Termcard for Michaelmas Term 2002

Freshers' Drinks

Tuesday 15th October, 19:00
Lamb & Flag

Freshers' Drinks is a chance to meet existing Compsoc members and find out what the society's all about. We'll be there all evening (as usual!) and will hopefully be easy to spot, so drop by at any time.

The Compsoc Network

Thursday 17th October, 20:00
Comlab

Dominic Hargreaves, Compsoc's chief sysadmin, will describe the Compsoc network, the services it provides and the benefits that come with an account.

OUCS Tour

Monday 21st October, 18:30
OUCS

Note the change of time from some freshers' flyers

See what makes Oxford's network tick in this behind-the-scenes guided tour. Meet inside the foyer of 13 Banbury Road, and don't forget to bring your University Card or unfortunately OUCS won't let you in.

Introduction to Linux

Wednesday 23rd October, 20:00
Trinity

Compsoc President David Ford will be covering the world of free Unix-like operating systems, focusing on Linux. In this talk he'll be discussing installation and basic usage.

Cancelled! SmartSpread

Tuesday 29th October, 20:30
Comlab

Unfortunately, this talk has been cancelled. However, Nick will be giving a talk in fifth week on Extreme Programming.

SmartSpread is a local company which designs and sells software for rapid development of flexible financial systems. Nick Fortescue, the company's Chief Technology Officer, will be talking about their products, focusing on their innovative Java spreadsheet.

The Bioperl Project

Wednesday 30th October, 20:30
Comlab

The Bioperl Project was officially formed in 1995 as an international organisation of developers of open source Perl tools for bioinformatics, genomics and life science research. Ewan Birney, of the European Bioinformatics Institute, is one of the four project coordinators. He'll be talking about the use of open source software in bioinformatics.

Using Low-cost Cryptographic Hardware to 'Rob a Bank'

Thursday 31st October, 20:30
Comlab

Richard Clayton from Cambridge University Computer Laboratory will be talking about how he and his colleagues created a cheap device from "off-the-shelf" hardware which cracked the encryption on the IBM 4758 cryptographic co-processor (used by many banks) in a couple of days. FPGAs! 3DES! Buzzwords!

OxLUG: Perforce

Sunday 3rd November, 18:30
Comlab

Note: This event is not organised by Compsoc.

Perforce is a version control system.

See OxLUG's website for more details.

Introduction to Lisp

Wednesday 6th November, 20:00
Comlab

Dan Barlow of Metacircles, a consultancy specialising in Common Lisp, will be giving an introduction to this classic programming language. This talk will be followed up by a hands-on event in week six.

Science Museum Visit

Saturday 9th November, 09:30
Gloucester Green Bus Station

We'll be going along to the Science Museum, with a view to paying particular attention to their computer section.

Lunch can be bought at the museum or you can take a packed lunch; entrance is free. We'll be taking the Oxford Tube (student price is £7 return).

If you'd like to come along, please e-mail committee@ox.compsoc.net so we know to expect you.

Known Vulnerabilities in the Technology Media

Tuesday 12th November, 20:30
Comlab

Dave Green, co-editor of the weekly newsletter NTK, will be coming to give us some of the highlights of its history. He will also be selling NTK's popular T-shirts; e-mail the committee by the end of 4th week if you have any specific requests.

Extreme Programming

Wednesday 13th November, 20:30
Danson Room, Trinity College

Nick Fortescue of SmartSpread — who nearly gave a talk in third week — will be talking on Extreme Programming. Extreme Programming is "a discipline of software development based on values of simplicity, communication, feedback and courage".

IBM zSeries mainframes

Tuesday 19th November, 20:30
Comlab

Please note that, contrary to the information displayed here earlier, the time and date for this event printed on the termcard are, in fact, correct!

Malcolm Beattie, a Linux Technical Consultant for IBM, will be talking about IBM's zSeries mainframes.

Hands-on — Lisp

Thursday 21st November, 20:00
NAPL (Denys Wilkinson Building)

This follow-up to the fourth week talk will offer the chance to explore the language in more detail and hopefully a chance to quiz the experts!

Termly General Meeting

Thursday 28th November, 19:00
Magdalen

As usual, Compsoc's Termly General Meeting provides an opportunity for the members to speak to the committee directly and find out about the running of the society. After the meeting is (rapidly) concluded, we will be heading to a local curry house in what tends to be one of Compsoc's most popular events!

Laserquest

Tuesday 3rd December, 20:00
Gloucester Green

Compsoc's members will be emerging from the darkness of their terminal rooms to, well, the darkness of Laserquest. This long-standing tradition is always fun and well-attended. If you'd like to come, e-mail committee@ox.compsoc.net before the end of sixth week.

Christmas Party

Wednesday 4th December, 20:00
11 Goodson Walk, Marston

Celebrate the end of term and the start of the Christmas season in style in the last of this term's events. Please bring your own drink.

To reach Goodson Walk go East along South Parks Road past the Science area. When the road turns right take the cycle path to Marston (straight on). At the second cattle grid go straight on past the first road on the right. Turn right, then immediately left after about 20 metres (into Purcell Road), continue straight on, onto a footpath, right at the end of the footpath then left onto Goodson Walk (number 11 is near the end)

A group will be leaving Keble lodge at 7:45pm in case you don't feel like braving these directions!