Events Archive: Fall 2007

Google Summer of Code, a look back on 2007

| 4:30 PM EST | MC 4061

Holden Karau

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An overview on Google Summer of Code 2007. This talk will look at some of the Summer of Code projects, the project organization, etc.

Holden Karau participated in Google Summer of Code 2007 as a student on the subversion team. He created a set of scheme bindings for the subversion project.

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With today's fast growing linux user base, a large porportion of legacy applications have established open-source equivalents or ports. However, legacy games provided an intresting problem to gamers who might be inclinded to migrate to linux or other open platforms. PE executable translation software will be presented that provides a solution to this dilema and will be contrasted with the windows compatiblity framwork Wine. Postponed to a later date.

Multi-Player Linux games for Linux awarness week

| 2:30 PM EST | TBA

Multi-Player Gaming with Linux [Possibly Pizza!]

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Come out for multi-player gaming on Linux. If you don't have linux on your machine, we will have LiveCDs available. Lots of fun! Possible Pizzaa!

Programming Contest

| 1:30 PM EST | MC 2037

Win Prizes!

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The Computer Science club is holding a programming contest from 1:00 to 6:30 open to all! C++,C,Perl,Scheme are allowed. Prizes totalling in value of $75 will be distributed. You can participate online! For more information, including source files visit http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/contest

And Free Pizzaa for all who attend!

Concurrent / Distributed programming with JoCaml

| 4:30 PM EST | MC 4061

Brennan Taylor

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A lecture on the fundamentals of Pi-Calculus followed by an introduction to Join-Calculus in JoCaml with some great examples. Various concurrent control structures are explored, as well as the current limitations of JoCaml. The examples section will mostly be concurrent programming, however some basic distributed examples will be explored. This lecture focuses on how easy concurrent programming can be.

More Haskell functional programming fun!

| 4:30 PM EST | MC 4041

Andrei Barbu

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Haskell is a modern lazy, strongly typed functional language with type inferrence. This talk will focus on multiple monads, existential types, lambda expressions, infix operators and more. Along the way we'll see a parser and interpreter for lambda calculus using monadic parsers. STM, software transactional memory, a new approach to concurrency, will also be discussed. Before the end we'll also see the solution to an ACM problem to get a hands on feeling for the language. Don't worry if you haven't seen the first talk, you should be fine for this one anyway!

Why you should care about functional programming with Haskell *New-er Date*

| 4:30 PM EST | MC 4041

Andrei Barbu

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General Meeting

| 5:00 PM EDT | MC4058

There is a general meeting scheduled for Friday, October 19, 2007 at 17:00.This is a chance to bring out any ideas and concerns about CSC happenings into the open, as well as a chance to make sure all CSC staff is up to speed on current CSC doings. The current agenda can be found at [http://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/wiki/Friday\_19\_October\_2007.](<http://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/wiki/Friday_19_October_2007>)

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There is a general meeting scheduled for Friday, October 19, 2007 at 17:00.

This is a chance to bring out any ideas and concerns about CSC happenings into the open, as well as a chance to make sure all CSC staff is up to speed on current CSC doings. The current agenda can be found at http://wiki.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/wiki/Friday_19_October_2007.

Off-the-Record Messaging: Useful Security and Privacy for IM

| 4:30 PM EDT | MC4041

Ian Goldberg

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Instant messaging (IM) is an increasingly popular mode of communication on the Internet. Although it is used for personal and private conversations, it is not at all a private medium. Not only are all of the messages unencrypted and unauthenticated, but they are all routedthrough a central server, forming a convenient interception point for an attacker. Users would benefit from being able to have truly private conversations over IM, combining the features of encryption, authentication, deniability, and forward secrecy, while working within their existing IM infrastructure.

In this talk, I will discuss "Off-the-Record Messaging" (OTR), a widely used software tool for secure and private instant messaging. I will outline the properties of Useful Security and Privacy Technologies that motivated OTR's design, compare it to other IM security mechanisms, and talk about its ongoing development directions.

Ian Goldberg is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, where he is a founding member of the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) research group. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where he discovered serious weaknesses in a number of widely deployed security systems, including those used by cellular phones and wireless networks. He also studied systems for protecting the personal privacy of Internet users, which led to his role as Chief Scientist at Zero-Knowledge Systems (now known as Radialpoint), where he commercialized his research as the Freedom Network.

Join-Calculus with JoCaml. Concurrent programming that doesn't fry your brain

| 4:45 PM EDT | MC 4060

Brennan Taylor

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A lecture on the fundamentals of Pi-Calculus followed by an introduction to Join-Calculus in JoCaml with some great examples. Various concurrent control structures are explored, as well as the current limitations of JoCaml. The examples section will mostly be concurrent programming, however some basic distributed examples will be explored. This lecture focuses on how easy concurrent programming can be.

Distributed Programming with Erlang

| 4:30 PM EDT | TBA

Brennan Taylor

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A quick introduction on the current state of distributed programming and various grid computing projects. Followed by some history and features of the Erlang language and finishing with distributed examples including operating on a cluster.

Putting the fun into Functional Languages and Useful Programming with OCaml/F#

| 4:30 PM EDT | MC4061

Brennan Taylor

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A lecture on why functional languages are important, practical applications, and some neat examples. Starting with an introduction to basic functional programming with ML syntax, continuing with the strengths of OCaml and F#, followed by some exciting examples. Examples include GUI programming with F#, Web Crawlers with F#, and OpenGL/GTK programming with OCaml. This lecture aims to display how powerful functional languages can be.

Virtual Reality, Real Law: The regulation of Property in Video Games

| 1:30 PM EDT | DC 1302

Susan Abramovitch

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This talk is run by the School of Computer Science

How should virtual property created in games, such as weapons used in games like Mir 3 and real estate or clothing created or acquired in games like Second Life, be treated in law. Although the videogaming industry continues to multiply in value, virtual property created in virtual worlds has not been formally recognized by any North American court or legislature. A bridge has been taking shape from gaming's virtual economies to real world economies, for example, through unauthorized copying of designer clothes sold on Second Life for in-game cash, or real court damages awarded against deletion of player-earned swords in Mir 3. The trading of virtual property is important to a large number of people and property rights in virtual property are currently being recognized by some foreign legal bodies.

Susan Abramovitch will explain the legal considerations in determining how virtual property can or should be governed, and ways it can be legally similar to tangible property. Virtual property can carry both physical and intellectual property rights. Typically video game developers retain these rights via online agreements, but Ms. Abramovitch questions whether these rights are ultimately enforceable and will describe policy issues that may impact law makers in deciding how to treat virtual property under such agreements.