The events for Winter 2010 are listed here. You can also download an ICS of them.
Wilderness Programming
MC2066, 2010-01-18, 15:30 PM: Paul Lutus describes his early Apple II software development days, conducted from the far end of a 1200-foot power cord, in a tiny Oregon cabin. Paul describes how he wrote a best-seller (Apple Writer) in assembly language, while dealing with power outages, lightning storms and the occasional curious bear.
Deep learning with multiplicative interactions
DC1302, 2010-01-26, 05:00 PM: Geoffrey Hinton, from the University of Toronto and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, will discuss some of his latest work in learning networks and artificial intelligence. The talk will be accessable, so don't hesitate to come out. More information about Dr. Hinton's research can be found on his website.
An Introduction to Vector Graphics Libraries with Cairo
DC1304, 2010-02-09, 4:30 PM: Cairo is an open source, cross platform, vector graphics library with the ability to output to many kinds of surfaces, including PDF, SVG and PNG surfaces, as well as X-Window, Win32 and Quartz 2D backends. Unlike the raster graphics used with programmes and libraries such as The Gimp and ImageMagick, vector graphics are not defined by grids of pixels, but rather by a collection of drawing operations. These operations detail how to draw lines, fill shapes, and even set text to create the desired image. This has the advantages of being infinitely scalable, smaller in file size, and simpler to express within a computer programme. This talk will be an introduction to the concepts and metaphors used by vector graphics libraries in general and Cairo in particular.
UNIX 101
MC3003, 2010-02-10, 4:30 PM: New to Unix? No problem, we'll teach you to power use circles around your friends!
UNIX 101 Encore
MC3005, 2010-02-11, 4:30 PM: New to Unix? No problem, we'll teach you to power use circles around your friends! The popular tutorial returns for a second session, in case you missed the first one.
The Best Algorithms are Randomized Algorithms
MC5136B, 2010-02-23, 04:30 PM: In this talk Nicholas Harvey discusses the prevalence of randomized algorithms and their application to solving optimization problems on graphs; with startling results compared to deterministic algorithms.
CSCF Town Hall
DC1302, 2010-02-25, 4:30 PM: Come to a town hall style meeting with the managers of CSCF to discuss how to improve the undergraduate (student.cs) computing environment. Have gripes? Suggestions? Requests? Now is the time to voice them.
Contest Closing
CnD Lounge, 2010-02-26, 7:00 PM: The contest is coming to a close tomorrow, so to finish it in style we will be having ice cream and code friday night. It would be a shame if Waterloo lost (we're not on top of the leaderboard right now) so come out and hack for the home team.
QIP=PSPACE
DC1304, 2010-03-02, 4:30 PM: Dr. John Watrous of the IQC will present his recent result "QIP=PSPACE". The talk will not assume any familiarity with quantum computing or complexity theory, and light refreshments will be provided.
Bowling
Waterloo Bowling Lanes, 2010-03-06, 5:00 PM: The CSC is going bowling. $9.75 for shoes and two games. The bowling alley serves fried food and beer. Join us for some or all of the above
Software Transactional Memory and Using STM in Haskell
DC1304, 2010-03-09, 4:30 PM: The fourth Undergraduate Seminar in Computer Science will be presented by Brennan Taylor, a club member. He will be discussing various concurrent computing problems, and introducing Software Transactional Memory as a solution to them.
A Party of Code
Comfy Lounge, 2010-03-12, 7:00 PM: A fevered night of code, friends, fun, energy drinks, and the CSC.
Approximation Hardness and the Unique Games Conjecture
MC5158, 2010-03-16, 4:30 PM: The fifth installment in CS10: Undergraduate Seminars in CS, features CSC member Elyot Grant introducing the theory of approximation algorithms. Fun times and a lack of gruesome math are promised.
Another Party of Code
Comfy Lounge, 2010-03-19, 7:00 PM: There is a CSC Code Party Friday starting at 7:00PM (1900) until we get bored (likely in the early in morning). Come out for fun hacking times, spreading Intertube memes (optional), hacking on the OpenMoko, creating music mixes, and other general classiness. There will be free energy drinks for everyone's enjoyment.
Memory-Corruption Security Holes: How to exploit, patch and prevent them.
MC5158, 2010-03-23, 4:30 PM: Despite it being 2010, code is still being exploited due to stack overflows, a 40+ year old class of security vulnerabilities. In this talk, I will go over several common methods of program exploitation, both on the stack and on the heap, as well as going over some of the current mitigation techniques (i.e. stack canaries, ASLR, etc.) for these holes, and similarly, how some of these can be bypassed as well.
A Final Party of Code
MC7001, 2010-03-26, 7:00 PM: There is a CSC/CMC Code Party Friday starting at 7:00PM (1900) until we get bored (likely in the early in morning). Come out for fun hacking times, spreading Intertube memes (optional), hacking on open source projects, doing some computational math, and other general classiness. There will be free energy drinks for everyone's enjoyment. This is the last of the term so don't miss out.
NUI: The future of robotics and automated systems
DC1304, 2010-03-30, 4:30 PM: Member Sam Pasupalak will present some of his ongoing work in Natural User Interfaces and Robotics in this sixth installment of CS10.
CTRL-D
CSC Office, 2010-04-01, 6:30 PM: Once again the CSC will be holding its traditional end of term dinner. It will be at the Vice President's house. If you don't know how to get there meet at the club office at 6:30 PM, a group will be leaving from the MC then. The dinner will be potluck style so bring a dish for 4-6 people, or some plates or pop or something.
Brush-Based Constructive Solid Geometry
DC1304, 2010-04-06, 04:30 PM: The last talk in the CS10 series will be presented by Jordan Saunders, in which he will discuss methods for processing brush-based constructive solid geometry.
Windows Azure Lab
MC2037, 2010-04-07, 1:00 PM: Get the opportunity to learn about Microsoft's Cloud Services Platform, Windows Azure. Attend this Hands-on-lab session sponsored by Microsoft.