Welcome to FIT9017 Foundations of Programming for semester 1, 2009. This 6 point unit is a core unit for the Master of Applied Information Technology. Computer programming is a fundamental activity underlying all computer systems. A knowledge of programming is therefore important for students interested in a future in information technology.
This unit aims to provide students with the basic concepts involved in the development of well structured software using a programming language. It concentrates on the development of problem solving skills applicable to all stages of the development process. Students gain experience with the translation of a problem specification into a program design, and the implementation of that design into a programming language. The subject introduces software engineering topics such as maintainability, readability, testing, documentation, modularisation, and reasoning about correctness of programs. Students are expected to read and understand existing code as well as develop new code. The language used to illustrate and implement the programming principles taught in this unit is Java.
At the completion of this unit, you should :
The workload commitments are:
For further details about FIT9017 refer to the Monash Handbook entry for this unit at: http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2009handbooks/units/FIT9017.html
For information about the course you are enrolled in refer to the Postgraduate Handbook at: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/courses/2009/postgraduate/
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.
This unit will be delivered via a 2 hour lecture and a 2 hour tutorial class each week.
Lectures will be used to present and explain programming constructs and the fundamentals of program design and testing.
Tutorials will be used for practical experience in the design, coding, testing and debugging of programs.
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 | References/Readings | Key dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to programming, basic OO concepts, objects, classes, methods | Chapter 1, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 2 | More OO concepts, class definition, fields, constructors, methods, parameter passing, expressions, statements, scope and lifetime, assignment, expressions, data types, input and output | Chapter 2, Section 2.1-2.12, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 3 | Conditions, variables, arithmetic, relational & logical operators, precendence, selection | Chapter 2, Section 2.13-2.19, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 4 | Abstraction, class & object diagrams, object creation, method calling, message passing, method overloading | Chapter 3, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 5 | Library classes, collections, ArrayLists, Arrays, iteration | Chapter 4, Barnes & Klling | |
| 6 | Testing, unit testing, regression testing, test strategy, debugging | Chapter 6, Barnes & Kolling | |
| Mid semester break | |||
| 7 | Java library, more on strings, more on collections | Chapter 5, Section 5.1-5.9, Barnes & Kolling | Assignment 1 due (15%) |
| 8 | Information hiding, class variables, constants, class documentation, class design | Chapter 5, Section 5.10-5.14, Barnes & Kolling; Chapter 13, Section 13.1-13.3 | Unit test |
| 9 | Coupling, cohesion, refactoring | Chapter 7, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 10 | Inheritance, superclass, subclass, subtypes, substitution, wrapper classes, collection hierarchy | Chapter 8, Barnes & Kolling | Assignment 2 part 1 due (hurdle) |
| 11 | Static & dynamic types, overriding, method polymorphism | Chapter 9, Barnes & Kolling | |
| 12 | Method polymorphism, static & dynamic types, overriding, method polymorphism, dynamic method lookup, abstract methods, classes & subclasses, multiple inheritance, interfaces | Chapter 10, Barnes & Kolling | Assignment 2 part 2 due (25%) |
| 13 | Revision, exam discussion | ||
Objects First with Java (2009) by Barnes, D.J. & Kölling, M., Pearson Education Limited, 4th edition.
This is the textbook for the unit. The course will follow this text. The text contains the weekly pre-reading and many exercises that will be specified for you to work on in the tutorial classes and outside class.
The text book is available from the Monash University Bookshop at the Caulfield campus.
The following may provide useful extra reading for this unit. Copies of these are available in the Caulfield Library (on reserve, one day loan or in the normal circulation):
Java Foundations, Lewis, De Pasquale & Chase, Pearson Education, 2008
Big Java (3rd edition) by Cay Horstman ( John Wiley & Sons), 2008
Java Programming - from Problem Analysis to Program Design (3rd edition), D. S Malik (Thomson ), 2008
Thinking in Java (4th edition), Eckell (Prentice Hall), 2006
Absolute Java (3rd edition), Savitch (Addison Wesley), 2008
In this unit we will use Java and the BlueJ development environment. This software is available on CD with the text book.
Also:
The Java software is available to download from Sun website at:(http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/).
BlueJ is available to download from the BlueJ site at: http://www.bluej.org/. You will be given instructions on how to use this in your first tutorial. You are expected to work in the BlueJ development environment. Tutors will only assess the assignments under this environment.
Study resources we will provide for your study are:
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 two assignments, one class test and a three hour closed book examination. To pass this unit, a student must obtain :
40% or more in the unit's examination and
40% or more in the unit's non-examination assessment and
an overall unit mark of 50% or more.
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.
Title : Assignments 1 & 2
Description :
Weighting : 15% & 25% respectively
Criteria for assessment :
A criteria for assessment will be provided with the assignment specification.
Due date : Assignment 1 - week 7; Assignment 2 (part 1 and 2) - weeks 10 & 12 respectively
Title : Unit test
Description :
Covering the topics from weeks 1-7
Weighting : 10%
Criteria for assessment :
Due date : Conducted in week 8
Weighting : 50%
Length : 3 hours
Type ( open/closed book ) : Closed book
Your assignment must be submitted with the appropriate Assignment Cover Sheet correctly filled out and attached. These are available from the Caulfield School of Information Technology office on level 6 of building H or via the "Student assignment coversheets" ( http://infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/assignments/ ) page on the faculty website.
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.
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/
.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.