This unit provides an introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. The main aims are (i) to learn how to develop algorithmic solutions to computational problem and (ii) to develop understanding of algorithm efficiency and the notion of computational hardness.

An advanced alternative to COMP2007; covers material at an advanced and challenging level.



This unit provides an introduction to the design and analysis of algorithms. The main aims are (i) to learn how to develop algorithmic solutions to computational problem and (ii) to develop understanding of algorithm efficiency and the notion of computational hardness.

This unit aims at providing a deeper understanding of computing systems and of what computation is in general. It covers two essential theoretical aspects of computer science and gives students the foundations to understand the power as well as the limitations of computers. It covers various abstract models for computation such as finite automata, grammars and regular expressions, and the different classes of formal languages that these models recognize such as regular and context-free languages. It also covers the concept of formal proofs in propositional and predicate logic. The course concludes with Turing machines, as well as the notions of computability and decidability.

The unit will provide a broad introduction to the principles of distributed systems and their design; provide students the fundamental knowledge required to analyse and construct various types of distributed systems; explain the common architectural principles and approaches used in the design of networks at different scales (e.g. shared medium access and routing); introduce the programming skills required for developing distributed applications, and will cover the use of Java class libraries and APIs; cover common approaches and techniques in distributed resource management (e.g. task scheduling).

In this unit of study elementary methods for developing robust, efficient, and re-usable software will be covered. The unit is taught in C, in a Unix environment. Specific coding topics include memory management, the pragmatic aspects of implementing data structures such as lists and hash tables and managing concurrent threads. Debugging tools and techniques are discussed and common programming errors are considered along with defensive programming techniques to avoid such errors. Emphasis is placed on using common Unix tools to manage aspects of the software construction process, such as version control and regression testing. The subject is taught from a practical viewpoint and it includes a considerable amount of programming practice.

This unit provides a comprehensive introduction to the analysis of complex systems. Key topics are the determination and expression of system requirements (both functional and on-functional), and the representation of structural and behavioural models of the system in UML notations. Students will be expected to evaluate requirements documents and models as well as producing them. This unit covers essential topics from the ACM/IEEE SE2004 curriculum, especially from MAA Software Modelling and Analysis.

The ubiquitous use of information technology leaves us facing a tsunami of data produced by users, IT systems and mobile devices. The proper management of data is hence essential for all applications and for effective decision making within organizations.
This unit of study will introduce the basic concepts of database designs at the conceptual, logical and physical levels. We will place particular emphasis on introducing integrity constraints and the concept of data normalization which prevents data from being corrupted or duplicated in different parts of the database. This in turn helps in the data remaining consistent during its lifetime. Once a database design is in place, the emphasis shifts towards querying the data in order to extract useful information. The unit will introduce different query languages with a particular emphasis on SQL, which is industry standard. Other topics covered will include the important concept of transaction management, application development with a backend database, an overview of data warehousing and OLAP, and the use of XML as a data integration language.

The ubiquitous use of information technology leaves us facing a tsunami of data produced by users, IT systems and mobile devices. The proper management of data is essential for all applications, especially new ones that want to make intelligent use of the data, and for effective decision making within organisations.
This unit of study is an advanced alternative to INFO2120 that will introduce the basic concepts of database designs at the conceptual, logical and physical levels. Particular emphasis will be placed on introducing integrity constraints and the concept of data normalization which prevents data from being corrupted or duplicated in different parts of the database. This in turn helps in the data remaining consistent during its lifetime. Once a database design is in place, the emphasis shifts towards querying the data in order to extract useful information. The unit will introduce different query languages with a particular emphasis on SQL and, in INFO2820, deductive databases and DATALOG, which are all industry standard. Other topics covered will include recursive SQL, graphs in databases, NoSQL databases, transaction management, application development with a backend database, an overview of data warehousing and OLAP, and the use of XML as a data integration language.

This unit provides a broad introduction to the field of IT security. We examine secure and insecure programs, secure and insecure information, secure and insecure computers, and secure and insecure network infrastructure. Key content includes the main threats to security; how to analyse risks; the role in reducing risk that can be played by technical tools (such as encryption, signatures, access control, firewalls, etc); the limitations of technical defences; and the simple process and behavioural changes that can reduce risk.

This unit provides an introduction to the foundations of programming languages and their implementation. The main aims are to teach what are: grammars, parsers, semantics, programming paradigms and implementation of programming languages.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is all about programming computers to perform tasks normally associated with intelligent behaviour. Classical AI programs have played games, proved theorems, discovered patterns in data, planned complex assembly sequences and so on. This unit of study will introduce representations, techniques and architectures used to build intelligent systems. It will explore selected topics such as heuristic search, game playing, machine learning, and knowledge representation. Students who complete it will have an understanding of some of the fundamental methods and algorithms of AI, and an appreciation of how they can be applied to interesting problems. The unit will involve a practical component in which some simple problems are solved using AI techniques.

This unit provides a broad introduction to the field of graphics and multimedia to meet the diverse requirements of application areas such as entertainment, industrial design, virtual reality, intelligent media management, medical imaging and remote sensing. It covers both the underpinning theories and the practices of computing and manipulating digital media including graphics / image, audio, animation, and video. Emphasis is placed on principles and cutting-edge techniques for multimedia data processing, content analysis, media retouching, media coding and compression.

This unit will provide a comprehensive dicsussion of relevant OS issues and principles and describe how those principles are put into practice in real operating systems. The contents include internal structure of OS; several ways each major aspect (process scheduling, inter-process communication, memory management, device management, file systems) can be implemented; the performance impact of design choices; case studies of common OS (Linux, MS Windows NT, etc.).

This unit introduces students to the algorithmic theory and applications of discrete optimization. The main aims of this unit are: (i) learn how to model various practical problems as abstract optimization problems, (ii) learn the theory underlying efficient algorithms for solving these problems, (iii) learn how to use these tools in practice.
Specific topics include: Linear and integer programming, polyhedral theory, min-cost max-flow problems, approximation algorithms, and fixed parameter tractability.

An advanced alternative to COMP3308; covers material at an advanced and challenging level.

This unit will provide students an opportunity to apply the knowledge and practise the skills acquired in the prerequisite and qualifying units, in the context of designing and building a substantial software development system in diverse application domains including life sciences. Working in groups for an external client combined with academic supervision, students will need to carry out the full range of activities including requirements capture, analysis and design, coding, testing and documentation. Students will use the XP methodology and make use of professional tools for the management of their project.

Students undertaking this unit should be familiar with fundamental digital technologies and representations such as bit complement and internal word representation. Students should also have a basic understanding of the physical properties of communication channels, techniques and limitations. Furthermore, students should be able to apply fundamental mathematical skills.
The unit will cover the following specific material: Communication reference models (TCP/IP and OSI). Circuit switched and packet switched communication. Network node functions and building blocks. LAN, MAN, WAN, WLAN technologies. Protocols fundamental mechanisms. The TCP/IP core protocols (IP, ICMP, DHCP, ARP, TCP, UDP etc.). Applications and protocols (FTP, Telnet, SMTP, HTTP etc.), Network Management and Security.

This unit of study will focus on the design, the architecture and the development of web applications using technologies currently popular in the marketplace including Java and .NET environments. There are three key themes examined in the unit: Presentation layer, Persistence layer, and Interoperability. The unit will examine practical technologies such as JSP and Servlets, the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture, database programming with ADO.NET and JDBC, advanced persistence using ORM, XML for interoperability, and XML-based SOAP services and Ajax, in support of the theoretical themes identified.
On completion the students should be able to:
- Compare Java/J2EE web application development with Microsoft .NET web application development.
- Exposure to relevant developer tools (e.g. Eclipse and VS.NET)
- Be able to develop a real application on one of those environments.
- Use XML to implement simple web services and AJAX applications.

This unit examines the essential pre-production stages of designing successful internet websites and services. It focuses on the aspects of analysis, project specification, design, and prototype that lead up to the actual build of a website or application. Topics include, B2C, B2B and B2E systems, business models, methodologies, modeling with use cases / UML and WebML, the Project Proposal and Project Specification Document, Information Architecture and User-Centred Design, legal issues, and standards-based web development. Students build a simple use-case based e-business website prototype with web standards. A final presentation of the analysis, design and prototype are presented in a role play environment where students try to win funding from a venture capitalist. An understanding of these pre-production fundamentals is critical for future IT and Software Engineering Consultants, Project Managers, Analysts and CTOs.

This unit covers essential design methods and language mechanisms for successful object-oriented design and programming. C++ is used as the implementation language and a special emphasis is placed on those features of C++ that are important for solving real-world problems. Advanced software engineering features, including exceptions and name spaces are thoroughly covered.

This is a course in HCI, Human Computer Interaction, with a focus on web-based Computing. It introduces the key aspects of HCI and web-based system design.

This course introduces the basic processes and techniques for managing IT projects, systems and services, throughout the IT lifecycle. It addresses both the technical and behavioural aspects of IT management at the enterprise level. Major topics include: IT planning, project planning and scheduling, project tracking, resource estimation, team management, software testing, change and problem management, and quality assurance.

This unit of study provides a comprehensive overview of the internal mechanisms and algorithms of Database Management Systems (DBMS) and other systems that manage large data collections. These skills are needed for successful performance tuning and to understand the scalability challenges faced by the information age. This unit builds upon the second- year INFO2120 - 'Database Systems 1' and correspondingly assumes a sound understanding of SQL, schema design and transactional programs.
The first part of this subject focuses on mechanisms for large-scale data management. It provides a deep understanding of the internal components of a database engine. Topics include: physical data organization and disk-based index structures, query processing and optimisation, locking and logging, and database tuning.
The second part focuses on the large-scale management of textual data such as by an information retrieval system or with web search engines. Topics include: distributed and replicated databases, information retrieval, document management, text index structures, and web-scale data processing.
The unit will be of interest to students seeking an introduction to database tuning, disk-based data structures and algorithms, and information retrieval. It will be valuable to those pursuing such careers as Software Engineers, Database Experts, Database Administrators, and e-Business Consultants.

Big Data refers to datasets that are massive, heterogenous, and dynamic that are beyond current approaches for the capture, storage, management, and analysis of the data. The focus of this unit is on understanding and applying relevant concepts, techniques, algorithms, and tools for the analysis, management and visualization of big data - with the goal of keeping abreast of the continual increase in the volume and complexity of data sets and enabling discovery of information and knowledge to guide effective decision making .

This unit of study provides a comprehensive overview of the internal mechanisms and algorithms of Database Management Systems (DBMS) and other systems that manage large data collections. These skills are needed for successful performance tuning and to understand the scalability challenges faced by the information age. This unit builds upon the second- year INFO2820 - 'Database Systems 1 (Adv)' and correspondingly assumes a sound understanding of SQL, schema design and transactional programs.
The first part of this subject focuses on mechanisms for large-scale data management. It provides a deep understanding of the internal components of a database engine. Topics include: physical data organization and disk-based index structures, query processing and optimisation, locking and logging, and database tuning.
The second part focuses on the large-scale management of textual data such as by an information retrieval system or with web search engines. Topics include: distributed and replicated databases, information retrieval, document management, text index structures, and web-scale data management.
This is an advanced alternative to INFO3404; it covers material at an advanced and challenging level. In particular, students in this advanced stream will study an actual DBMS implementation on the source code level, and also gain practical experience in extending the DBMS code base.

This unit will provide students an opportunity to carry out substantial aspects of a significant software development project. The project will be directed towards assisting a client group (from industry or with strong industry links). The student's contribution could cover one or more aspects such as requirements capture, system design, implementation, change management, upgrades, operation, and/or tuning. Assessment will be based on the quality of the delivered outputs, the effectiveness of the process followed, and the understanding of the way the work fits into the client's goals, as shown in a written report.