at them and we are seeking world-class software engineers to join us. Can your code beat the markets? Test your coding skills and systematic investment ideas on our simulated stock exchange. 1st place wins a £50 Amazon voucher for each member of your team, swag and other prizes for runners up! Which team will turn the largest profit? Here's a great chance to test your problem solving and coding skills, and to see what it's like to work in a dynamic, innovative environment on the cutting edge of finance and technology. Teams of three or four students will have one hour to devise and code their investment ideas to run on our simulated exchange. Final strategies will be run through the exchange and will compete against other teams. Pizza and drinks afterwards, plus opportunities to network with current staff to find out more about life at G-Research. *To register please either enter individually (any individual entries will be allocated into teams on the day) or in a team by sending names to graduates(a)gresearch.co.uk <mailto:graduates@gresearch.co.uk>.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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/> 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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