Computerphile

Season 2013

TV-G
Videos all about computers and computer stuff. Sister channel of Numberphile.

Where to Watch Computerphile • Season 2013

54 Episodes

  • Homemade Video Arcade Machine
    E1
    Homemade Video Arcade MachineNottingham Hackspace member Michael Erskine has built an arcade machine to run his favourite game from his teens - Defender.
  • Follow the Cookie Trail
    E2
    Follow the Cookie TrailCookies are controversial and new laws governing them have been introduced in Europe.
  • Musical Floppy Drives
    E3
    Musical Floppy DrivesFloppy disk drives make sweet music, well, tuneful noises anyway. You might have seen them on YouTube before, but how do they work? Now you can find out! Featuring Alex Pinkney from the University of Nottingham's Department of Computer Science.
  • The Hair Algorithm
    E4
    The Hair AlgorithmJust what is an algorithm? - Before Computerphile delves into complex computer theory, we define algorithms and how they are used in Computer Science.
  • The Art of Abstraction
    E5
    The Art of AbstractionAbstraction is at the heart of everything to do with computing. James Clewett takes us through the layers abstracting the pixels forming this text on screen from the electrons in the computer.
  • Email
    E6
    EmailEmail is part of the daily routine for many people, but how does a computer deal with email messages? Professor Tom Rodden explains how email is processed so quickly.
  • Raspberry Pi Hardware
    E7
    Raspberry Pi HardwareThe Raspberry Pi made waves when it was announced, but what is it? How is it built and what can you do with it? Matt Lloyd, IoT engineer at Ciseco and member of Nottingham's Hackspace talks it through.
  • Near to the Metal
    E8
    Near to the MetalJust who chose Computer Science before it existed as an academic subject? Emeritus Professor David Brailsford talks about how he started as a computer scientist. To be continued in further videos....
  • BBC B Microcomputer
    E9
    BBC B MicrocomputerThe BBC Microcomputer was one of the first home computers. Physicist Richard Hill explains how it inspired him.
  • Getting Sorted
    E10
    Getting SortedHow well sorted is your algorithm? Choosing the right method to sort numbers has a huge effect on how quickly a computer can process a task. Alex Pinkney talks about two popular sorting algorithms and how they 'scale up.'
  • Compression
    E11
    CompressionMost of us deal with data compression on a daily basis, but what is it and how does it work? Professor David Brailsford introduces compression with regards to text and pictures.
  • Quick Sort
    E12
    Quick SortQuick Sort is a popular sorting algorithm, but how does it work? Alex continues our exploration of sorting algorithms with a quick look at quick sort.
  • Hyper History and Cyber War
    E13
    Hyper History and Cyber WarWe rely on computers day-to-day, for most of us they are no longer just a luxury. What does it mean from a philosophical view-point; to live in the age of Hyper History? Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy and UNESCO Chair in Information and Computer Ethics at the University of Hertfordshire, and Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford.
  • Entropy in Compression
    E14
    Entropy in CompressionWhat's the absolute minimum you can compress data to? - Entropy conjures up visions of chemistry and physics, but how does it apply to binary codes and computer science? Professor David Brailsford continues his discussion of compression.
  • Original Elite on the BBC B
    E15
    Original Elite on the BBC BElite was one of the first computer games to use 3d wireframe graphics and procedurally generated environments. Physicist Richard Hill shows us the game and explains how it inspired him.
  • Network Stacks and the Internet
    E16
    Network Stacks and the InternetSurfing the web and Internet stacks.
  • Circuit Board Building Robot
    E17
    Circuit Board Building RobotSee how a Pick and Place robot works to complete a circuit board at Ciseco. Matt Lloyd takes us on a tour to illustrate how they design and make components and add-ons for the Raspberry Pi.
  • Mainframes and the Unix Revolution
    E18
    Mainframes and the Unix RevolutionNo internet, no networking; just a screen and a keyboard, or a pile of cards to punch holes in; mainframes were a world apart from today's smartphones and integrated circuits. Professor Brailsford remembers the Unix revolution.
  • IP Addresses and the Internet
    E19
    IP Addresses and the InternetIP addresses explained - what do these mysterious numbers and dots mean and how are they used? Richard Mortier explains the idea of the addresses behind the internet protocol.
  • A Career in Video Games
    E20
    A Career in Video GamesHis career in games has stretched from the earliest home video games to the latest - now he wants to inspire youngsters to get involved and obtain the skills to have their own career in the video games industry. Ian Livingstone is Life President of Square Enix and Eidos.
  • Error Detection and Flipping the Bits
    E21
    Error Detection and Flipping the BitsDevising codes for different weather states is all well and good, but what if the weather strikes back? Electrical storms can distort codes and noisy lines can confuse things, Professor Brailsford shows us one way of building redundancy into the system.
  • Programming BASIC and Sorting
    E22
    Programming BASIC and SortingThe sights and sounds of sorting! - Alex takes inspiration from our BBC microcomputer film and combines BASIC programming with some popular sorting algorithms.
  • What if the Universe is a Computer Simulation?
    E23
    What if the Universe is a Computer Simulation?What if the Universe is just a computer simulation? What is fundamental particles are really just "bits"?
  • Birthplace of the World Wide Web
    E24
    Birthplace of the World Wide WebCERN is a famous centre for scientific research, but it's also where the WWW was "invented". More about CERN's computing power coming soon!!!
  • Punch Card Programming
    E25
    Punch Card ProgrammingHow did punch card systems work? Professor Brailsford delves further into the era of mainframe computing with this hands-on look at punch cards.
  • Network Address Translation
    E26
    Network Address TranslationIPv4 ran out of space, so how are we still all looking at the internet? - NAT has the answer! - Richard Mortier explains how the IP address space was expanded upon.
  • Programming Paradigms
    E27
    Programming ParadigmsThere are different styles of programming, some quite closely resemble pure mathematics. Mathematician and Computer Scientist Laurence Day compares two of them. Note: In the Java code the delimiters within the 'for' loop should be semi-colons, not commas. Apologies for the error.
  • CERN Computing Centre (and mouse farm)
    E28
    CERN Computing Centre (and mouse farm)The CERN computer grid processes the information from the world's most powerful particle accelerator. Brady gives us a tour of the heart of the operation: CERN's Tier 0.
  • Error Correction
    E29
    Error CorrectionWhat good is knowing you have a problem if you can't fix it? - Professor Brailsford explains Hamming Codes and how errors can not just be detected, but also corrected.
  • Home-Made Code
    E30
    Home-Made CodeYou, the Computerphile viewers sent us your code - Brady takes a first look at some of the things you sent us!
  • Security of Data on Disk
    E31
    Security of Data on DiskDeleting files may not mean they're gone. Even overwriting them isn't safe. Professor Derek McAuley explains.
  • Characters, Symbols and the Unicode Miracle
    E32
    Characters, Symbols and the Unicode MiracleRepresenting symbols, characters and letters that are used worldwide is no mean feat, but unicode managed it - how? Tom Scott explains how the web has settled on a standard.
  • Gesture Controls
    E33
    Gesture ControlsHow are gesture controls turned into game commands? How can these gestures aid people in rehabilitation? Nottingham Trent University's Interactive Systems Research Group show us their work with wii and kinect technologies.
  • How Intelligent is Artificial Intelligence?
    E34
    How Intelligent is Artificial Intelligence?How far have we come with Artificial Intelligence? Are there intelligent machines, or have we changed the world to allow dumb machines to behave intelligently?
  • Encryption and Security Agencies
    E35
    Encryption and Security AgenciesNews stories surface every day about how National Security Agencies have broken encryption, but what is media 'hype' and what's the truth? - Richard Mortier explains.
  • Virtual Machines Power the Cloud
    E36
    Virtual Machines Power the CloudThe number of virtual machines has swelled due to cloud computing & changes to the X86 processor, but what are Virtual Machines and how do they run legacy software alongside cutting edge code? Derek McAuley explains.
  • Hacking Websites with SQL Injection
    E37
    Hacking Websites with SQL InjectionWebsites can still be hacked using SQL injection - Tom explains how sites written in PHP (and other languages too) can be vulnerable and have basic security issues.
  • The Grid, CERN's Global Supercomputer
    E38
    The Grid, CERN's Global SupercomputerCERN developed their 'Grid' before the world wide web took off. Maria and Andrzej explain how it does a lot more than just share the reams of data the Large Hadron Collider collects.
  • How Huffman Trees Work
    E39
    How Huffman Trees WorkHow do we derive the most compact codes for a situation? Huffman Trees can help. Professor Brailsford explains how computer scientists like their trees to be upside down.
  • Cracking Websites with Cross Site Scripting
    E40
    Cracking Websites with Cross Site ScriptingJavaScript is dangerous! Why? How are websites vulnerable to it? Find out about bug-bounties from Tom Scott.
  • Cloud Computing (Cloudy with a Chance of Pizza)
    E41
    Cloud Computing (Cloudy with a Chance of Pizza)The Cloud is a term applied to seemingly anything internet related, but what is cloud computing and how is it different? Dr Taha Osman explains how cloud computing even powers pizza ordering portals.
  • Elegant Compression in Text (The LZ 77 Method)
    E42
    Elegant Compression in Text (The LZ 77 Method)Text compression methods such as LZ can reduce file sizes by up to 80%. Professor Brailsford explains the nuts and bolts of how it is done.
  • Texting Cabbage with a Recorder
    E43
    Texting Cabbage with a RecorderHow many words can you type if you are restricted to a musical typewriter? HackSocNotts competed in a hack-athon and came up with this! Hackathons are endurance coding events which can lead to all sorts of strange hybrid ideas becoming reality.
  • Hashing Algorithms and Security
    E44
    Hashing Algorithms and SecurityHashing Algorithms are used to ensure file authenticity, but how secure are they and why do they keep changing? Tom Scott hashes it out.
  • How YouTube Works
    E45
    How YouTube WorksHow does YouTube work and why do videos buffer? See more in the full description.
  • How NOT to Store Passwords!
    E46
    How NOT to Store Passwords!Security of users' passwords should be at the forefront of every web developer's mind. Tom takes us through the insecure ways in which some websites deal with passwords.
  • A New Golden Age of Video Games
    E47
    A New Golden Age of Video GamesAs two new games consoles are released on to the market - Ian talks about how gaming has instead been revolutionised by stealth - via smart-phones & tablets.
  • A Universe of Triangles
    E48
    A Universe of TrianglesWe see objects all the time and our brains decode the 3D shapes, but how do computers model these shapes and why break it all down to triangles?
  • Cross Site Request Forgery
    E49
    Cross Site Request ForgeryIf you don't secure your web forms, one mistaken click could be all it takes for your users to delete their own accounts. Tom Scott explains.
  • The True Power of the Matrix (Transformations in Graphics)
    E50
    The True Power of the Matrix (Transformations in Graphics)The Matrix" conjures visions of Keanu Reeves as Neo on the silver screen, but matrices have a very real use in manipulating 3D graphics. John Chapman explains the true power of the matrix.
  • The Great 202 Jailbreak
    E51
    The Great 202 JailbreakBefore laser-printers, high quality print-outs were the domain of typesetters, expensive and tightly controlled. In 1979 a Bell Labs team reverse engineered one in their summer vacation. Professor Brailsford has the details.
  • Triangles to Pixels
    E52
    Triangles to PixelsHow do we go from 3D representations within a computer to pixels on a screen? John Chapman has the details!
  • Arduino: Hobbyist Electronics to Orbit!
    E53
    Arduino: Hobbyist Electronics to Orbit!Arduinos are used extensively in hobbyist electronics and hacker culture, but what is an arduino & how can you use them? Joe explains how they're used in both hobby projects and space programmes....
  • The Problem with Time & Timezones
    E54
    The Problem with Time & TimezonesA web app that works out how many seconds ago something happened. How hard can coding that be? Tom Scott explains how time twists and turns like a twisty-turny thing. It's not to be trifled with!

 

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