Index of all Wisdom issues.
Welcome back students and studentettes. By now the summer has just about finished its' blistering assault on us and it's time to start thinking about putting in some long study hours. I'm Dean Scott and I'm your V.P. of Social Functions. I'll be trying to break up the monotony with a few activities. Hopefully, you will be able to attend most of these outings. Take note of the CEDAR POINT trip. I want a good turnout!
As usual, I welcome any suggestions you may have about student functions, how I may represent your interests in certain society issues, and can be contacted by E-mail at SCOTT2@uwindsor, or by phone at the society office or at home (254-6126).
We, as a student collective, must keep up to date with issues that concern out future. We plan to have informative and accurate articles in the wisdom as well as fun and games. Questions are urged and will be answered.
Again, we are here for you. We want to help in any way possible (except cheating of course). In the same respect, we ask that you do your part to make this a productive year for your fellow students.
Enjoy your classes and remember the fun has just begun!
Written and Directed by: Dean T. Scott
by Ralph Markham
I am your vice president of academic affairs for the computer science society and am here to look into problems you might have with your courses. I have also been put in charge of heading up the committee for application advancement. The primary goal for this committee will be to find a way to provide more applications on the SGI. Any suggestions for applications that you would like to see on the SGI would be appreciated. A new internet tool has been added to the system, it is called Xmosaic and is at /usr/local/cs/bin/sgi/xmosaic.
Xmosaic is a World-Wide Web browser that provides a hypertext interface to all internet on-line information. Access to most internet facilities can be found in the pull down menu Documents. Links are marked as underlined text and can be selected by pointing and clicking. I encourage everyone interested in the internet to try this out. An article on the WWW will be coming by me in the next edition of the Wisdom. Any questions about your courses, the World-Wide Web or the internet in general can be E-mailed to me at markham@server.uwindsor.ca.
Catch the excitement as the C.S.S. organizes a trip to Cedar Point on Saturday the 18th of September. We will be leaving the University at 7:00am and returning around 11:30pm. Price is $20.00 per person including bus transportation. All C.S.S. members and their friends are invited! For more info, come and see us in our office at 5108 Lambton Tower.
For those who are new to this region, Cedar Point is an amusement park like Canada's Wonderland, but bigger, and located in Sandusky, Ohio USA. It is your responsibility to bring proper ID to cross the border.
Order your tickets now before they're gone!
by Alain Siodlowski
Yes, it's been 10 years that the Computer Science Society has been in existence. For those of you who are new CS students here, here is a brief description of what the C.S.S. is. We are here as the voice of CS students during meetings of the School of Computer Science and also S.A.C. meetings. We voice the concerns of the students to the Proffs and the student council and we bring back information to the students as to what's going on. We also help students in need of info (what classes to take, what software to buy, what computer to buy and where, etc.). Granted we are not professionals in any of these fields, but as fellow students we can help you with our experience or refer you to someone who knows more.
On of the functions that we place high priority here at the C.S.S. is that of having fun and meeting people. We organize a lot of activities ranging from the small and simple like the Looney Movie Nights to the big activities such as the trip to Cedar Point and the Ski trip in January. The point is that there is more to being a CS student in University than studying and doing homework. Our activities are lots of fun but not expensive. The most popular is the Looney Movie Night. The concept is simple: pizza, pop and 3 movies (usually relating to a theme) all the incredibly low price of only $1.00 (hence the Looney in Looney Movie Night). We're trying for about 3 such nights for this semester. If you have any suggestions for a theme, come and see us.
Other activities include pool tournaments, volley-ball and of course the C.S.S. general meeting. The general meeting consists of two parts: the first is the actual meeting where you can find out about what is going on and voice your opinions about us, the School of Computer Science and the University. The second part takes place at a local drinking hole where pizza and "refreshments" are serves all night long and everyone has a good time. The cost: NOTHING, it's paid through your society fees, so join us. The date, time and location of the meeting will be announced in classes (when we decide on a time, date and place).
Also, before I run out of room, the newsletter Wisdom is open to all CSS members. If you would like to write an article relating to Computer Science, technology or life at the University, see me at the office or E-Mail me the article at this address: siodlow@server.uwindsor.ca. All articles are welcomed and pays $5.00 per published article!
If you have any suggestions about the Wisdom or anything else the Computer Science Society does, come and see us! We're always open to new ideas.
by Ron McKenzie
Well, as the President of the Computer Science Society, I'm sure you're not surprised to hear that I think you've made the right choice. If you play you're cards right you'll be on your way to an interesting and satisfying career. Looking back from my last year of an Honours degree there are a few things I wished I would have figured out earlier, listed in no particular order.
Hopefully my insights are of some use to someone. Best of luck.
by Ron McKenzie
Wow, I never expected the President of the Computer Science Society to be a Nintendo addict. Well, I'm not. PowerPC is what I'm talking (writing about). I'd assume, possibly incorrectly, that you know nothing about the PowerPC. I don't plan to explain it here, only make you more familiar. Ok. The PowerPc 601, or MPC 601, is the first CPU created by the IBM/Apple/Motorola alliance. For starters, it is a 32-bit, 66Mhz, RISC processor that costs half as much as a Pentium and runs on average 2-3 times faster. Ah, but there is the eternal question. Can it run all my DOS software? Yes it can, but it will do so via software emulation. The problem with emulation of course is it doesn't run at native speed, and some software simply will not run. They expect the emulation to run at 486 levels, which to me isn't too shabby at all. But not only can it run DOS, it is expected to run windows software as fast as a Quandra 700 and native Unix as fast a as Sun SparcStation 10.
The MPC601 is already in production. The IBM/Apple/Motorola alliance has 3 other CPU's stated for release in `94. The MPC603 which will be a power-saver for notebook computers. The MPC604 which will be their performance model of the 601. Then there's the MPC620 which will be designed for high-end workstations and servers. I am predicting a war between the PowerPC and the Pentium (not a real out-on-the-limb sort of prediction). I honestly hope neither side wins. Monopolies aren't good for anyone, they drive prices up and performance down. Let's compare the two:
PowerPC vs Pentium
Up until early august I was convinced that the next computer I buy was going to be a Pentium based machine. Now, I seriosly doubt it. I do have one serious concern about the IBM/Apple/Motorola alliance. IBM/Apple/Motorola is just too long to say . Soon they will be called IAM. How long? How long I ask? How long before they, or more properly their machine ( You know they will only trust people in charge for so long ) is calling itself " I AM " . Now, doesn't this conjure images of an Intellegent computer that takes over the world and forces all mankind into slavery . Hmmm ....
For further information on the PowerPC I recommend reading the the August edition of the Byte magazine.
Hello! This is your new President, Ron McKenzie. Welcome to the Society, all you first year students, and welcome back all you repeat offenders. I hope you all had a great summer. If you're anything like me, you look forward to coming back to school as much as you look forward to having a root canal. Well, now that we're here, we might as well enjoy it. Which is basically the whole philosophy behind the Computer Science Society. Ok. Ok. Ok. I realize how that sounds to most of the first year, and probably half of the second year students out there. "Gee a bunch of computer geeks hanging around talking about bits and bytes. "(Oh joy... ya great... oh, oh, please... please restrain me). Well if you're gonna by into the image that the media feeds you about computer scientists, you're in for a rough go.
Those who don't believe me, come out to one of our events, but don't be surprised when you find real people there. Hmmm, where was I, oh ya, the whole philosophy bit. school's a hard pill to swallow, we just help it go down easier. Well, some of you will come to believe me, some will never know.
For those who don't already know, just by being in Computer Science you're in the Computer Science Society. You've already paid $10 of your tuition to us. Anyone who comes out to one quarter of our events will find their money well spent.
About the Exec; we are all voted into office, don't get paid one red cent, are fairly dedicated, reasonably approachable, and are always willing to listen to new ideas. Make a point of stopping by the office some time during the first week of school.
At the time this newsletter went to print, we don't have an exact room number, but we will be somewhere in the new University Centre (UC), but we'll announce that in your classes. (Maybe we already did.) Well, regardless fo your Society involvement, hope you have a GREAT YEAR!!
`ello, `ello and welcome. That was for the new people in Computer Science (CS). Guess what? You are back. That was for the not-so-new people returning this semester. I hope every body enjoyed their summer, no matter what they did.
Well, now you are probably wondering who the heck am I? For those of you who asked themselves that question, I would like to inform you that you are going to regret it, because I am going to answer. But before I answer, I have a question to ask those who asked themselves that question: Do you mean who I am in general (as a person)? Who I am in relation to CS (i.e. why the heck am I writing this and why are you wasting your time reading it)? Or did you just ask to be polite?
For the first group, I will tell some things about myself, the rest you will have to find out for yourselves (hopefully by getting to know me better). For the second group, I have a detailed answer for you below. And for the last group, I have one thing to say to you: TOUGH, because I'll tell you anyway.
My name is Zina Aljanabi. Nobody calls me Ms. Aljanabi. They think that it's a mouth-full, but it really isn't. If you think my last name is a mouth-full, what would you call "Siodlowski" (our editor's last name)? {Editor's note: I would call it a very nice name} I can probably go on about that last name thing. But I won't. So, in short, just call me Zina. Up until last semester (Winter/93), I really was only partially into computer science. You see, in my first year at the University, I couldn't get the art course that I wanted, since all the sections were full, so I took the TURING course with Dr. Kent as an elective. It was really suppose to be only a one time thing. But, the unexpected happened. I got hooked on computer science!
From that semester on, I kept taking the odd computer science course until most of my option courses were from the faculty of computer science. By the time the second year of university came around, I declared that I am double majoring in Business & Computer Science. That is not to say that in one year I knew all I needed to know about CS to commit myself to it. Actually, I now know quite a bit about computers, BUT compared to the other guys on the society, I am really a novice when it comes down to "computers". Now, I have just graduated from Business, and I am and totally in computer science.
Now that you all know my background, you probably want to know what do I have to do with the society. Oh-uh, did I forget to mention that I hold the position of V.P. Without Portfolio on the society? Oh dear, I probably did. Oh well, now you know. I am the V.P. Without Portfolio. A wonderful name is it not? The name was one of the reasons I wanted this position. The other reason was the fact that nobody else was running against me for it.
My job, for those of you who can't tell just by the name of the position, is basically that of a third year Rep. , in addition to handling communication with other societies. Now who would've thought that the V.P. Without Portfolio mean that? I would like you to keep in mind that myself and every other member of the society are here to help you, and even if you don't need any help then it always helps to talk to somebody who has been through the same things you are going through, and believe me we all have.
So, is anyone has any questions, comments, or cries of anguish, then come up to the fifth floor, LT room 5108, and talk to one of us. Somebody will always be there during office hours, so you'll always find someone to chat with.
Well, now that I've said all that, I hope you all have a good semester.
See you around... Zina.
wisdom@cs.uwindsor.ca