This week we've got our first talk of the term! As with other talks lately, it'll be given online using YouTube Premiere.

Also coming up this week, there's Virtual HackTogether on Wednesday, and Virtual Games and Cake on Friday. Why not make a Coffee and Walnut Mug Cake to go with VG&C? Find the recipe below!

HackSoc will be holding its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 5th of March 2021!

That’s still a little while away, but we are announcing it earlier this year as we’ll be running it a little differently. Usually we hold our AGM on campus, but due to the pandemic, this year our AGM will take place online.

There will be another announcement closer to the time describing how to apply for a position on the committee, how to vote for candidates, and all other details.

Virtual HackTogether - 15:00, Wed 03/02 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

Come along for a chat with your fellow HackSoc members in our Discord server!

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Talk - "Can Concurrency Testing Be Liberated From The Litmus Style?" by Matt Windsor - 19:00, Thu 04/02

We'll post a YouTube Premiere link in Slack (and on our calendar) shortly before the talk is scheduled to begin. Once the talk livestream has finished, join us in Discord for questions with the speaker!

The 'litmus test' is a de facto standard for lightweight tests of concurrent systems, packaging shared state, initial values, expected final values, and thread bodies into a concise and readable format. In this talk, I discuss litmus tests, how they are used in testing, the challenges of using them in compiler fuzz testing, and experimental attempts to overcome those challenges.

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Virtual Games and Cake - 19:00, Fri 05/02 - HackSoc Discord (The Pod)

Join us in adapting our age-old Boardgames and Cake to a virtual setting in our Discord server, where we check in with each other and play games including Jackbox and Uno!

Unfortunately, we can’t bring and share cake, but we can make our own and post them on Slack.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons soft butter

2 teaspoons instant coffee granules mixed with 1 tablespoon hot water

1 medium egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons golden caster sugar

4 tablespoons self-raising flour

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon walnuts, roughly chopped

To decorate (optional):

2 tablespoons double cream (you can also use mascarpone)

1/2 tablespoon caramel sauce

1 walnut half

Method

Place the butter in a 350ml mug and microwave for 10-20 seconds until melted.

Add the coffee, egg, vanilla and sugar to the mug and beat with a fork until thoroughly combined. Add the flour and salt and beat again until smooth, then fold through the walnut pieces. Cook in the microwave for 2 minutes @ 600W, 1 minute 45 seconds @ 800W or 1 minute 30 seconds @ 1000W. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, if making the icing, whip the cream into soft peaks, fold through the caramel sauce and then spoon over the cooled sponge and top with the walnut half.

Adapted from

This recipe has been taken from Mug Cakes: 40 Speedy Cakes to Make in a Microwave by Mima Sinclair

Make sure you're in HackSoc's Slack workspace! We have over 200 members, and it's free to join the conversation, so sign up now!

If you're joining us for any of our virtual events, make sure you're also in our Discord server.

Have a great week,

Aaron 🤖