Graduate School for Computer Science April 7 4:30

March 18th, 2016

Abby Marsh, Carnegie Mellon Graduate Student and Oberlin College 2013 Alumni  will talk about her Graduate School research and life as a graduate student.

Are you considering graduate school? Do you wonder what computer science research looks like?  computer science is an extremely diverse discipline, containing many exciting research areas, and a doctoral graduate degree is the best way to begin your research career.  This talk will give an overview of different fields in computer science research, and discuss human-computer interaction (HCI) research in depth. We will cover the graduate school experience, especially what life is like for a PhD student, the expectations of grad school, and the thrilling world of publishing research.  Students are encouraged to ask questions.  Join us on Thursday, April 7 4:00 for refreshments followed by the talk at 4:30 in King 239

 

Pure Laziness: An Intro to the Haskell Programming Language

March 3rd, 2016

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 4:30 King 239
Join us for a talk with Richard Townsend; Columbia University:
Pure Laziness: An intro to the Haskell Programming Language

High-level programming languages such as Python and Java increase programmer productivity by abstracting away low-level details like memory management and computer architecture. However, most of these languages still force the programmer to think like a computer; we must tell the computer exactly how to solve a problem via ordered sequences of statements and explicit looping constructs. Functional languages like Haskell provide an alternative approach: instead of telling the computer how to perform a computation, you simply describe the computation itself and let the language do the work. This approach leads to more intuitive programs and higher programmer productivity in the long run. My talk will serve as an accessible introduction to the Haskell language, covering its clean syntax, lazy semantics, and pure functional model. My hope is to engender interest in other programming styles, and show that learning a vastly different programming language can lead to new problem solving techniques applicable throughout a computer scientist’s career.

Refreshments at 4:00 in King 225