Course Catalogue

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The aim of the CS1F course is to give students an understanding of human-computer interaction (styles of interaction, requirements for an interactive system in relation to the nature of the tasks being supported, issues in the design of interactive systems, critical assessment of designs); the ways in which databases contribute to the management of large amounts of data, the professional and ethical issues raised by the existence of databases and networks.

Lectures taught at 2 per week, one-hour tutorial and two-hour laboratory session per fortnight.

A Grade B or above in Higher Mathematics, or a Grade C in Higher Mathematics AND a Grade B or above in Higher Computing/Information Systems, or a suitable equivalent.

None

On Normal route: CS1P & CS1S

On Alternate route: it is expected that students are following the second year curriculum

On Faster route: it is expected that students are following the second year curriculum, plus CS1S

(In general, students must complete CS1F and CS1S before the end of second year).

Examination 80%, Coursework 20%.

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. For non Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

The coursework cannot be redone because the feedback provided to the students after the original coursework would give any students redoing the coursework an unfair advantage.

The aim of the CS1F course is to give students an understanding of:

■ Human-computer interaction: styles of interaction, requirements for an interactive system in relation to the nature of the tasks being supported, issues in the design of interactive systems, critical assessment of designs;

■ The ways in which databases contribute to the management of large amounts of data;

■ The professional and ethical issues raised by the existence of databases and networks;

■ Mathematics to support the previous items and to provide a foundation for level 2.

On completion of the CS1F course, the student should be able to:

1. Explain how applications are built using programs clustered around databases and other large collections of data;

2. Diagram the architecture of a database management system (DBMS) in general terms; the processes it has to perform and the operational tasks;

3. Given an outline design; carry out all the operational tasks of setting up and using a relational database using a typical DBMS product and a standard SQL;

4.   Identify the main forms of human computer interaction and appreciate the issues involved in delivering successful interaction via these forms;

5. Critically assess usability of interactive systems using informal means; and know when to perform such assessments and how to use the outcomes;

6. Demonstrate and understanding of the nature of human computer activities as tasks; and be able to analyse their structure; assess the conditions under which they are performed; and use such task analysis in the software engineering process;

7. Discuss the legal and ethical obligations of computing professionals.

Students will be required to achieve a minimum of 25% overall for assessed work and at least a Grade G in the class test.