Outline

Overview

This unit is an essential starting point for engineers to learn the knowledge and skills of computer programming, using a procedural language.Crucial concepts include defining data types, control flow, iteration, and functions. Studentswill learn to translate a general engineering problem into a computer program. This unit trains students in the software development process, which includes programming, testing and debugging.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit	Computer Science
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	ENGG9801 or ENGG1801 or ENGG1810 or INFO1110 or INFO1910 or INFO1103 or INFO1903 or INFO1105 or INFO1905 or COSC1003
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Nasim Ahmed, nasim.ahmed@sydney.edu.au

Assessment

The census date for this unit availability is 2 April 2024

Details
Criteria

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Supervised exam ?	Final Exam Closed Book Supervised Exam	50%	Formal exam period	2 hours
Outcomes assessed:
Small test	In class Lab Test 1 Questions to check mastery of contents.	5%	Week 03	15 minutes
Outcomes assessed:
Small test	In class Lab Test 2 In-class assessment during tutorial time on Week 7.	10%	Week 07	45 minutes
Outcomes assessed:
Small test	In class Lab Test 3 In-class assessment during tutorial time in Week 11.	15%	Week 11	45 minutes
Outcomes assessed:
Small continuous assessment	Revision sets (Lab Exercises and Coding Practice) Questions to check mastery of contents	20%	Weekly	N/A
Outcomes assessed:
= hurdle task ?

Assessment summary

Weekly Lab Exercises and Coding Practice - 20%: All weekly lab exercises (10%) and coding practice (10%) must be completed individually. The programming problems, will assess your understanding of the contents covered each week. You need to submit them before due date. Your best 10 out of 11 Lab exercises will be counted for 10%, and your best 8 out of 11 coding practices will be counted for 10%.
Lab Test 1 - 5%: This would be an in-class assessment, taking place during tutorial time on week 3. The lab exam will cover contents related concepts from Lecture 1-2.
Lab Test 2 - 10%: This would be an in-class assessment, taking place during tutorial time on week 7. The lab exam will cover contents related concepts from Lecture 1-6.
Lab Test 3 - 15%: This would be an in-class assessment, taking place during tutorial time on week 11. The lab exam will cover contents related concepts from Lecture 1 through 10.
Final exam - 50%: Covers all aspects of the course. This is a closed book examination. You are not allowed to access recources etc.

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on the course website: edstem.org

Assessment criteria

The University awards common result grades, set out in the Coursework Policy 2014 (Schedule 1).

As a general guide, a high distinction indicates work of an exceptional standard, a distinction a very high standard, a credit a good standard, and a pass an acceptable standard.

The demonstrator will provide feedback for the revision sets during the lab. It must be submitted by the due date for checking by teaching staff.

It is a policy of the School of Computer Science that in order to pass this unit, a student must achieve at least 40% in the written examination. For subjects without a final exam, the 40% minimum requirement applies to the corresponding major assessment component specified by the lecturer. A student must also achieve an overall final mark of 50 or more. Any student not meeting these requirements may be given a maximum final mark of no more than 45 regardless of their average.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Support for students

The Support for Students Policy 2023 reflects the University’s commitment to supporting students in their academic journey and making the University safe for students. It is important that you read and understand this policy so that you are familiar with the range of support services available to you and understand how to engage with them.

The University uses email as its primary source of communication with students who need support under the Support for Students Policy 2023. Make sure you check your University email regularly and respond to any communications received from the University.

Learning resources and detailed information about weekly assessment and learning activities can be accessed via Canvas. It is essential that you visit your unit of study Canvas site to ensure you are up to date with all of your tasks.

If you are having difficulties completing your studies, or are feeling unsure about your progress, we are here to help. You can access the support services offered by the University at any time:

Support and Services (including health and wellbeing services, financial support and learning support)
Course planning and administration
Meet with an Academic Adviser

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Introduction to the Programming	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Storing Data and Making Decisions	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 02	Introduction to the Programming	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 03	Repeating Actions I	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 03	Storing Data and Making Decisions	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 04	Repeating Actions II	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 04	Repeating Actions I	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 05	Functions I	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 05	Repeating Actions II	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 06	Functions II	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 06	Lab Test and Functions I	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 07	Libraries and Modules I	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 07	Functions II	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 08	Libraries and Modules II	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 08	Libraries and Modules I	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 09	Application I	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 09	Libraries and Modules II	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 10	Application II	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 10	Application I	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 11	Case Study I	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 11	Application II	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 12	Case Study II	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 12	Lab Test	Computer laboratory (2 hr)
Week 13	Revision	Lecture (2 hr)
Week 13	Case Study	Computer laboratory (2 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Course websites:

The course website on edstem.org will contain information, including important announcements. Teaching staff will be communicating to all students and it is considered part of the course. Students are expected to regularly visit this website to know these announcements and information concerning format and schedule of assessment. The Canvas site will be used for the publishing of results.

Attendance

Students are recommended to attend their lab class each week for feedback on assessments and learning. Students who are unable to attend a lab class will be responsible to catch up on the contents covered before the next lab class.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be accessed through the Library.

Reference books:

Robert Sedgewick, Kevin Wayne, Robert Dondero – Introduction to Programming in Python: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Pearson Higher Ed USA, 2015. 9780134076430
Pine, David J. Introduction to Python for Science and Engineering . Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2019. Web.
Wood, M. (2015). Python and Matplotlib essentials for scientists and engineers . Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. Develop programs to solve problems using computers.
LO2. Employ conventions for writing consistently readable code.
LO3. Compose a structured algorithmic design to solve a specified problem.
LO4. Apply fundamental programming principles including data types, variables and operators, flow-control: simple statements, sequences, if-then-else, loops, functions, input/output and arrays; to produce a program that solves a specified problem.
LO5. Compose, analyse, and trace procedural code to determine the expected output of a given program or produce a specified output.
LO6. Apply testing methods and assess programs through debugging with the ability to write a set of tests for a small program or function
LO7. Understand standard modules and packages in Python
LO8. Read and interpret different input formats to produce the desired outcome.
LO9. Apply basic numerical methods including numerical integration, curve fitting, root solving/optimisation and the least squares method
LO10. Write simple functions to perform computational methods including calculation of basic statistics, regression, correlation, searching, sorting on data.
LO11. Plot in two and three dimensions to produce an appropriate visualization of the data.

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Alignment with Competency standards

Outcomes	Competency standards
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.3. Meaningful engagement with current technical and professional practices and issues in the designated field. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.3. Meaningful engagement with current technical and professional practices and issues in the designated field. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 1. ENABLING SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity. 5. PRACTICAL AND ‘HANDS-ON’ EXPERIENCE
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.3. Meaningful engagement with current technical and professional practices and issues in the designated field. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity. 5. PRACTICAL AND ‘HANDS-ON’ EXPERIENCE
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 1. ENABLING SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT 1.1. Developing underpinning capabilities in mathematics, physical, life and information sciences and engineering sciences, as appropriate to the designated field of practice. 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity. 4.2. Ability to use a systems approach to complex problems, and to design and operational performance.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.2. Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.1. Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks. 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 2.4. Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity. 5.1. An appreciation of the scientific method, the need for rigour and a sound theoretical basis. 5.6. Skills in the design and conduct of experiments and measurements.
	Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators - 2. IN-DEPTH TECHNICAL COMPETENCE 5. PRACTICAL AND ‘HANDS-ON’ EXPERIENCE 5.6. Skills in the design and conduct of experiments and measurements.

Engineers Australia Curriculum Performance Indicators -

Competency code	Taught, Practiced or Assessed	Competency standard
1.1		Developing underpinning capabilities in mathematics, physical, life and information sciences and engineering sciences, as appropriate to the designated field of practice.
1.2		Tackling technically challenging problems from first principles.
2.1		Appropriate range and depth of learning in the technical domains comprising the field of practice informed by national and international benchmarks.
2.2		Application of enabling skills and knowledge to problem solution in these technical domains.
2.3		Meaningful engagement with current technical and professional practices and issues in the designated field.
2.4		Advanced knowledge and capability development in one or more specialist areas through engagement with: (a) specific body of knowledge and emerging developments and (b) problems and situations of significant technical complexity.
4.2		Ability to use a systems approach to complex problems, and to design and operational performance.
5.1		An appreciation of the scientific method, the need for rigour and a sound theoretical basis.
5.5		Skills in the development and application of mathematical, physical and conceptual models, understanding of applicability and shortcomings.
5.6		Skills in the design and conduct of experiments and measurements.

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

Some changes have been made since this unit was last offered

Additional information

Every week students must:

Attend and take notes for the Live lecture (Mondays) or watch and take notes for the Recorded lecture
Prepare for the Lab by reviewing reading, lecture and lab questions
Attend and participate in weekly Lab with demonstrator (as timetabled)

IMPORTANT: School policy relating to Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism.

In assessing a piece of submitted work, the School of Computer Science may reproduce it entirely, may provide a copy to another member of faculty, and/or to an external plagiarism checking service or in-house computer program and may also maintain a copy of the assignment for future checking purposes and/or allow an external service to do so.

Computer programming assignments may be checked by specialist code similarity detection software. The Faculty of Engineering currently uses the MOSS similarity detection engine (see http://theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss/), or the similarity report available in ED (edstem.org). These programs work in a similar way to Turnitin in that they check for similarity against a database of previously submitted assignments and code available on the internet, but they have added functionality to detect cases of similarity of holistic code structure in cases such as global search and replace of variable names, reordering of lines, changing of comment lines, and the use of white space.

All written assignments submitted in this unit of study will be submitted to the similarity detecting software program known as Turnitin. Turnitin searches for matches between text in your written assessment task and text sourced from the Internet, published works and assignments that have previously been submitted to Turnitin for analysis.

There will always be some degree of text-matching when using Turnitin. Text-matching may occur in use of direct quotations, technical terms and phrases, or the listing of bibliographic material. This does not mean you will automatically be accused of academic dishonesty or plagiarism, although Turnitin reports may be used as evidence in academic dishonesty and plagiarism decision-making processes.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Alignment with Competency standards

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

ENGG9810: Introduction to Engineering Computing

Semester 1, 2024 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Support for students

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Alignment with Competency standards

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Additional information

Additional information

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect