Category: Uncategorised

Second-Year Projects – WACC and PintOS

Hi, I’m Hamish; I’m from Watford, UK, and I’m in the second year of Computing. In my free time I enjoy studying foreign languages, playing water polo and doing Competitive Programming. This year I’m behind Imperial CyberSoc and CTF Team. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!Hamish photo

Amongst computing students there is a definite consensus that the second-year projects of WACC (writing a compiler from scratch) and PintOS (adding features to a barebones OS in C) are among the most formative experiences of the degree, though we haven’t had a blog post on them, so I want to give an overview of this term and last, and what I’ve learned (incredibly hard to sum up in only a few hundred words!) 

(more…)

Perk-ademy Awards 2022-23

Hi, I’m Hamish; I’m from Watford, UK, and I’m a first-year student in Computing at Imperial. I like programming, Linear Algebra and modern foreign languages. I play water polo for IC 2s and hope to represent Imperial in Competitive Programming next year. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!Photo of Hamish

In a previous post on reasons to be happy I mentioned the perpetually puzzling fact that people actually want to hire us (!), but not the important ramifications of this.

(more…)

Min-Maxing your Groceries and other Computing Problems

Hi, I’m Hamish; I’m from Watford, UK, and I’m a first-year student in Computing at Imperial. I like programming, Linear Algebra and modern foreign languages. I play water polo for IC 2s and hope to represent Imperial in Competitive Programming next year. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!Photo of Hamish

Often while wandering around doing whatever students do, I discover a relationship to what I’ve learnt in Algorithms or Competitive Programming, so I wanted to share some cases I’ve thought about recently where computing is Here To Help with student life.

(more…)

n Reasons to be Happy in Imperial Computing

Hi, I’m Hamish; I’m from Watford, UK, and I’m a first-year student in Computing at Imperial. I like programming, Linear Algebra and modern foreign languages. I play water polo for IC 2s and hope to represent Imperial in Competitive Programming next year. Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

As is to be expected at this time of year, the Imperial exam season is well underway, which could be a source of worry for many students, whether fretting about achieving top marks or just hoping to pass onto next year. Therefore, I think now is a great time to take a break from revision and share my top n reasons to be happy in DoC. Writing this in my room in Imperial’s Kemp Porter Buildings I feel genuinely overcome with positivity, so why is that? Let’s dive in:

(more…)

From Programming Languages to Modern Foreign Languages and back again with Imperial Horizons

Hi, I’m Hamish, a first-year student in MEng Computing (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning). So far this year I’ve enjoyed discovering set theory in our discrete maths module and learning to build a processor in Computer Systems, while at the moment I’m relishing Kotlin. I particularly like honing my competitive programming skills through algorithmic problem solving, and outside of my degree I play water polo once a week.

One of my most eye-opening experiences in secondary school was learning foreign languages. Having limited experience of Spanish from primary school (merely memorisation of set phrases), I was amazed and delighted to uncover a world of well-defined grammar rules, enabling me to construct my own sentences and express myself.
(more…)

So what about job searching in DoC?

Hi! I’m Chloe, a Final Year BEng Computing student at Imperial! Coming from a Hong Kong and Welsh background, I’m a very diverse person and I like to meet new things and people! I also dabble into various branches of Technology – currently some NLP and Computational Linguistics for my final year project.

In DoC, many of us are very career-focused, it’s great knowing how everyone is doing, and that there isn’t much competition within the department, everyone is helping everyone to reach further. We also have DoCSoc and DoC Opportunity Liaisons, which loop us in available job opportunities. If you need help with applications, just ask a mate within the degree, they will be able to provide a steady number of application sites 🙂

(more…)

Summer update

Hello! I am Chloe and I was born and raised in Hong Kong but went to Sixth Form in Cardiff, Wales.

I am currently an undergraduate student here at Imperial College London for MEng Computing. Having been exposed to both sides of the globe, I would like to bring you Imperial College London, in a “when East-meets-West” approach. I am massively into anything tech-related, mathematics, and diving (SCUBA).

Hello World!

Since first year, the variety of events that DoCSoc hosts, no matter from Industrial to Social Events, Ice-Skating to Hackathons, have all attracted me and helped me to stay connected with my peers and colleagues in the tech industry. Recently I have been deeply engaged with organising some of the larger events like IC Hack 20 and IC Health Hack 20, and to pass it forward, I am now part of the DoCSoc family for both 20/21 and 21/22 academic years.

(more…)

First Year, Wrapped Up

Hello! I am Chloe and I was born and raised in Hong Kong but went to Sixth Form in Cardiff, Wales.

I am currently a first-year undergraduate here at Imperial College London for MEng Computing. Having been exposed to both sides of the globe, I would like to bring you Imperial College London, in a “when East-meets-West” approach. I am massively into anything tech-related, mathematics, and diving (SCUBA).

My first-year at the Department of Computing has flown past, and we’re now into the last couple of weeks of the academic year. I never expected such an unorthodox experience with the COVID-19 situation but it has been a really interesting experience throughout.

From the fun and informative freshers fair to a hectic second term with all sorts of hackathon’s and events which ended abruptly after London went into lockdown, to eventually a fully remote summer term. Throughout this, the department has been listening to students to provide a better experience.

(more…)

Breakdown of First Year Courses

Hello! I’m Richard and I’m a first-year Computing student from Singapore who is trying to adjust to life in London. I like to read, play sports and go to the gym in my free time. I live in Southside halls and I’m part of the Imperial College Singapore Society. As I am revising for my summer examinations in May, I would like to take this opportunity to give a breakdown of the courses we took in the first year to give incoming undergraduate’s a better idea of what is to come and for those who have experienced it to reminisce about the good times. Note that Programming is structured differently so it will be covered in another post.

Logic

In One Sentence:

How to express ideas in a precise and systematic way to avoid ambiguity.

Thoughts:

It started off pretty rough as we had to get used to the many different notations quickly. Turns out logical reasoning is a very important basis for other subjects. Honestly really fun at times when solving logical equivalences and natural deduction as it felt like solving a puzzle.

(more…)

5 thoughts after spending a month in London

Hello! I’m Richard and I’m a first-year Computing student from Singapore who is trying to adjust to life in London. I like to read, play sports and go to the gym in my free time. I live in Southside halls and I’m part of the Imperial College Singapore Society. After being in London for a month, here are some of the random thoughts I’ve had so far.

1. Life on campus

University life has been hectic but enjoyable. While it might seem daunting to be around so many bright and motivated students, I have found that it is much easier to communicate and befriend people at Imperial. It is easy to find people with similar interests but with completely different backgrounds due to the many nationalities that make up Imperial, making for great conversation as we learn about each other’s culture. Lessons are the right level of challenging and there is always some society, hall or course event to attend. (more…)