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What is ACM?
By Chris Mullen, ACM VP
ACM is the first society in computing. Our mission: to explore all aspects of the new and rapidly evolving technology of computers. We sponsor over a dozen special interest groups, each with its own focus in the computer field. From graphics and music to security and game design, we have a club for just about everything. Our project teams have developed some wonderful innovations over the past years, and this year we will no doubt see many more. We provide an opportunity to apply what you learn in the classroom, and at the same time, work with a friendly group of students with similar interests. If projects aren't your style, tutoring, tech talks, and course advising are other events that we sponsor. We host picnics in the fall and spring, and put on a large computing conference and job fair in October. As a member of ACM, you will have a great opportunity to experience the computing field and expand your knowledge for the future.
I hope you will join us for another exciting year.
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From the Editor
By Christopher Clausen
Yep, I'm at it again. I was sucked into the ACM realm last year as chair of SIGNet and ended up being secretary this year. Please note that some of times listed in here may be a little off as not everyone arrived back on campus early enough to get things in to me for this issue. Just pay attention during the Open House, or email the chair to check on meeting times.
The Banks of the Boneyard is a student publication. Everything you see in here was written by current or former ACM member here at UIUC.
I am currently using Microsoft Publisher to handle layout and design work. No, its not the best thing to use, but I know how it works and thus I use it. It also allows a semi-complex printable newsletter to be quickly and easily transformed into a wonderful color-filled website.
As always, help with writing articles, editing, and design is always welcomed. I'm not an English major and actually do not have time to carefully proofread everything sent in. If you are willing to help out in any way, just contact the Banks and let us know how you can help.
Enjoy this first issue for the school year and have fun this semester.
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The main goal of the Special Interest Group for Operating Systems is to understand operating system design and function. We write operating system code in order to further this understanding. In the past, SIGOps has run a workshop entitled, "Roll Your Own OS". At our weekly meetings (Tuesday @ 7:00) we would meet and help each other develop our own operating systems from scratch. This year, however, we are planning on replacing this workshop in favor of a shorter and simpler one about Linux kernel modules. We will discuss character and block devices, system calls, and perhaps a few other topics during the first few meetings of the year. Past projects have included SOS02, an x86 protected-mode operating system that we wrote from scratch, the SIGOps rover, an internet controlled electric car, and the Distributed Fish Environment, a way to showcase the operating systems developed by various members.
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