Jon Skeet will be joining us again to talk to the society this term, this time on a bit of a more technical topic, with plenty of calendar trivia.

Abstract:

When it comes down to it, all our data is just made of 1s and 0s. But data in the real world is obviously much more complex than that, so we impose extra meaning on top of it. We take it for granted that we can represent numbers, text and date/time information in our programs... indeed, these are three of the core building blocks which are used in just about every data model imaginable.

So how is it that it's all so broken? Why is Stack Overflow full of questions about arithmetic being 'broken' because of using float or double? Is there any hope for things ever getting better?

In this talk, I'll give some examples of what's wrong with the world, allocate blame to just about everyone involved, and give a few suggestions to avoid getting burned. In all of this I'll be ably assisted by my friend, Tony the Pony.

Note: Remember to bring your laptop to these events!

About Learn to Code

During these events, there will be a mixture of interactive workshops and talks. We will be teaching you the basics of programming using Python. These events are good if you have zero coding experience, but they are also valuable if you already have started coding and would like to better your skills. We also welcome people who already have good coding experience as the more volunteers the better!

These events are always followed by our weekly Geek Night.

You can find out more information about this series of events over at ox.compsoc.net/learn

We also have a facebook group for discussion if you are taking part in this course: fb.com/groups/OXLearnToCode

...and a group for those who would like to volunteer: fb.com/groups/OXLearnToCodeHelpers

Note: Starting this term, Geek Night is a MEMBERS ONLY event.