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.
Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:
(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:
(b.) Study schedule for off-campus students:
(c.) Additional requirements (all students):
Andy Cheng
Consultation hours: To be advised
Reza Zare
Consultation hours: To be advised
To be advised
Monash is committed to excellence in education and regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through the Student Evaluation of Teaching and Units (SETU) survey. The University’s student evaluation policy requires that every unit is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.
For more information on Monash’s educational strategy, see:
www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/ and on student evaluations, see: www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/student-evaluation-policy.html
| Week | Activities | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Important : Please make sure you have allocated yourself to a tutorial. All tutorials start in Week ONE. The tutorials involve important tasks which will are essential for the unit's learning. You are unlikely to pass the unit if you do not attend the tutorials. The following topics & schedules may be varied slightly during the semesters, depending on student progress. | No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0 |
| 1 | Introduction to FIT5131 and expectations; introduction to programming, basic OO concepts, objects, classes, attributes, behaviour, state and identity. | Tutorials commence this week (Week 1) |
| 2 | Class definition, fields, constructors, methods, parameter passing, variables, expressions, statements, assignment, primitive data types, arithmetic operators, strings, basic output. | |
| 3 | Selection (if and switch statements), conditions, relational & logical operators, shorthand operators, ++ operator, precedence, scope and lifetime, basic input. | |
| 4 | Object creation and interaction, abstraction, modularisation, class & object diagrams, object creation, primitive vs. object types, method calling, message passing, method signatures, method overloading. | |
| 5 | Class libraries, importing classes, collections, ArrayLists, arrays, iteration, pre and post test loops. | |
| 6 | Testing, unit testing, testing heuristics, regression testing, debugging. | |
| 7 | Class documentation, Javadoc, identity vs. equality, more on strings, sets and maps, conditional operator. | Assignment 1 due |
| 8 | Information hiding, encapsulation, access modifiers, scoping, class variables, class methods, constants. | |
| 9 | Program design, design methods, responsibility-driven design, design documentation, testing a program, specifying a test strategy. | |
| 10 | Programming errors, exception handling, file I/O. | |
| 11 | Code quality, coupling, cohesion, refactoring, using the Java SDK | |
| 12 | Inheritance, superclasses, subclasses, subtypes, substitution, polymorphic variables, protected access, casting, wrapper classes, collection hierarchy. | Assignment 2 due |
| SWOT VAC | No formal assessment is undertaken in SWOT VAC | |
| Examination period | LINK to Assessment Policy: http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/ academic/education/assessment/ assessment-in-coursework-policy.html |
*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your learning system.
Examination (3 hours): 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%
| Assessment Task | Value | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1; Assignment 2 | 40% total (15%; 25%) | Assignment 1 due Week 7; Assignment 2 due Week 12 |
| Examination 1 | 60% | To be advised |
Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/assessment-hurdles.html)
Academic Integrity - Please see resources and tutorials at http://www.monash.edu/library/skills/resources/tutorials/academic-integrity/
These are individual assignments and must be entirely your own work.
Assessment of these assignments is by interview. You will be asked to demonstrate your system during an interview and can also expect to be asked to explain your system, your code, your design, discuss design decisions and alternatives and modify your code / system as required. Marks will not be awarded for any section of code or functionality that a student cannot explain or modify satisfactorily. (The marker may delete excessive comments in code before a student is asked to explain that code).
Further details on the tasks and requirements will be made available in the assignments' specifications. Arrangements regarding interviews will also be outlined in the assignments' specifications.
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 (4th Edition), Cay Horstman (John Wiley & Sons), 2010
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
Monash Library Unit Reading List (if applicable to the unit)
http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/index.html
Faculty of Information Technology Style Guide
Examination/other end-of-semester assessment feedback may take the form of feedback classes, provision of sample answers or other group feedback after official results have been published. Please check with your lecturer on the feedback provided and take advantage of this prior to requesting individual consultations with staff. If your unit has an examination, you may request to view your examination script booklet, see http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/students/procedures/request-to-view-exam-scripts.html
Types of feedback you can expect to receive in this unit are:
Submission must be made by the due date otherwise penalties will be enforced.
You must negotiate any extensions formally with your campus unit leader via the in-semester special consideration process: http://www.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html
There will be no resubmission of assignments.
Students must reference material used from other sources.
It is a University requirement (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/student-academic-integrity-managing-plagiarism-collusion-procedures.html) for students to submit an assignment coversheet for each assessment item. Faculty Assignment coversheets can be found at http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/forms/. Please check with your Lecturer on the submission method for your assignment coversheet (e.g. attach a file to the online assignment submission, hand-in a hard copy, or use an online quiz). Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
Please check with your lecturer before purchasing any Required Resources. Limited copies of prescribed texts are available for you to borrow in the library, and prescribed software is available in student labs.
In this unit we will use Java and the BlueJ development environment.
This software is available on CD with the prescribed text book and is
installed in the student computer labs at Caulfield campus.
Also:
You will be given instructions on how to use this in your first tutorial.
You are expected to work in the BlueJ development environment.
Limited copies of prescribed texts are available for you to borrow in the library.
Barnes and Kolling. (2011). Objects First with Java. (5th Edition) Prentice Hall.
Monash has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and to provide advice on how they might uphold them. You can find Monash’s Education Policies at: www.policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/academic/education/index.html
Key educational policies include:
Important student resources including Faculty policies are located at http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/students/
The University provides many different kinds of support services for you. Contact your tutor if you need advice and see the range of services available at http://www.monash.edu.au/students. For Malaysia see http://www.monash.edu.my/Student-services, and for South Africa see http://www.monash.ac.za/current/.
The Monash University Library provides a range of services, resources and programs that enable you to save time and be more effective in your learning and research. Go to www.lib.monash.edu.au or the library tab in my.monash portal for more information. At Malaysia, visit the Library and Learning Commons at http://www.lib.monash.edu.my/. At South Africa visit http://www.lib.monash.ac.za/.