eXperimental Computing Facility


Founded in 1986, the eXperimental Computing Facility (XCF) is an undergraduate computing-interest organization at University of California, Berkeley. The "Experimental" description was given in contrast to the Open Computing Facility and the Computer Science Undergraduate Association,[1] which support most of the general-interest computing desires of the campus. As such, the XCF stands as a focus for a small group of computer-scientists uniquely interested in computer science.

Members of the organization have been involved in projects such as NNTP,[2] GTK,[2][3] GIMP,[2][3] Gnutella,[2] and Viola.[2] Members of the XCF were instrumental in defending against the Morris Internet worm.[2][3]

Notable alumni

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Notable alumni of the organization include: Jonathan Blow,[4][5] Gene Kan,[2] Spencer Kimball,[2] Peter Mattis,[2] Pei-Yuan Wei,[2] and Phil Lapsley.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ "Home | CSUA". Computer Science Undergraduate Association. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Frauenheim, Ed (December 4, 2000). "Free Photoshop for the people". Salon. Article on the history of the Experimental Computing Facility and its role in creating free software.
  3. ^ a b c d "eXperimental Computer Facility's proud present and impressive past". Engineering News. February 10, 2003. Archived from the original on April 22, 2003.
  4. ^ "Frobozz Magic Programming Language". Free On-line Dictionary of Computing. June 2, 1992.
  5. ^ Keur, Scott (Feb 8, 1998). "Interview With Wulfram Development Team by Scott Keur". The Multiplayer Online Games Directory. Archived from the original on Jul 3, 1998.
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