INFO1110: Introduction to Programming
This unit is an essential starting point for software developers, IT consultants, and computer scientists to build their understanding of principle computer operation. Students will obtain knowledge and skills with procedural programming. Crucial concepts include defining data types, control flow, iteration, functions, recursion, the model of addressable memory. Students will be able to reinterpret a general problem into a computer problem, and use their understanding of the computer model to develop source code. This unit trains students with software development process, including skills of testing and debugging. It is a prerequisite for more advanced programming languages, systems programming, computer security and high performance computing.
Unit details and rules
| Unit code | INFO1110 |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Computer Science |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prohibitions
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INFO1910 or INFO1103 or INFO1903 or INFO1105 or INFO1905 or ENGG1810 |
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Prerequisites
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None |
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Corequisites
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None |
| Available to study abroad and exchange students |
Yes |
Assessment summary
Assignments:
To be completed individually throughout the semester. Assignments may require submission of code, flowcharts, tests, or reports. These will be assessed with test cases, manual grading and an oral examination. Format and submission details of assignments to be provided on release.
An oral examination is only possible with a non-trivial attempt of the assignment.
Oral Examinations (Viva):
This is an interview between the student and the teacher. The student will be asked questions about their own assignment submission as well as other questions related to course contents. The grade is based on the students responses in understanding of their own code and the course contents being assessed.
The student must be present at their required timetabled time (see timetable) for this online assessment and have the necessary ID and camera/microphone in operation.
Students who do not attend the oral examination are not awarded any marks for their assignment or the oral examination.
Final examination:
The final exam can cover any aspect of the course. Demonstrate knowledge in procedural programming. Reading and tracing through short programs. Writing short programs. Writing test cases and debugging with existing test cases. The final exam is a computer examination held during the examination period.
Detailed information for each assessment can be found on the course website: edstem.org
Special consideration
Approved special consideration will be granted an extension to complete the assignment and may additionally be examined in an oral assessment, based on the assignment contents, that will contribute to the grade of the assignment.
Conditions for the pass in this course:
- At least 50% total
Use of language translation tools for all online assessments is forbidden. All answers must be provided in the English language, including code comments.
Additionally, for this course, students may be asked for further development of their assessments if they fail to attend at least 80% of their tutorials.
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.
This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:
Late submissions are not accepted for any assessments unless an approved special consideration is granted.
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.
You may only use artificial intelligence and writing assistance tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator, and if you do use them, you must also acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section.
Studiosity is permitted for postgraduate units unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission.
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.
| WK | Topic | Learning activity | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 01 | Introduction to Programming. First program. | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 |
| Getting started with programming basics | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 02 | Variables and Data types | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 |
| Variables and Data types | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 03 | Flow of Execution. Functions | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 |
| Flow of Execution. Functions | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 04 | Conditionals | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 |
| Conditionals | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 05 | Iteration | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 |
| Iteration | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 06 | Arrays | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Arrays | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO5 LO6 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 07 | More Flow Control | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| More Flow Control | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 08 | Classes and Objects | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Classes and Objects | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 09 | Testing | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Testing | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 10 | File I/O | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| File I/O | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 11 | Recursion | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Recursion | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 12 | Iterators and Multidimensional arrays | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Iterators and Multidimensional arrays | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO9 LO10 LO11 | |
| Week 13 | Revision | Lecture (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
| Revision | Computer laboratory (2 hr) | LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4 LO5 LO6 LO7 LO8 LO9 LO10 LO11 |
Attendance and class requirements
Course websites:
Canvas and Ed are both used in this course for separate purposes. Students are encouraged to engage with the discussions and support on Ed for their learning.
Students are expected to regularly visit these websites to learn of announcements and information concerning format and schedule of assessment. Canvas is a website that will be used to disseminate the lecture recordings and for publishing of results.
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.
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. employ programming style conventions for writing consistently readable code
- LO2. design and construct new functionality to existing procedural program or function
- LO3. compose a structured algorithmic design to solve the descriptive problem specification
- LO4. compose an entire procedural program from descriptive problem specification
- LO5. demonstrate an understanding of programming principles, data types, variables and operators, control-flow: simple statement, sequence, if-then-else, while, functions: stack, input/output, reference memory model
- LO6. compose, analyse and trace procedural code, scoping/variable lifetime, memory of the stack, references and globals, data types, operations on data types
- LO7. construct code cliches for input and manipulating arrays, including maximum, minimum, search or traverse, with actions on each element for counting or summation
- LO8. construct and assess code for recursively-defined numerical functions, and for recursively described array manipulations
- LO9. apply testing methods and assess programs through debugging with the ability to write a set of tests for a small program or function
- LO10. explain compilation process and debugging mechanism
- LO11. use standard library functions
Every week students should:
- Read the required sections of literature
- Attend and take notes for the Live lecture (Mondays)
- Complete the weekly Lesson for Lecture
- Prepare for the Tutorial by reviewing reading, lecture and tutorial questions
- Complete the weekly Tutorial before it commences
- Attend and participate in weekly Tutorial with tutor (as timetabled)
Additionally:
- Students should ask questions on Ed
- Students should engage with their teacher for feedback in their tutorial