This unit has been introduced as part of the 2014 Course Architectures review of the FIT undergraduate degrees. The unit is intended to introduce students to programming fundamentals and syntactic programming, doing so in the industry standard of C++. The provision of this unit will provide the foundation for students to take on other programming units, in particular the subsequent games programming units.

Introduced for course architecture programs. Effective semester 1/2016

13/06/2016: CE modified UnitContent/Synopsis to remove two erroneous references to the Python programming language.

19/08/2016 - Admin: Update unit name to agreed convention for programming units (UG - "fundamentals", PG - "foundations") as per the ADE email 5/8/16. Effective Semester 1, 2017.

22/03/2017 - Updated exam duration to be 2hrs to align with new University policy

19/9/2019: Admin - updating exam duration to include additional 10 minutes as per University requirement.

03/02/20: Admin - minor amendment to wording of workload activity. Removing mention of tute and prac, as labs are run under this unit.

30/09/2020 Admin: Update to include new assessment and teaching approach fields as per Handbook requirements.

28/06/2021 - Admin: Updating Reasons for Change - CE has changed the scheduled teaching activities from 2 hr Lecture and 2 hr Lab per week to 3 hour workshop per week.

A strong knowledge of programming using C++ is essential to students wishing to create and modify effective and efficient games engines, which require high levels of performance and optimisation. This unit establishes core skills and knowledge in C++ and provides a prerequisite to the subsequent games programming units. Although the unit has been developed with the Games Development major of the BIT in mind, the unit will also be valuable for any other student who wishes to develop skill in C++. Games Development students will apply their C++ skills in several later units as they complete their major.

At the completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. design, implement, compile, execute and debug programs using fundamental C++ constructs;
2. apply fundamental programming control structures, including conditional statements, iteration and recursion to solve programming problems;
3. apply object-oriented design principles, including inheritance and polymorphism, to solve programming problems;
4. create C++ programs using pointers to demonstrate an understanding of efficient memory use and management;
5. troubleshoot C++ program code using an Integrated Development Environment and its tools.

020103

This unit introduces programming fundamentals and the C++ language to students. The unit provides a foundational understanding of program design and implementation of algorithms to solve simple problems. Fundamental programming control structures, built in and complex data-types and mechanisms for modularity will be presented in C++. This unit also places a focus on object-oriented design principles, using object-oriented design as a process for program design and problem solving. More advanced object-oriented programming topics such as inheritance and polymorphism will also be covered. Other C++ fundamentals such as pointers and the STL will be presented, as will implementations of algorithms and data structures used in problem solving.

Technological requirements

All coding for the unit will be undertaken using the Visual Studio development environment. While students may use any IDE they feel most comfortable with for code development, all demonstration and instruction will be done using Visual Studio. Also note that all assignments MUST be submitted as a Visual Studio project. Projects based on other IDEs will not be accepted for marking. Visual Studio is available for use in all FIT student labs.

It is STRONGLY recommended that you implement a formal backup/version control system for your work. This may include, but is not limited to, external hard drive backup regimes and online repository systems. Work lost due to technology failure is not necessarily instant grounds for extension approvals.

Moodle will be used for delivery of all material as well as submission of assignments. It is your responsibility ensure you have appropriate access and you check the discussion boards regularly for important unit announcements.

On campus

This unit uses an interactive studio with a team-teaching approach. Each session will focus on a combination of instruction, discussion, and live programming using step-by-step guidance providing a range of teaching approaches to cater for a broader range of student learning styles. As the semester advances, the step-by-step programming guidance will be gradually reduced to demonstrating new concepts and techniques allowing students to explore and expand their own programming skills using a pair-programming approach. A range of short videos covering the weekly topics will be used to foster a "flipped classroom" approach providing additional theoretical content to support students learning.

This unit also requires students to have their own laptop to use during the lab sessions (BYOD).

Examination (2 hours and 10 minutes): 50%, In-semester assessment: 50%

1. Task-Oriented Project: 10% - ULO: 1, 2, 5
2. Major Project - C++ Project Prototype and Design Documentation: 15% - ULO: 1, 2, 3
3. Major Project - Final C++ Project Implementation: 25% ULO: all
4. Examination: 50% ULO: 2, 3

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

(a) Contact hours for on-campus students:

(b) Additional requirements (all students):

Please note that the 3-hour interactive sessions should be timetabled in a large learning space that accommodates up to 60 students.