STUDENT SEMINARS -------------------------------- Date and time: Monday 3rd November 2003 at 13:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: Objective C, the programming language Speaker: Christopher Ross (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~ctr/) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: This talk is an introduction to the Objective C, programming language :-) -------------------------------- Date and time: Thursday 11th December 2003 at 10:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: Gratitational Waves (Introduction to and current research) Speaker: Alberto Vecchio Institution: School of Physics and Astronomy Abstract: One of Einstein's most outrageous predictions is that coherent motion of large concentrations of mass - black holes, neutron stars and the very-early Universe - generate gravitational waves, ripples of space time that propagate at the speed of light. These gravitational waves have not been directly observed, because they interact very weakly with matter. A worldwide network of extremely sensitive km-size ground based laser interferometers is now beginning to survey the gravitationnal wave sky. Such instruments are expected to lead to the first-ever detection of gravitational waves within a few years.. -------------------------------- Date and time: Monday 19th January 2004 at 13:00 Location: 217, School of Computer Science Title: Introduction to GnuPG/PGP Encryption Speaker: Robert Goldsmith (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rsg) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: Cryptography is the stuff of spy novels and action comics. (...) Almost everyone has seen a television show or movie involving a nondescript suit-clad gentleman with a brieftcase handcuffed to his wrist. The term "espionage" conjures images of James Bood, car chases, and flying bullets. And here you are, sitting in your office, faced with the rather mundame task of sending a sales report to a coworker in such a way that no one else can read it. You just want to be sure that your colleague was the actual and only recipient of the email and you want him or her to be sure that you were unmistakably the sender. It's not a national security at stake, but if your compagny's competitor got hold of it, it could cost you. How can you accomplish this? Intro to Cryptography [http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxh/students-seminar/docs/pgp_introtocryptography.pdf] -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 16th March 2004 at 13:00 Location: Room 217, School of Computer Science Title: Tutorial on XY-pic (The LaTeX package) Speaker: Pascal Honore (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxh) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: Please, note the little changement in the abstract. XY-pic is a package for typesetting graphs and diagrams using Knuth's TeX typesetting system. One of its characteristics is to be built around a powerful kernel drawing language which is a concise notation for general graphics. This talk is liable to interest anyone who uses LaTeX for scientific documents. Xy-pic is a beautiful package for graphical purposes. It is in particular very useful for people interested in category-like or array-like diagrams but is perfectly suitable for more general pictures. Absolutely no previous knowledge on the subject is needed, even not in LaTeX itself :-) Pascal. -------------------------------- Date and time: Monday 12th July 2004 at 13:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: (Chaotic) Introduction to Chaos Theory Speaker: Peter Tino (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxt) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: I will ask and try to answer questions such as - what makes a process evolving in time `complex'? - what do we mean when we say that a process is `chaotic'? - how can degrees of `chaoticness' be quantified/measured? - what is so weird about the set along which chaotic dynamics takes place that people decided to call it `strange'? No previous knowledge on the subject is required. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 27th July 2004 at 13:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: The X Window System: Dark Dirty Little Secrets Speaker: Chris Ross (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~ctr) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: For years the X Window System has be parading around in front of our eyes; sometimes attractively, sometimes not. There are a lot of myths and misunderstandings about what it is, how it works and what it does. This seminar will detail the structure and mechanisms held within it, the client-server architecture, the toolkits you can use to develop interfaces and the future. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 21st June 2005 at 10:00 Location: UG04, Learning Center Title: Mac OS 10.4 Tiger for Newbies Speaker: Chris Klinkert Institution: Apple Host: Pascal Honore Abstract: Macintosh OSX (currently version 10.4 : Tiger), iLife, iWork, iTunes. Do those names sound familiar to you? Total newbie or experimented users, what about having a presentation by Apple Staff themselves? Tiger : With over 200 new feature, MS OS X version 10.4 "Tiger" puts power at your fingertips. Learn all about the breakthrough Spotlight search technology, Dashboard widgets and four-way video conferencing. You'll find out how the most innovative Mac OS in history will change the way your Mac works for you. iLife'05 : Examine the latest version of Apple's creative applications: iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie HD, iDVD and GarageBand. They work seamlessly together, so you can edit and create amazing photos, music, movies and more. iWork'05 : Create, present and publish your work in style. Learn how to use over 40 templates in the all-new application Pages to create everything from letters to newsletters to brochures. And learn to use Keynote 2 to build gorgeous photography portfolios, animate storyboard and present interactive slideshows. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 21st June 2005 at 11:15 Location: UG04, Learning Center Title: How OSX powered System X, the third fastest computer in the world Speaker: Pascal Honore (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~pxh) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Abstract: This talk will be about an odd idea: what would happen if you put a little over 1000 Macs in a room and plugged them together? Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan and al. decided to find out the answer and the result has been very impressive. They built nothing more than the world's third fastest computer and the first academic machine to break the 10 Teraflop barrier. I will cover the history of this project and the current use of System X. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 21st June 2005 at 14:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: Unix, Xgrid, Bonjour, Operating System Design and more Speaker: John Fisher Institution: Apple Host: Pascal Honore Abstract: Since the introduction of OSX five years ago, the Macintosh operating system has been built on a solid Unix core called Darwin (a derivative of FreeBSD) and comes packaged with many standard Linux/BSD components, including an X11 Window server. This allows, for instance, Open Source projects as the GIMP Project and the OpenOffice Project to run alongside the more classic applications such as Photoshop and Microsoft Office. This talk will present some of the design strengths of OSX before focusing on two of the well known technologies that come with it: Xgrid and Bonjour. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 21st June 2005 at 15:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: The Xcode RAD environment and news from WWDC'05. Speaker: Robert Goldsmith (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rsg) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Host: Pascal Honore Abstract: OSX comes with Xcode and the Cocoa frameworks, a powerful combination that allows for easy and rapid development of software in Objective C++ and Java. The Cocoa frameworks are powerful enough to allow you to develop quite fully featured applications without writing a single line of code (building on classic design philosophies such as Model View Controller and Entity Relationship graphs) leaving you the time to concentrate on what you really want to develop. In this talk, I will show some of the advanced capabilities of Xcode and the Cocoa frameworks, including Core Data (for automated persistence of your data) and Bindings (for automated control of your interfaces). Given the recent announcements from Apple and having recently returned from Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in San Francisco, I also hope to dedicate the end of my talk timeslot to a quick rundown of where Apple is heading and what it means for all of us. -------------------------------- Date and time: Tuesday 28th June 2005 at 13:00 Location: UG40, School of Computer Science Title: e-resources at Birmingham - tips for students on tools and techniques for effective research Speaker: Russell Beale (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~rxb) Institution: School of Computer Science (http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk) Host: Pascal Honore Abstract: An informal and quick run through some of the tools and resources that you may find useful when doing research for your MSc (or PhD) projects, plus some advice on tools and approaches to maximise your potential and create an effective project. Tools covered - blogs, google scholar, citation management tools, reference tools, writing skills, and so on. Talk will probably be about 30 minutes, plus as long as you like for questions. Targetted at MSc students doing summer projects, but early PhD students may find odd fragments of interest.