Welcome to FIT1002 Computer Programming for Semester 1, 2009. This 6 point unit is core to all undergraduate degree programs in the Faculty of IT.
The unit has been designed to provide you with an overview of programming, problem solving, testing and debugging. It explores many fundamental programming concepts with emphasis on applying theoretical knowledge to a practical situation.
This unit will provide students with an overview of programming and its role in problem-solving and strategies for meeting user requirements and for designing solutions to programming problems. The fundamental programming concepts of the memory model, data types, declarations, expressions and statements, control structures, block structure, modules, parameters and input and output will be applied within the context of objects, attributes, methods, re-use, information-hiding, encapsulation, event-handling and message-passing. Software engineering topics include maintainability, readability, testing, documentation and modularisation.
At the completion of this unit students will have a theoretical and conceptual understanding of:
At the completion of this unit students will have developed attitudes that enable them to:
At the completion of this unit students will have the practical skills to:
At the completion of this unit students will demonstrate the communication skills necessary to:
For on campus students, workload commitments are:
You will need to allocate up to 5 hours per week in some weeks, for use of a computer, including time for newsgroups/discussion groups.
Off-campus students generally do not attend lecture, tutorial and laboratory sessions, however, you should plan to spend equivalent time working through the relevant resources and participating in discussion groups each week.
FIT1002 is a core unit in all Faculty of IT undergraduate degrees. There are no prerequisites for this unit.
You may not study this unit and CFR2128, CPE1001, CSE 1202, GCO 1811, MMS 1801, MMS 1802, SFT1101 in your degree.
Monash is committed to ‘Excellence in education’ (Monash Directions 2025 - http://www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html) and strives for the highest possible quality in teaching and learning.
To monitor how successful we are in providing quality teaching and learning Monash regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through Unit Evaluation Surveys. The University’s Unit Evaluation policy (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/unit-evaluation-policy.html) requires that every unit offered is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys as they are an important avenue for students to “have their say”. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.
Faculties have the option of administering the Unit Evaluation survey online through the my.monash portal or in class. Lecturers will inform students of the method being used for this unit towards the end of the semester.
Improvements we have made to the unit from last year include:
1. Introduce methods before constructors
2. Use Moodle instead of Blackboard as the Learning Management System
3. Provide more information and exercises related to plagiarism - aim to reduce plagiarised code.
4. Redevelop some of the tutorial and laboratory exercises to incorporate more testing and debugging of programs;
5. Lecture notes are revised to include one or two thinking activities
6. Some of the lab questions are revised to focus more specifically on testing of classes/ methods/ code and group work
Contact hours : Monday 11-12am, 3-4pm
Contact hours : Monday 2-4pm, Tuesday 9-11am, 2-3pm
Contact hours : Monday 9-11 am
This unit will be delivered via two one hour lectures. Lecturers may go through specific examples, give demonstrations and present slides that contain theoretical concepts.
In tutorials students will discuss in-depth fundamental and interesting aspects about programming which will help them complete their practical work. The tutorials are particularly useful in helping students consolidate concepts and practise their problem solving skills.
Laboratories will be devoted to giving students hands-on experience in implementing a programming solution to a practical problem.
Off-Campus students should treat the Study Guide Book (consisting of 11 modules) as their primary source for self-directed study. The modules contain text which is directed to leading you through the learning for each week. Please read the welcome message in the Study Guide Book for further detail.
Online Discussion Forums are provided for the primary purpose of enabling off-campus students (including students studying at SPACE in Hong Kong) to engage with each other and the lecturer in Australia. The lecturer will expect all students to read these forums at least twice per week and issues raised in the forum are examinable. In the forums, you may ask questions about the topics or exercises of each module, or to clarify interpretation of assignment tasks and marking criteria.
Monash aims to provide a learning environment in which students receive a range of ongoing feedback throughout their studies. You will receive feedback on your work and progress in this unit. This may take the form of group feedback, individual feedback, peer feedback, self-comparison, verbal and written feedback, discussions (on line and in class) as well as more formal feedback related to assignment marks and grades. You are encouraged to draw on a variety of feedback to enhance your learning.
It is essential that you take action immediately if you realise that you have a problem that is affecting your study. Semesters are short, so we can help you best if you let us know as soon as problems arise. Regardless of whether the problem is related directly to your progress in the unit, if it is likely to interfere with your progress you should discuss it with your lecturer or a Community Service counsellor as soon as possible.
| Week | Topic | Study guide | Key dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unit Administration and Introduction | 1 | |
| 2 | Algorithms, Variables and Data Types | 2 | |
| 3 | Using objects and classes, Math Class, String Class, Random Class and I/O | 3 | |
| 4 | Selection | 4 | Assignment 1 Due End of Lab session (10%) |
| 5 | Repetition | 5 | |
| 6 | User defined methods | 6 | Mid semester test (10%) |
| Mid semester break | |||
| 7 | Classes and Objects | 7 | |
| 8 | Class Anatomy; Constructors, mutators and accessors | 8 | |
| 9 | Object references and Static Class members | 9 | |
| 10 | Arrays (Part I) | 10 | Assignment 2 Due Start of Lab session (10%) |
| 11 | Arrays (Part II) | 11 | |
| 12 | Using multiple classes | 11 | Assignment 3 Due Fri 29th May(10%) |
| 13 | Exam Revision | ||
Lewis J., DePasquale P., and Chase J., JAVA Foundations., Pearson Education, 2008, ISBN 0-321-48678-1
Text books are available from the Monash University Book Shops. Availability from other suppliers cannot be assured. The Bookshop orders texts in specifically for this unit. You are advised to purchase your text book early.For all students:
Malik D.S., Java Programming - From Analysis to Design., Thomson Learning 2006, ISBN 0619216085
Robertson LA, Simple Program Design, 5th ed., Thomson/Nelson, 2007, ISBN 017010704-3
For student with advanced programming skills:
Arnold K., Gosling J. & Holmes D., The Java Programming Language, Fourth Edition, Addison-Wesley, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2006. ISBN 0-321-34980-6 (paperback)
Java Development Kit, Version j2sdk-1_5_0_06 or later, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Students should have access to at least one of the following Integrated Development Environments :
Jcreator - jcreator LE v4.0 is a powerful IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for Java and is strongly recommended. It can be downloaded from the Web Site:http://www.jcreator.com/
You should download the freeware version. You have no need for the fuller facilities provided in JcreatorPro, and would have to pay for it as well.
jEdit - Text editor written in Java which can auto indent and provides syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages.
http://www.jedit.org/
BlueJ, Version 2.1.2 Programming Development Environment. Although available on CD, version 2.1.3 can be downloaded from
http://www.bluej.org
Eclipse (latest version) downloaded from
http://eclipse.org
Students are encouraged to use JCreator.Study resources we will provide for your study are:
Additionally, students studying by Off-Campus Learning mode will receive:
The Monash University Library site contains details about borrowing rights and catalogue searching. To learn more about the library and the various resources available, please go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au.
The Educational Library and Media Resources (LMR) is also a very resourceful place to visit at http://www.education.monash.edu.au/library/
All unit and lecture materials are available through MUSO (Monash University Studies Online). Blackboard is the primary application used to deliver your unit resources. Some units will be piloted in Moodle. If your unit is piloted in Moodle, you will see a link from your Blackboard unit to Moodle (http://moodle.monash.edu.au) and can bookmark this link to access directly. In Moodle, from the Faculty of Information Technology category, click on the link for your unit.
You can access MUSO and Blackboard via the portal: http://my.monash.edu.au
Click on the Study and enrolment tab, then Blackboard under the MUSO learning systems.
In order for your Blackboard unit(s) to function correctly, your computer needs to be correctly configured.
For example:
For more information, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/downloadables-student.html
You can contact the MUSO Support by phone : (+61 3) 9903 1268
For further contact information including operational hours, please visit: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/students/contact.html
Further information can be obtained from the MUSO support site: http://www.monash.edu.au/muso/support/index.html
The unit is assessed with three assignments, a one hour mid-semester test and a three hour closed book examination. To pass the unit you must pass each individual hurdle:
If a student does not achieve 40% or more in the unit examination or the unit non-examination assessment then a mark of no greater than 44-N will be recorded for the unit.
Furthermore the unit has a hurdle requirement. The hurdle requires students to attend at least ten tutorial and ten practical classes. Attendance will be monitored. Students unable to attend classes should contact their on-campus lecturer immediately. Students missing classes repeatedly may be contacted by lecturer to explain their absence.
Title : Assignment 1 - JAVA basics
Description :
This assignment will aim to help you to develop programs in Java using classes and objects that are able to read input from the user and format output. You will also learn to use classes and their methods that are available from the Java library.
Weighting : 10%
Criteria for assessment :
Detailed assessment criteria will be issued along with the assignment.
Due date : End of Lab week 4
Title : Assignment 2 - Designing a simple JAVA application
Description :
Weighting : 10%
Criteria for assessment :
Detailed assessment criteria will be issued along with the assignment.
Due date : Start of Lab week 10
Title : Assignment 3
Description :
Weighting : 10%
Criteria for assessment :
Detailed assessment criteria will be issued along with the assignment.
Due date : Fri 29th May (5pm EST)
Title : Test 1
Description :
Weighting : 10%
Criteria for assessment :
Due date : Week 6
Weighting : 60%
Length : 3 hours
Type ( open/closed book ) : Closed book
Upload zipped Java files via MUSO Assignment tool.
Multiple uploads will be allowed. The latest version uploaded will contain the work that is marked.
The due dates for the submission of assignments are given in the previous section. Please make every effort to submit work by the due dates. It is your responsibility to structure your study program around assignment deadlines, family, work and other commitments. Factors such as normal work pressures, vacations, etc. are seldom regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Students are advised to NOT assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course.
Requests for extensions must be made to the unit lecturer at your campus at least two days before the due date. You will be asked to forward original medical certificates in cases of illness, and may be asked to provide other forms of documentation where necessary. A copy of the email or other written communication of an extension must be attached to the assignment submission.Assignments received after the due date will be subject to a penalty of 5% per day, including weekends. Assignments received later than one week (seven days) after the due date will not normally be accepted. In some cases, this period may be shorter if there is a need to release sample solutions.
This policy is strict because comments or guidance will be given on assignments as they are returned, and sample solutions may also be published and distributed, after assignment marking or with the returned assignment.
If you fail to submit an assignment or assessable prac, you will be marked ABSENT (TRANSLATES TO 0), unless...
Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.
Assessment for the unit as a whole is in accordance with the provisions of the Monash University Education Policy at http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/assessment/
We will aim to have assignment results made available to you within two weeks after assignment receipt.Plagiarism and cheating are regarded as very serious offences. In cases where cheating has been confirmed, students have been severely penalised, from losing all marks for an assignment, to facing disciplinary action at the Faculty level. While we would wish that all our students adhere to sound ethical conduct and honesty, I will ask you to acquaint yourself with the University Plagiarism policy and procedure (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/plagiarism-procedures.html) which applies to students detected plagiarising.
In this University, cheating means seeking to obtain an unfair advantage in any examination or any other written or practical work to be submitted or completed by a student for assessment. It includes the use, or attempted use, of any means to gain an unfair advantage for any assessable work in the unit, where the means is contrary to the instructions for such work.
When you submit an individual assessment item, such as a program, a report, an essay, assignment or other piece of work, under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is identical with, or similar to, someone else's work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together, and discuss problems, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer.
Intentionally providing students with your solutions to assignments is classified as "assisting to cheat" and students who do this may be subject to disciplinary action. You should take reasonable care that your solution is not accidentally or deliberately obtained by other students. For example, do not leave copies of your work in progress on the hard drives of shared computers, and do not show your work to other students. If you believe this may have happened, please be sure to contact your lecturer as soon as possible.
Cheating also includes taking into an examination any material contrary to the regulations, including any bilingual dictionary, whether or not with the intention of using it to obtain an advantage.
Plagiarism involves the false representation of another person's ideas, or findings, as your own by either copying material or paraphrasing without citing sources. It is both professional and ethical to reference clearly the ideas and information that you have used from another writer. If the source is not identified, then you have plagiarised work of the other author. Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty that is insulting to the reader and grossly unfair to your student colleagues.
The university requires faculties to keep a simple and confidential register to record counselling to students about plagiarism (e.g. warnings). The register is accessible to Associate Deans Teaching (or nominees) and, where requested, students concerned have access to their own details in the register. The register is to serve as a record of counselling about the nature of plagiarism, not as a record of allegations; and no provision of appeals in relation to the register is necessary or applicable.
The Faculty of Information Technology is committed to the use of non-discriminatory language in all forms of communication. Discriminatory language is that which refers in abusive terms to gender, race, age, sexual orientation, citizenship or nationality, ethnic or language background, physical or mental ability, or political or religious views, or which stereotypes groups in an adverse manner. This is not meant to preclude or inhibit legitimate academic debate on any issue; however, the language used in such debate should be non-discriminatory and sensitive to these matters. It is important to avoid the use of discriminatory language in your communications and written work. The most common form of discriminatory language in academic work tends to be in the area of gender inclusiveness. You are, therefore, requested to check for this and to ensure your work and communications are non-discriminatory in all respects.
Students with disabilities that may disadvantage them in assessment should seek advice from one of the following before completing assessment tasks and examinations:
Deferred assessment (not to be confused with an extension for submission of an assignment) may be granted in cases of extenuating personal circumstances such as serious personal illness or bereavement. Information and forms for Special Consideration and deferred assessment applications are available at http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html. Contact the Faculty's Student Services staff at your campus for further information and advice.