CSCWiki - User contributions [en]

Main Page

2009-04-18T05:58:02Z

Mgregson: Quoteboard MUST NOT show up on google!

This is the Wiki of the [[Computer Science Club]]. Feel free to start adding pages and information.

== Guides ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Budget Guide]]
* [[Club Hosting]]
* [[Exec Manual]]
* [[Imapd Guide]]
* [[MEF Guide]]
* [[Office Staff]]
* [[SLEF Guide]]
* [[Talks Guide]]
* [[SCS Guide]]
</div>

== News and Events ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Meetings]]
* [[Talks]]
* [[Projects]]
</div>

== Machine/System Documentation ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Authentication]]
* [[Backups]]
* [[ceo]]
* [[Conserver]]
* [[Cross Compiling]]
* [[DNS Records]]
* [[Debian Repository]]
* [[Digital Cutter]]
* [[Directory Services]]
* [[FreeBSD]]
* [[IPv6]]
* [[Library]]
* [[Machine List]]
* [[Mail]]
* [[Mailing Lists]]
* [[Mirror]]
* [[Nagios]]
* [[OID Assignment]]
* [[OpenSolaris]]
* [[Puppet]]
* [[QoS]]
* [[SNMP]]
* [[Switches]]
* [[Sony Camera]]
* [[Systems Committee]]
* [[UID/GID Assignment]]
* [[User-data]]
* [[Webcams]]
* [[Website]]
* [[Wireless]]
* [[Virtualization]]
</div>

== Miscellaneous ==
<div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;">
* [[Budget]]
* [[Clubs]]
* [[Executive]]
* [[History]]
* [[MEF Proposals]]
* [[Office Policies]]
* [[Projector]]
* [[Term Notes]]
</div>

MEF Guide

2009-04-07T23:00:38Z

Mgregson: Undo revision 1974 by Pantsd (Talk) [Individual making this edit has proven to be reliable and should no longer be permitted to edit our wiki.]

Website: http://www.mef.uwaterloo.ca/

==Beginning of the term==

It's wise to start thinking about proposals at the start of term (or even before the term starts). The due date for proposals is typically 2.5 months into the term.

==Writing up the proposal==

* MEF seems to like us getting high-quality components from respectable vendors (e.g. HP).
* MEF wants us to do our research. This means that we should be able to clearly justify why we need exactly what we've asked for. In the past they have indicated that we didn't give enough explanation as to why we needed something.
* Make sure to justify how the project/request falls under MEF's mandate. Specifically, it should somehow benefit undergraduate education.
* Talk to MathSoc in advance about the proposal. The union of MathSoc and MEF is generally large, and they tend to hold sway on the MEF council.

==What MEF likes to fund==
* Textbooks; note that MEF doesn't like funding programming language manuals/guides (unless they are obscure/special).
* Talks; we need to have specific speakers lined up; we can't just ask for "$X for random speakers".
* Hardware; as long as we can justify the usefulness of the purchase, they generally seem open to fund it; here's some good reasons:
** Existing hardware is failing (e.g. mirror, caffeine)
** Existing hardware is inadequate (e.g. gigabit switch)

==Presenting at the funding council meeting==

* MEF wants professional presentations.
* Most people prepare slide shows and we should too, if possible.
* Holden should never present to MEF - he's far too sketchy.

Library Project

2009-03-14T02:19:13Z

Mgregson: /* Existing Solution */

== Existing Solution ==
There is a menu entry in ceo for the library. Use this for library stuff.

== Objectives ==
Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated individuals whereas we should be focused on providing resources for anyone on campus who is interested in computer science.
* Update and improve library content.
* Bring in a proper library management system.
** This may want to be written. If interested in contributing, contact the Systems Committee or Club Executive.
* Set up some method of keeping the library current in the future.
* Re-evaluate the purpose of our library.

== Books Wishlist ==
Split to [[Books Wishlist]]

== Guidelines for Library Funding ==
In the past, our budgets have failed to focus much attention to the library,
even though our textbooks keeping getting older and less relevant, and courses
and frontiers in Computer Science evolve. It is a shame that we don't have a book
on multi-core programming, or artificial intelligence! The following guideline
provides a detailed strategy for budgeting for books in the future :

*Did you know that every year approximately 20% of the courses in SCS change their books & edition?
This equates to something like $1000 of new material per year. As a result :
**We need to raise at least $1,000 annually to keep up with the material used to cover courses in SCS
**We will need to raise most of it during the Fall & Winter terms since :
***First offerings of courses occur in the Fall/Winter term each year and that is when the new textbooks arrive
***Historically we get higher memberships and people on campus so more funding
*Did you know that CS is a constantly changing field?
**New fields within CS are discovered every year
**New technologies and paradigms (e.g. multi-core programming) occur every 5 to 10 years?
**New knowledge is discovered in the field that replaces our older (less accurate) knowledge?
We therefore need to allocate roughly $1,500 per year to have a library that accurately reflects the current
and state of the art of computer science. To say that our library is not state of the art in CS is an extreme
under-statement. This funding could be equally spread out to $500 per term from mathsoc.

Currently our library is very much outdated and does not have textbooks that reflect the courses that CS students are
currently taking. From my estimate we need approximately $5,000 to have an up to date CS library. Therefore for the immediate strategy we need to get at least $1,500 per term from Mathsoc/MEF to allow our library a chance at staying current with the department's offerings. Therefore we should try to budget in $2,000 for Fall,Winter and Spring to get our library updated to the CS courses as well as to cover some of the frontiers and state of the art in computing that will serve our library into the future.

A great deal of discussion has been spent talking about our library equipment and possible hardware (barcode upgrades for instance). However I don't think it would be irresponsible for us to look at these areas and especially to budget these improvements in if we don't have a vastly updated library.
== Fixing the Library ==
A statement :
The only way to get the library fixed is through terms of growing and pruning.
As mentioned above, we need to grow our library to reflect the courses offered in SCS,
as well as to cover the current and state of the art in CS.

At the same time it is important that we prune down our library to contain relevant and
updated material. There is no point in having a cluttered library that makes it hard to
find reference material because we must hold on to books that are 20/30+ years old. We
don't need to have books on APL/360 programming, and having these old unnecessarry books
will pollute our library with irrelevance and outdatedness.

The only way the library can be fixed is to find the solutions to the direct problems in our
library. That is rather than worrying about the irrelevant technical details of the library system,
we need to take a look at our inventory (that is our books) and see what needs growing and pruning.
We can build the technical layers once we have built the paper layers (that is the physical books have
been purchased or have been planned to be purchased). It will take courage and will to follow
this procedure since we will have to let go of things that need letting go.
== Proposed Library Update Plan ==
One of the problems in keeping any library relevant is to ensure that reference material
is up to date and current with the area of study in question. This is especially true in
the area of computer science and technology where ideas change fast. The following are some
suggested considerations which could aid in keeping our library up to date now and into the
future.
* Safari Bookshelf Subscription
Safari Bookshelf is a online web service that allows you to read any O'Reilly book for a
subscription fee (usually around $40/month). This service will give the CSC an excellent
online library resource, where members can login and view all of the latest O'Reilly books
including those yet to be published. Access control would be a concern which would need
to be addressed in using such a system, however the concept of having an electronic resource
of continually up to date reference material is tempting.
* What are the new technologies and ideas in computer science?
This is the question that we should be asking ourselves at least at the beginning of the term
to determine what new books need to be purchased to fill the reference gap that builds going from
term to term. We should have a firm commitment of purchasing at least 10 reference books per term
to ensure that we are getting the breadth and depth requirements of having a successful CS library,
especially when it is common for dozens of new CS books to be released every term.
* What are the official CS course textbooks?
The CSC should have an up to date library of all of the required textbooks for all of the CS courses
offered at the University. This will allow our members to quickly access their course reference materials
should they ever leave their books at home, or need to look at the book desperately for an assignment that
is coming due soon. The CSC be a source of reference for CS students who need the references that drive
many of their CS courses.
* What books are getting old?
** How relevant is the book's content today?
** Has the book gone to a new edition?
** Have their been fundamental changes in the topic which are not reflected in the current book?
** How popular is the book? (This can be determined by how many times it has been checked out from the library system)
** Does the material fill a large gap in our reference material?
== Library Accessories ==
There has also been some talk for suggested accessories or tools for our library system. The
following is the current list of such accessories and reasons behind getting such accessories.
* Magstripe Member Cards
Each CSC member could have a magstripe member card which would allow them to check-in and checkout
books by swiping their card at a swiper and then scanning the book in question. This could speed
up the check-in/check-out times since they do not need to enter information into the system, but
rather scan their cards. The magstripe cards could later be extended with CEO to allow term renewal
via card swipe, as well as other value added features.
* Wireless barcode scanner.
The wireless barcode scanner will allow us to go up to the books and scan them in, rather than
having to move the books over to the barcode scanner to have them scanned. This will allow for
a degree of more freedom when scanning in books (especially when we receive the stack of new
books)
* RFID tags
When we receive new books, RFID tags encoded with book information is attached to each book.
Whenever, someone checks-in/checks out books, all you need to do is wave the book in front of a scanner
without having to locate the barcode, which could speed up the process of checking in and out books

Books Wishlist

2009-02-03T22:59:12Z

Mgregson: /* Theory */

This page consists of books we'd like to get to stock the [[library]]. It is divided into 3 sections. The first is books going on this term's MEF proposal, this should be done by whoever is writing the proposal. The second is a list of actual books with ISBN. The third is vague ideas of what kind of books we need. The goal is for this page to be emptied by way of moving things from section three up to section one and then off.

= MEF Proposal =
MEF Proposal books should include a quote and a sentence or two of justification.

= Actual Books =
Actual books should have a precise title and ISBN for edition desired.

== Foundations/Field Surveys ==
* Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming
** Volume 1, Fascicle 1: MMIX -- A RISC Computer for the New Millennium
*** ISBN-13: 978-0201853926
** Volume 4, Fascicle 0: Introduction to Combinatorial Algorithms and Boolean Functions
*** ISBN-13: 978-0321534965
** Volume 4, Fascicle 1: Bitwise Tricks & Techniques; Binary Decision Diagrams
*** ISBN-13: 978-0321580504
** Volume 4, Fascicle 2: Generating All Tuples and Permutations
*** ISBN-13: 978-0201853933
** Volume 4, Fascicle 3: Generating All Combinations and Partitions
*** ISBN-13: 978-0201853940
** Volume 4, Fascicle 4: Generating All Trees--History of Combinatorial Generation
*** ISBN-13: 978-0321335708
* Wirth, Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs
** ISBN-13: 978-0130224187
* Dijkstra, A Discipline of Programming
** ISBN-13: 978-0132158718

== Data Structures ==
* Okasaki, Purely Functional Data Structures
** ISBN-13: 978-0521663502

== Typography ==
* Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style
** ISBN-13: 978-0881792065
* Knuth, Computers & Typesetting, Volumes A-E Boxed Set
** ISBN-13: 978-0201734164

= Vague Ideas =
These can be anything from a title missing an edition choice to a topic name to a binding style/colour.

== Theory ==
* Approximation Algorithms
* Randomized Algorithms
* Computer and Intractability (Grey & Johnson)
* Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
* Project Management
** Software Requirements
** Software Design & Architecture
** Software Testing
* Concurrency/Multithreading
* Security (Firewalls)
* Introduction to the Theory of Computation
* Numerical Analysis
* Numerical Methods? (Stoer & Bulirsch)
** This is probably not the actual title. We want a book on numerical methods by Stoer & Bulirsch
* Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (Bryant & O'Hallaron)
* Quantum Computing book (from QIP)

== Programming Languages ==
* Python
* Haskell
* Ruby
* C#
* Visual Basic .NET
* OCaml
* Scheme
* F#
* Basic
* Groovy
* Javascript
* C/C++
* Assembly
* Databases [SQL]

== Technology Books ==
* Ubuntu
* Unix/Linux Beginner Books
* OpenGL/DirectX
* GTK
* Unix Network Programming

== Miscellaneous ==
* Mein Kampf
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-10-21T05:41:16Z

Mgregson:

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

* Switch: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817111479&Tpk=TEG-S80TXE

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || 450.00
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || 86.00
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || 536.00
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Siskind || 0
|-
| * Relic CTO || Unknown
|-
| * Faculty Talk || 75.00
|-
| * IQC || 75.00
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || 2137.50
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:25:43Z

Mgregson: /* Proposed Budget */

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || 450.00
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || 86.00
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || 536.00
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Siskind || 0
|-
| * Relic CTO || Unknown
|-
| * Faculty Talk || 75.00
|-
| * IQC || 75.00
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || 2137.50
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:23:20Z

Mgregson: /* Proposed Budget */

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || 450.00
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || 86.00
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || 536.00
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Siskind || 0
|-
| * 2x IQC || 150
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || 2137.50
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:22:47Z

Mgregson: /* Proposed Budget */

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || 450.00
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || 86.00
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Siskind || 0
|-
| * 2x IQC || 150
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || 2137.50
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:18:55Z

Mgregson: /* Proposed Budget */

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Siskind || 0
|-
| * 2x IQC || 150
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || Unknown - depends on membership.
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:18:34Z

Mgregson:

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Sisking || 0
|-
| * 2x IQC || 150
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || Unknown - depends on membership.
|-
|}

Finance:Budget/F2008

2008-09-28T00:17:59Z

Mgregson:

See also: [[Budget/S2008]] and [[Budget/W2009]]

==Wishlist==

* CD-R's
* Whiteboard markers
* CD markers
* CD sleeves
* New binder for MUP
* Whiteboard eraser,
* Cat 53
* Sticky notes
* PDP-8
* Velcrow cable ties
* Rails
* Logo stamp
* Tapes for the video camera

==Proposed Budget==
{- class="wikitable"
|+ Fall 2008
|-
| '''Revenue''' ||Revenue
|-
| * Membership Fees (MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| * Membership Fees (Non-MathSoc) || TBA
|-
| '''Total Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''Expenses''' ||
|-
| '''Talks''' ||
|-
| * Theo de Raadt || Unknown
|-
| * Jeff Sisking || 0
|-
| * 2x IQC || 150
|-
| '''Talks Total''' || 150 + Unknown
|-
| '''Office Supplies''' ||
|-
| * Cat 5e || 118.64
|-
| * Other (Details Later) || 140.17
|-
| '''Office Supplies Total''' || 258.81
|-
| '''Total''' || 584.98
|-
| '''Total minus Revenue''' || TBA
|-
| '''MathSoc Funding Cap''' || Unknown - depends on membership.
|-
-}

Meeting:Meetings

2008-09-21T14:13:18Z

Mgregson: /* General Meetings */

==General Meetings==

* [[Friday 19 October 2007]]
* [[Thursday 2 October 2008]]

Meeting:Thursday 2 October 2008

2008-09-21T14:10:16Z

Mgregson:

=CSC General Meeting (Thursday, October 2, 2008)=

==Agenda==
* Library
** Book purchasing/disposal policies
** Books that should be purchased
*** Prioritize these books

Meeting:Thursday 2 October 2008

2008-09-21T14:09:58Z

Mgregson:

=CSC General Meeting (Thursday, October 2, 2008)=

==Agenda==
* Library
* Book purchasing/disposal policies
* Books that should be purchased
* Prioritize these books

Meeting:Thursday 2 October 2008

2008-09-21T14:09:35Z

Mgregson: Began overview of minutes

=CSC General Meeting (Thursday, October 2, 2008)=

==Agenda==
- Library
- Book purchasing/disposal policies
- Books that should be purchased
- Prioritize these books

Meeting:Term Notes/F2008

2008-06-02T19:51:07Z

Mgregson: /* Ideas */

== Ideas ==
# Build a solid community, hold meetings every two weeks
# CSC Frisbee Team (Dodgeball for W2008)
# An event every week at least, get a program comittie formed to help the veep with this effort (we should have one in theory)
# Get the library ship shape

Library Project

2008-04-02T05:08:02Z

Mgregson:

== Existing Solution ==
There is currently a table in MySQL on caffeine in the database 'library'. It's pretty self-explanatory.

== Objectives ==
Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated individuals whereas we should be focused on providing resources for anyone on campus who is interested in computer science.
* Update and improve library content.
* Bring in a proper library management system.
** This may want to be written. If interested in contributing, contact the Systems Committee or Club Executive.
* Set up some method of keeping the library current in the future.
* Re-evaluate the purpose of our library.

== Books Wishlist ==
=== Theory ===
* Approximation Algorithms
* Randomized Algorithms
* Computer and Intractability (Grey & Johnson)
* Knuth Art of Computer Programming
* Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
* Project Management
** Software Requirements
** Software Design & Architecture
** Software Testing
* Concurrency/Multithreading
* Security (Firewalls)
* Introduction to the Theory of Computation
* Numerical Analysis
* Numerical Methods? (Stoer & Bulirsch)
** This is probably not the actual title. We want a book on numerical methods by Stoer & Bulirsch
* Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (Bryant & O'Hallaron)

=== Programming Languages ===
* Python
* Perl
* Haskell
* Ruby
* C#
* Visual Basic .NET
* OCaml
* Lisp
* Scheme
* F#
* Basic
* Pascal
* Java
* Groovy
* Javascript
* C/C++
* Assembly
* Fortran
* Databases [SQL]

=== Technology Books ===
* Ubuntu
* Unix/Linux Beginner Books
* OpenGL/DirectX
* GTK
* Unix Network Programming

=== Miscellaneous ===
* Mein Kampf
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]

== Proposed Library Update Plan ==
One of the problems in keeping any library relevant is to ensure that reference material
is up to date and current with the area of study in question. This is especially true in
the area of computer science and technology where ideas change fast. The following are some
suggested considerations which could aid in keeping our library up to date now and into the
future.
* Safari Bookshelf Subscription
Safari Bookshelf is a online web service that allows you to read any O'Reilly book for a
subscription fee (usually around $40/month). This service will give the CSC an excellent
online library resource, where members can login and view all of the latest O'Reilly books
including those yet to be published. Access control would be a concern which would need
to be addressed in using such a system, however the concept of having an electronic resource
of continually up to date reference material is tempting.
* What are the new technologies and ideas in computer science?
This is the question that we should be asking ourselves at least at the beginning of the term
to determine what new books need to be purchased to fill the reference gap that builds going from
term to term. We should have a firm commitment of purchasing at least 10 reference books per term
to ensure that we are getting the breadth and depth requirements of having a successful CS library,
especially when it is common for dozens of new CS books to be released every term.
* What are the official CS course textbooks?
The CSC should have an up to date library of all of the required textbooks for all of the CS courses
offered at the University. This will allow our members to quickly access their course reference materials
should they ever leave their books at home, or need to look at the book desperately for an assignment that
is coming due soon. The CSC be a source of reference for CS students who need the references that drive
many of their CS courses.
* What books are getting old?
** How relevant is the book's content today?
** Has the book gone to a new edition?
** Have their been fundamental changes in the topic which are not reflected in the current book?
** How popular is the book? (This can be determined by how many times it has been checked out from the library system)
** Does the material fill a large gap in our reference material?
== Library Accessories ==
There has also been some talk for suggested accessories or tools for our library system. The
following is the current list of such accessories and reasons behind getting such accessories.
* Magstripe Member Cards
Each CSC member could have a magstripe member card which would allow them to check-in and checkout
books by swiping their card at a swiper and then scanning the book in question. This could speed
up the check-in/check-out times since they do not need to enter information into the system, but
rather scan their cards. The magstripe cards could later be extended with CEO to allow term renewal
via card swipe, as well as other value added features.
* Wireless barcode scanner.
The wireless barcode scanner will allow us to go up to the books and scan them in, rather than
having to move the books over to the barcode scanner to have them scanned. This will allow for
a degree of more freedom when scanning in books (especially when we receive the stack of new
books)
* RFID tags
When we receive new books, RFID tags encoded with book information is attached to each book.
Whenever, someone checks-in/checks out books, all you need to do is wave the book in front of a scanner
without having to locate the barcode, which could speed up the process of checking in and out books

Library Project

2008-03-25T15:25:35Z

Mgregson: /* Objectives */

== Objectives ==
Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated individuals whereas we should be focused on providing resources for anyone on campus who is interested in computer science.
* Update and improve library content.
* Bring in a proper library management system.
** This may want to be written. If interested in contributing, contact the Systems Committee or Club Executive.
* Set up some method of keeping the library current in the future.
* Re-evaluate the purpose of our library.

== Books Wishlist ==
=== Theory ===
* Approximation Algorithms
* Randomized Algorithms
* Computer and Intractability (Grey & Johnson)
* Knuth Art of Computer Programming
* Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
* Project Management
** Software Requirements
** Software Design & Architecture
** Software Testing
* Concurrency/Multithreading
* Security (Firewalls)
* Introduction to the Theory of Computation
* Numerical Analysis
* Numerical Methods? (Stoer & Bulirsch)
** This is probably not the actual title. We want a book on numerical methods by Stoer & Bulirsch
* Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (Bryant & O'Hallaron)

=== Programming Languages ===
* Python
* Perl
* Haskell
* Ruby
* C#
* Visual Basic .NET
* OCaml
* Lisp
* Scheme
* F#
* Basic
* Pascal
* Java
* Groovy
* Javascript
* C/C++
* Assembly
* Fortran
* Databases [SQL]

=== Technology Books ===
* Ubuntu
* Unix/Linux Beginner Books
* OpenGL/DirectX
* GTK
* Unix Network Programming

=== Miscellaneous ===
* Mein Kampf
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]

== Proposed Library Update Plan ==
One of the problems in keeping any library relevant is to ensure that reference material
is up to date and current with the area of study in question. This is especially true in
the area of computer science and technology where ideas change fast. The following are some
suggested considerations which could aid in keeping our library up to date now and into the
future.
* Safari Bookshelf Subscription
Safari Bookshelf is a online web service that allows you to read any O'Reilly book for a
subscription fee (usually around $40/month). This service will give the CSC an excellent
online library resource, where members can login and view all of the latest O'Reilly books
including those yet to be published. Access control would be a concern which would need
to be addressed in using such a system, however the concept of having an electronic resource
of continually up to date reference material is tempting.
* What are the new technologies and ideas in computer science?
This is the question that we should be asking ourselves at least at the beginning of the term
to determine what new books need to be purchased to fill the reference gap that builds going from
term to term. We should have a firm commitment of purchasing at least 10 reference books per term
to ensure that we are getting the breadth and depth requirements of having a successful CS library,
especially when it is common for dozens of new CS books to be released every term.
* What are the official CS course textbooks?
The CSC should have an up to date library of all of the required textbooks for all of the CS courses
offered at the University. This will allow our members to quickly access their course reference materials
should they ever leave their books at home, or need to look at the book desperately for an assignment that
is coming due soon. The CSC be a source of reference for CS students who need the references that drive
many of their CS courses.
* What books are getting old?
** How relevant is the book's content today?
** Has the book gone to a new edition?
** Have their been fundamental changes in the topic which are not reflected in the current book?
** How popular is the book? (This can be determined by how many times it has been checked out from the library system)
** Does the material fill a large gap in our reference material?
== Library Accessories ==
There has also been some talk for suggested accessories or tools for our library system. The
following is the current list of such accessories and reasons behind getting such accessories.
* Magstripe Member Cards
Each CSC member could have a magstripe member card which would allow them to check-in and checkout
books by swiping their card at a swiper and then scanning the book in question. This could speed
up the check-in/check-out times since they do not need to enter information into the system, but
rather scan their cards. The magstripe cards could later be extended with CEO to allow term renewal
via card swipe, as well as other value added features.
* Wireless barcode scanner.
The wireless barcode scanner will allow us to go up to the books and scan them in, rather than
having to move the books over to the barcode scanner to have them scanned. This will allow for
a degree of more freedom when scanning in books (especially when we receive the stack of new
books)
* RFID tags
When we receive new books, RFID tags encoded with book information is attached to each book.
Whenever, someone checks-in/checks out books, all you need to do is wave the book in front of a scanner
without having to locate the barcode, which could speed up the process of checking in and out books

Library Project

2008-03-25T15:23:26Z

Mgregson: /* Theory */

== Objectives ==
Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated individuals whereas we should be focused on providing resources for anyone on campus who is interested in computer science.
* Update and improve library content.
* Bring in a proper library management system.
* Set up some method of keeping the library current in the future.
* Re-evaluate the purpose of our library.

== Books Wishlist ==
=== Theory ===
* Approximation Algorithms
* Randomized Algorithms
* Computer and Intractability (Grey & Johnson)
* Knuth Art of Computer Programming
* Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
* Project Management
** Software Requirements
** Software Design & Architecture
** Software Testing
* Concurrency/Multithreading
* Security (Firewalls)
* Introduction to the Theory of Computation
* Numerical Analysis
* Numerical Methods? (Stoer & Bulirsch)
** This is probably not the actual title. We want a book on numerical methods by Stoer & Bulirsch
* Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective (Bryant & O'Hallaron)

=== Programming Languages ===
* Python
* Perl
* Haskell
* Ruby
* C#
* Visual Basic .NET
* OCaml
* Lisp
* Scheme
* F#
* Basic
* Pascal
* Java
* Groovy
* Javascript
* C/C++
* Assembly
* Fortran
* Databases [SQL]

=== Technology Books ===
* Ubuntu
* Unix/Linux Beginner Books
* OpenGL/DirectX
* GTK
* Unix Network Programming

=== Miscellaneous ===
* Mein Kampf
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion]

== Proposed Library Update Plan ==
One of the problems in keeping any library relevant is to ensure that reference material
is up to date and current with the area of study in question. This is especially true in
the area of computer science and technology where ideas change fast. The following are some
suggested considerations which could aid in keeping our library up to date now and into the
future.
* Safari Bookshelf Subscription
Safari Bookshelf is a online web service that allows you to read any O'Reilly book for a
subscription fee (usually around $40/month). This service will give the CSC an excellent
online library resource, where members can login and view all of the latest O'Reilly books
including those yet to be published. Access control would be a concern which would need
to be addressed in using such a system, however the concept of having an electronic resource
of continually up to date reference material is tempting.
* What are the new technologies and ideas in computer science?
This is the question that we should be asking ourselves at least at the beginning of the term
to determine what new books need to be purchased to fill the reference gap that builds going from
term to term. We should have a firm commitment of purchasing at least 10 reference books per term
to ensure that we are getting the breadth and depth requirements of having a successful CS library,
especially when it is common for dozens of new CS books to be released every term.
* What are the official CS course textbooks?
The CSC should have an up to date library of all of the required textbooks for all of the CS courses
offered at the University. This will allow our members to quickly access their course reference materials
should they ever leave their books at home, or need to look at the book desperately for an assignment that
is coming due soon. The CSC be a source of reference for CS students who need the references that drive
many of their CS courses.
* What books are getting old?
** How relevant is the book's content today?
** Has the book gone to a new edition?
** Have their been fundamental changes in the topic which are not reflected in the current book?
** How popular is the book? (This can be determined by how many times it has been checked out from the library system)
** Does the material fill a large gap in our reference material?
== Library Accessories ==
There has also been some talk for suggested accessories or tools for our library system. The
following is the current list of such accessories and reasons behind getting such accessories.
* Magstripe Member Cards
Each CSC member could have a magstripe member card which would allow them to check-in and checkout
books by swiping their card at a swiper and then scanning the book in question. This could speed
up the check-in/check-out times since they do not need to enter information into the system, but
rather scan their cards. The magstripe cards could later be extended with CEO to allow term renewal
via card swipe, as well as other value added features.
* Wireless barcode scanner.
The wireless barcode scanner will allow us to go up to the books and scan them in, rather than
having to move the books over to the barcode scanner to have them scanned. This will allow for
a degree of more freedom when scanning in books (especially when we receive the stack of new
books)
* RFID tags
When we receive new books, RFID tags encoded with book information is attached to each book.
Whenever, someone checks-in/checks out books, all you need to do is wave the book in front of a scanner
without having to locate the barcode, which could speed up the process of checking in and out books

1930's CSC

2008-03-24T18:42:22Z

Mgregson: New page: =Historical CSC= ===Creation Date=== The Computer Science Club has been in existence since 1931. The club was not officially part of the University of Waterloo, rather was a general inte...

=Historical CSC=

===Creation Date===
The Computer Science Club has been in existence since 1931. The club was not officially part of the University of Waterloo, rather was a general interest club formed by a collection of interested individuals. The club joined the University of Waterloo shortly after the founding of the University in 1957. Much of the history prior to the creation of the University is unclear, as documents dating back this far have only recently been recovered.

===The CSC Fire===
It is believed that many of the documents describing the original club were destroyed when the original office destroyed by a fire at the then Waterloo University (now Wilfred Laurier University).

Library Project

2008-01-31T23:36:44Z

Mgregson: /* Theory */

== Objectives ==
Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated individuals whereas we should be focused on providing resources for anyone on campus who is interested in computer science.
* Update and improve library content.
* Bring in a proper library management system.
* Set up some method of keeping the library current in the future.
* Re-evaluate the purpose of our library.

== Books Wishlist ==
=== Theory ===
* Approximation Algorithms
* Randomized Algorithms
* Computer and Intractability (Grey & Johnson)
* Knuth Art of Computer Programming
* Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
* Project Management
** Software Requirements
** Software Design & Architecture
** Software Testing
* Concurrency/Multithreading
* Security (Firewalls)
* Introduction to the Theory of Computation
* Numerical Analysis
* Numerical Methods? (Stoer & Bulirsch)
** This is probably not the actual title. We want a book on numerical methods by Stoer & Bulirsch

=== Programming Languages ===
* Python
* Perl
* Haskell
* Ruby
* C#
* Visual Basic .NET
* OCaml
* Lisp
* Scheme
* F#
* Basic
* Pascal
* Java
* Groovy
* Javascript
* C/C++
* Assembly
* Fortran
* Databases [SQL]
=== Technology Books ===
* Ubuntu
* Unix/Linux Beginner Books
* OpenGL/DirectX
* GTK
* Unix Network Programming
== Proposed Library Update Plan ==
One of the problems in keeping any library relevant is to ensure that reference material
is up to date and current with the area of study in question. This is especially true in
the area of computer science and technology where ideas change fast. The following are some
suggested considerations which could aid in keeping our library up to date now and into the
future.
* Safari Bookshelf Subscription
Safari Bookshelf is a online web service that allows you to read any O'Reilly book for a
subscription fee (usually around $40/month). This service will give the CSC an excellent
online library resource, where members can login and view all of the latest O'Reilly books
including those yet to be published. Access control would be a concern which would need
to be addressed in using such a system, however the concept of having an electronic resource
of continually up to date reference material is tempting.
* What are the new technologies and ideas in computer science?
This is the question that we should be asking ourselves at least at the beginning of the term
to determine what new books need to be purchased to fill the reference gap that builds going from
term to term. We should have a firm commitment of purchasing at least 10 reference books per term
to ensure that we are getting the breadth and depth requirements of having a successful CS library,
especially when it is common for dozens of new CS books to be released every term.
* What are the official CS course textbooks?
The CSC should have an up to date library of all of the required textbooks for all of the CS courses
offered at the University. This will allow our members to quickly access their course reference materials
should they ever leave their books at home, or need to look at the book desperately for an assignment that
is coming due soon. The CSC be a source of reference for CS students who need the references that drive
many of their CS courses.
* What books are getting old?
** How relevant is the book's content today?
** Has the book gone to a new edition?
** Have their been fundamental changes in the topic which are not reflected in the current book?
** How popular is the book? (This can be determined by how many times it has been checked out from the library system)
** Does the material fill a large gap in our reference material?
== Library Accessories ==
There has also been some talk for suggested accessories or tools for our library system. The
following is the current list of such accessories and reasons behind getting such accessories.
* Magstripe Member Cards
Each CSC member could have a magstripe member card which would allow them to check-in and checkout
books by swiping their card at a swiper and then scanning the book in question. This could speed
up the check-in/check-out times since they do not need to enter information into the system, but
rather scan their cards. The magstripe cards could later be extended with CEO to allow term renewal
via card swipe, as well as other value added features.
* Wireless barcode scanner.
The wireless barcode scanner will allow us to go up to the books and scan them in, rather than
having to move the books over to the barcode scanner to have them scanned. This will allow for
a degree of more freedom when scanning in books (especially when we receive the stack of new
books)
* RFID tags
When we receive new books, RFID tags encoded with book information is attached to each book.
Whenever, someone checks-in/checks out books, all you need to do is wave the book in front of a scanner
without having to locate the barcode, which could speed up the process of checking in and out books

Ceo

2008-01-30T19:21:23Z

Mgregson:

CEO is the CSC member creation and administration interface. It was originally written in perl by persons of mysterious-ness, and was re-written in python by Michael Spang in early 2007. The source-code for CEO can be found in git: csclub:/users/git/public/pyceo.git.

= Instructions/Usage =
CEO can be accessed by running the "ceo" command from a terminal, or terminal emulator.

* NOTE: CEO is only available when logged in to caffeine. To access CEO from other machines, first connect to caffeine over SSH, then run CEO on caffeine.

== Adding a New Member ==
After a new member has paid the membership fee and signed the Machine Usage Policy forms, a new member account is added to the CSC system by selecing "New Member" in CEO and following the on-screen instructions. The new member's username is to be identical to their NEXUS username, if applicable. For NEXUS users, the name and program fields will automatically be filled after a username is provided.

== Renewing/Extending a Membership ==
A membership can be renewed or extended by selecting "Renew Membership" in the CEO interface.

== Hosted Clubs ==
Clubs are hosted free of charge. To create a new club account use the "New Club" option in the CEO interface.

=== Club Representatives ===
At this time, there is no limit to the number of representatives a club may have, but representative accounts must be registered with the "New Club Rep" option, and renewed with the "Renew Club Rep" option.

=== Other Club Features ===
For access to features beyond basic hosting (ie, databases), one of the club representatives will need to email the Systems Committee to have this set up.

= Feature Requests and Ideas =

* Manage exec, positions, syscom, etc... aliases in /etc/aliases
* Create a graphical and/or online version of CEO
* Add new members to fuse and plugdev groups

UID/GID Assignment

2008-01-27T21:53:43Z

Mgregson: /* Special UID/GID's */

= UID/GID Ranges =

Scope Authority Source Purpose

0 99 global Debian both system
100 499 local mixed files system
500 999 global CSC both system
1000 9999 local mixed files users
10000 19999 global CSC ldap misc
20000 29999 global CSC ldap members
30000 39999 global CSC ldap clubs

Scope: global - id is the same on all systems
local - id varies between systems

Authority: Debian - Debian does allocation
mixed - adduser does allocation
CSC - we do allocation

Source: files - files, makes no sense in LDAP
ldap - LDAP, makes no sense in files
both - files, add to LDAP if it has members from LDAP

Purpose: system - root, daemons, devices, etc
users - local users
misc - csc administrivia e.g. sysadmin, office
members - members of the CSC
clubs - other organizations

= Puppet-managed UID/GID's =

501 nvram
502 tss
503 rdma
504 fuse
505 lpadmin
506 camera
507 scanner
508 kvm
509 keytab
510 rtorrent

= Special UID/GID's =

10000 sysadmin
10001 syscom
10002 ceo
10003 office
10004 www
10005 csmirror # used by CSCF to rsync our talks to mirror.cs
10006 certs # manages CSC issued certificates
10007 cvsadmin
10008 restrict # contains users allowed to ssh to restricted machines
10009 contest # contest admin/management

= Observations =

* We don't have any local user accounts in general, save perhaps one created by the installer.
* Only root, local users, and members should have passwords. All other users should not be allowed to log in directly.
* Some groups (e.g. audio) are needed during boot, but also need to have members. We keep them in both files and ldap. Only the copy in LDAP will have any members.
* A user and group should have the same ID if and only if they have the same name. So when creating a new user, don't pick the ID of an existing group, and vice versa.

Talks

2008-01-24T22:43:16Z

Mgregson:

== Planned Talks (Winter 2008) ==
* February 1st
** Research In Motion
* February 29th (Confirmed): Overview of Quantum Computing
** Raymond Laflamme (Director, IQC)
* Week of March 3rd (Proposed)
** Second IQC talk
* Week of March 10th (Proposed)
** Kate Larson (Game Theory)

== Requested ==
* Michael Geist
** Canadian Law and Technologist Blogger
* Wayne Beaton
** Technical Evangelist for The Eclipse Foundation
* Keith Packard
** X Windows
** Holden has contacted him again to ask him to come in October
* Walter Bright
** D Programming Language
* Hans Peter Anvin
** Linux kernel hacker
* Cory Doctorow
** Co-editor of Boing Boing
* CSCF/MFCF/IST Open Forum
** Dave Gawley [CSCF]
** Dawn Keenan [IST]
** Jim Pell [MFCF]
** Stephen Mann [SCS]
** Bruce Campbell [IST]
* Jeffrey Shallit

== Encoding ==

We use dvgrab to rip the talks from the camera and ffmpeg to encode.

== Mirrors ==
* taurine (90 Mbps) [It can probably push much more if it were on a gigabit link]
* citric-acid (250 Mbps)

The list of mirrors can be found in caffeine:/var/www/mirrors.txt the web server selects a random mirror from this list at each file request. We now run [[SNMP|Net-SNMP]] on all of our hosts, so we have real-time access to network and cpu load data. We should therefore be able to write a more intelligent mirror selection script. We also use mirror.cs to mirror on-campus.

We are currently looking at [[QoS|QoS tagging]] to throttle our bandwidth.

Library Project

2007-10-05T20:12:11Z

Mgregson:

Library Project

2007-10-05T19:53:06Z

Mgregson: New page: == Objectives == Our club library is pretty impressive, for 1980. We should seriously consider changing this to 2007. Content decisions seem to generally be made by strongly opinionated ...

Projects

2007-10-05T19:43:08Z

Mgregson:

These are current on-going CSC projects:

* [[Library Project]]
* [[CEO]]
* [[Filesystem replication]]
* Seting up virtual mail-boxes and virtual aliases for clubs.
* Getting a IPv6 subnet
* Club CMSs, etc...
* Virtualizing services
* Setup mailing list for webmasters of clubs we host so they can receive service related announcements from us
* Setup a reliable programming contest framework
* Get caffeine:/users mounted on cscf's linux frontends and cpu servers
* Common club auth
* Advertising procedures manual
* [[Cross compiler]]
* [[QoS]] for mirroring talks
* Setup ability to create pgsql/mysql databases in user's home directory (e.g. ~/.databases) so that db's count against quota
* Setup inode quota
* Dave asked us if we want another thin client - we should make sure to follow up and get one
* Advertise compiz packages to the world
* [[SNMP#Plugins|Net-SNMP plugins]]
* [[emdebian]]
* [[Virtual Machines]]
* [[Mirror|Debian and Ubuntu Mirror]]