This unit introduces an industrial strength programming language (with supporting software technologies and standards) and object-oriented application development in the context of mobile application development for smartphones and tablets. The approach is strictly application driven. Students will learn the syntax and semantics of the chosen language and its supporting technologies and standards and object oriented design and coding techniques by analysing a sequence of carefully graded, finished applications. Students will also design and build their own applications.
Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:
(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:
(b.) Additional requirements (all students):
See also Unit timetable information
FIT1040 or FIT1002 or equivalent
Stephen Huxford
Consultation hours: TBA Week 1
To Be Advised
Jojo Wong
Stephen Huxford
Consultation hours: TBA Week 1
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
Students feedback was by-and-large positive with many commenting on the accomplishment they felt in developing actual Android Apps that ran on their Android devices.
Main concerns were workload, emulator problems and lack of Android Studio on the lab machines.
This unit is calibrated to require 12 hours workload per week (as recommended by Monash). For this unit 12 hours means 12 hours because students must learn basic, then advanced Java skills before Android programming can be attempted. This is a steep, unavoidable learning curve. I will, as usual, make this quite clear to students in the first lectorial.
Android device emulators are well known to be slow and buggy. The latest versions are faster (but not fast) and more stable. We have also loaded the HAXM accelerator package to further speed up emulator performance. Further all labs have been scheduled in the Mac lab which allows students to plug their own real Android devices in without Windows driver complications thereby eleiminating the need for emulation.
Android studio has been loaded onto the lab machines for those students who insist on using it as their Android IDE. The unit will only support the IntelliJ IDE though. It should be noted the two IDEs are nearly identical.
If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to
https://emuapps.monash.edu.au/unitevaluations/index.jsp
| Week | Activities | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0 | |
| 1 | Unit Admin + Roadmap to Android, Transition to Java | Lab |
| 2 | Java - IDE, procedural control structures | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 3 | Java - Modularity | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 4 | Java - Classes | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 5 | Additional Java topics required by Android - Inheritance + Interfaces + ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 6 | Additional Java topics required by Android - Event Driven code, Inner Classes + ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 7 | Android, IDE, App - Hello World | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 8 | App - views, layouts, ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 9 | App - lists, dynamic view creation, persistent data, alert dialogues, implicit intents, ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 10 | App - assets, menus, handlers (runnables), simple animation, logcat, generic data structures, ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 11 | App - multiple activities, explicit intents, database interaction, multi-threading, ... | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 12 | Tidying up, Revision and Exam Preparation | Lab worth 2%, Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count) |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Laboratory Assessments | Each of 10 laboratories will be worth 2 marks for a total of 20% of your final mark for the unit | Lab work for the week will be marked in that week's lab |
| 10 Lectorial Quizzes | Each of 10 lectorial quizzes will be worth 2 marks for a total of 20% of your final mark for the unit | Quiz answers will be collected during the lectorial they are held in. |
| 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/
Students will be awarded marks for completing coding tasks according to the principles and styles enumerated in lectures. It is important to understand working code will NOT attract full marks in its own right. Students will be questioned on their code. Marks will only be given for code the student can clearly describe and syntactically and semantically interpret to the satisfaction of the marking tutor.
A student's lab tutor will mark their quizzes and give feedback on their answers.
Quiz questions will be marked based on what the answers reveal about the the student's understanding of lecture slide material and the associated lab work. Evidence the student has thought about the target lecture slides and associated lab work and synthesised these two content sources will be sought and rewarded if found.
Monash Library Unit Reading List (if applicable to the unit)
http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/index.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
Lab work for each week is marked in the Lab for that same week.
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 electronic submission). Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the learning system for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.
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.
The labs will contain all required resources. You can also set up all the required resources on your own personal computer (OSX or Windows based).
All the required software can be downloaded for free (details in Week 1).
Limited copies of prescribed texts are available for you to borrow in the library.
P. Deitel et al. (2014). Android How to Program. (2nd Edition (1st Ed. is also OK)) Pearson (ISBN: 0-13-357092-4).
To save/backup your lab work a removable memory device is recommended.
In addition to the prescribed text the following resources will be used.
The Java tutorials presented at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/
The many Android resources (especially documentation of the Android API) at http://developer.android.com/develop/index.html
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
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/.
In addition to the prescribed text the following resources will be used.
The Java tutorials presented at http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/
The many Android resources (especially documentation of the Android API) at http://developer.android.com/develop/index.html