[Oxford CompSoc banner graphic] Michaelmas Term Week 1 Newsletter Welcome Back: Cybersecurity, Ice Cream & More!
echo "hiya CompSoc!!"
We’ll be kicking off the first week of the academic year with the first sessions of our regular event series!
On Monday, we'll have the very first session of our competitive programming events from 7-9pm in the UGSA.
Wednesday is a security-themed day, with a talk on threat intelligence at 5pm in LTB followed immediately by an introductory session on CTF at 6pm.
If you crave a chilly snack and a chill social after your lectures, join our G&D's social at 5pm on Thursday!
We'll close off our week with our first Learn-To-Code session at 5:30-6:30pm at Jesus College, followed by a Board Games Night social at 7pm on Saturday.
Do check out the latter parts of this newsletter as we've included sign-up forms for some of our events in later weeks!
We apologise for the delay in this newsletter.
— Acie/Amos, CompSoc Vice President
Fun Computing Fact: Here's a fun little puzzle to think about:
Given
* n non-halting states * one halting state where the program stops when entering * an infinitely long tape of initially blank squares * a tape head that can write 1 or erase the current square (or do nothing) * a starting position for your tape head
Can you write a set of rules for the tape head in the form "on reading [symbol] at state [state number], [write / erase / do nothing] at the current square and [move left / right] and transition to state [state number]" such that the program halts and produces the longest chain of 1s before halting?
What is the longest chain of 1s produced as a function of n? n5? (n!)? 2n?
Surprisingly, the most number of 1s produced by a halting machine with n states following these rules is not a computable function of n! This above puzzle is called the "Busy Beaver Gamehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busy_beaver" and its non-computability has some interesting implications on open mathematics conjectures.
Feel free to message us if you have any interesting facts you want to share in our newsletters!
Still not a member? How?! Membership only costs £1 for LIFE, with tons of benefits - discounts on merch and tickets, free food at all socials, our exclusive Discord server and more - so it's definitely worth signing up!
[Be a member]https://buy.stripe.com/bJe5kE4os0FzgbF79J48001
or, go to https://buy.stripe.com/bJe5kE4os0FzgbF79J48001
[Term Card] [Term Card Graphic] [Events] Competitive Programming: Week 1 Contest [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/k8p/co3/l2w/PNG_CompProg_mt...]
Get ready for the first competitive programming event of the year (and term)!
Whether you’re a beginner or an ICPC participant, you are all very much welcome to join us from 7pm Monday in the UGSA! As usual, there will be pizza, snacks, and prizes for the winners of each division.
When: 7pm, Monday 12 Oct Where: Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science 7 Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QG
Threat Intelligence Talk [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/unm/3l6/ynu/PNG_ThreatTalk....]
If you’re into cybersecurity or would like to learn more about what teams do to deal with cyberthreats, head down to LTB from 5pm this Wednesday! Our first talk of the academic year is one on dealing with cyberthreats with available information on them.
When: 5pm, Wednesday 14 Oct Where: Bill Roscoe Lecture Theatre, Department of Computer Science 7 Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QG
Intro to CTF [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/ocg/g0a/5ia/PNG_IntroToCTF....]
Right after a talk on cybersecurity, we have another security-related event! If you want to probe at vulnerable programs (without pesky legality issues), CTF’s for you! Join us in the department from 6pm on Wednesday for our first CTF event!
When: 6pm, Wednesday 14 Oct Where: Seminar Room 051, Department of Computer Science 7 Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QG
G&D’s Social [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/xb8/69l/ntk/PNG_G%26Ds_1.pn...]
ICE CREAM!!!!!!!! If you’re looking for a chill social and (more importantly) free chilly ice cream (or other snacks), join us at G&D’s St Aldates from 5pm on Thursday!
When: 5-6pm, Thursday 15 Oct Where: George & Danver, 94 St Aldate's, Oxford OX1 1BT
Learn-To-Code [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/y7l/sqb/zd4/PNG_LTC_Week1.p...]
On Saturday, we’ll be kicking off the first LTC session of the year at Jesus College from 5:30pm. For those of you who’ve asked if you can join CompSoc to learn programming, this is for you
When: 5:30-6:30pm, Saturday 17 Oct Where: Jesus College, Turl Street, Oxford, OX1 3DW
Saturday Night Social: Board Games Night [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/ytd/3ni/04t/PNG_W1Social.pn...]
For our first (technically second) social of the year, we’ll be chilling with our wide selection of board games in the UGSA cupboard! As per usual, our roster of snacks and pizza will be accompanying us for the evening.
When: 7pm, Saturday 17 Oct Where: Undergraduate Social Area, Department of Computer Science 7 Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3QG
Pareto Social - Sign Up Form
Next Tuesday, we'll be having an evening social with Pareto! If you would like to sign up, please do so by the end of the week using the below link.
When: 6pm, Tuesday 20 Oct Where: Location TBA Sign up here: https://forms.gle/EY9UyGBS26diCFMn6
[And More...] hi yes
does anyone actually read this far? good job for checking out what our collaborating societies / sponsors are saying
No meme this week, will return in week 2 :(
Jane Street x Oxford Game Night [https://d09868d84b.imgdist.com/pub/bfra/1f2mcots/0it/dft/qq8/image_1.png]
Play some of our favorite games, grab food and swag, and meet Streeters. Students of all backgrounds are encouraged to attend.
When: Thursday 15th October From 5:30pm BST Where: Oxford (Off Campus)
Interested? Let us know herehttps://forms.gle/75Z7kh6m1SWHeCKQ7.
An Event from Floxford: Free Software & Open Source Social
This is in-person only.
Welcome to our first event after the Summer break. We have more coming, but for now let's take it informally. Whoever you are in Oxford, whatever you do (as long as we all follow our code of conducthttps://ox.ogeer.org/p/code-of-conduct), this is your chance to discuss, chat, or learn more about any technical or non-technical aspect of free, libre and open-source software (FLOSS).
Date: Wednesday 14 October 2026 Time: 18:00-19:30 (Europe/London time) Place: Summer Common Room, Magdalen College (different to the last social) Title: Free Software & Open Source Social ("general FLOSS and KDE's anniversary" edition) More Details; Add to Calendar: https://events.floxford.org/event/free-software-and-open-source-social
Check Out OxWoCS!
Make sure to join OxWoCS (Oxford Women in CS), a society we're working closely with, if you identify as a woman or woman-adjacent person in CS! They have a host of wonderful events on, including talks, panels and socials. Computer Science is unfortunately a subject with one of the biggest gender gaps in Oxford and worldwide, and addressing this is at the core of OxWoCS.
A TPP Opportunity
A message from our sponsors at TPP:
Graduate Software Developer Role:
No coding experience required.
We’re looking for bright and geeky graduates to join our Software Developer team. No experience is required, and many of our successful applicants have never programmed before. If you think logically and enjoy problem solving, then you have the potential to become a great developer.
A career at TPP will challenge you every day. In your first few weeks you will be solving real-world problems as you help to develop software used by healthcare professionals and patients across the world.
You’ll be part of an agile development team, working on one of the largest real-time databases in the world. You’ll work on a wide variety of projects, ranging from AI assisting clinicians with early diagnosis of cancer to an iOS app helping patients manage their diabetes.
To apply, please visit https://tpp-careers.com/roles/graduate-software-developer/
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