COSC122-13S2 (C) Semester Two 2013

Introduction to Computer Science

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 8 July 2013
End Date: Sunday, 10 November 2013
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 19 July 2013
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 4 October 2013

Description

An introduction to Computer Science, including algorithms, computability, complexity and object-oriented programming. Cosc121 is normally required as preparation for Cosc122.

This course develops a thorough understanding of basic data structures and algorithms that are commonly used in software development, and introduces students to broad concepts from Computer Science that enable them to develop effective programs. A series of labs and assignments will give students practice applying the ideas that they have learnt in lectures. Along the way, students will gain an understanding of why different data structures and algorithms are needed, the applications that they are suited for, and the advantages and disadvantages of their possible implementations.

Learning Outcomes

  • Specifically, the goals of the course are:
  • To provide students with a sound foundation in Computer Science
  • To give students experience with common algorithms and data structures used in Computer Science

Restrictions

COSC112, CMIS112

Timetable Note

You need to attend two hours of labs per week. These will be allocated via the online timetable system. Labs begin in the second week of term.

Course Coordinator

Tim Bell

Lecturer

Richard Green

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Assignment 20%
Lab Quizzes 10%
Test 20%
Exam 50%

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Miller, Bradley N. , Ranum, David L; Problem solving with algorithms and data structures using Python ; Franklin, Beedle & Associates, 2006 (2nd edition, unless a new one becomes available during the year).

This can be bought from the bookshop, and is also available online at no charge at:
http://interactivepython.org/ (register on the site for the course “COSC122”).

Notes

The course assumes that you are proficient in Python, as taught in COSC121. It is possible to take
COSC121 and COSC122 concurrently, but if you don’t have significant computing experience (especially programming) then this is not advised.

Additional Course Outline Information

Grade moderation

The Computer Science department has the following grading policy. In order to pass a course you must meet two requirements:
a) The university has adopted a common scale for converting marks to grades. According to this scale, an average mark of 50% is sufficient to pass the course (i.e. to achieve a C-), with an average mark of 55% a C grade is achieved and so forth. We apply this conversion scale to the average marks students achieve over all assessment items.
b) You must achieve an average mark of at least 45% on invigilated assessment items. Marks are sometimes scaled to achieve consistency between courses from year to year.

Other Important Information

There are several important documents available online about departmental regulations, policies and
guidelines
. We expect all students to be familiar with these.

Notices about this class will be posted to the class forum in the Learn system (learn.canterbury.ac.nz).
COSC students will also be made members of a class called “CSSE Notices”, where general notices will
be posted that apply to all classes (such as information about building access or job opportunities).

Lecture Schedule

The topics covered in lectures will be as follows. The main references are for the current edition of the text book (2nd edition and online). Where a reference is given in square brackets, it is for the first edition.
• Introduction to algorithms, and the relationship with Software Engineering
• Algorithm analysis (Chapter 2 [4])
• Basic data structures – stacks and queues (Chapter 3 [2])
• Lists (Chapter 3 [7])
• Recursion (Chapter 4 [3])
• Searching (Chapter 5 [4])
• Sorting (Chapter 5 [4])
• Trees – binary trees and heaps (Chapter 6 [5])
• Graphs (Chapter 7 [6])
• Overview of major ideas in Computer Science

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $719.00

International fee $3,325.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Computer Science and Software Engineering .

All COSC122 Occurrences

  • COSC122-13S2 (C) Semester Two 2013