FIT2085 is a core unit in the Computational Science Major and Extended Major in the Bachelor of Science (BSc). It is being introduced as part of the University Course Architecture. FIT2085 is based on FIT1008.

18/05/2021 - Admin: Adding reasons for change. Currently this unit has 7 teaching hours due to the amount of content covered and the number of assignments required in this unit. The workload is too high for both the students and the teaching team. Moving forward, the idea is to combine the tutorial and laboratory in long term and reduce the number of weekly tests required in this unit. For Semester 2, 2021 it is proposed to run 6 hours of classes (2hr workshop, 2 hr tutorial and 2 hr laboratory) and then decrease the number of teaching hours further in Semester 2, 2022.

18/02/2021: increased workshop hours from 1 to 2 following student feedback. Removed Mid-Semester Test to decrease student and staff workload.

29/6/2020: Under "Workload Requirements". The lecture is flipped and prepared by students at home. We have one 1-hour workshop with new activities instead. To not lose too much contact hours, we increase the tutorials to two hours. To not increase the workload, we will not ask students to prepare tutorials any longer.

20/9/2019: Admin - updating exam duration to include additional 10 minutes as per University requirement.

28/26/2018: Admin - updating assessment to remove the 30 minutes reading and noting time and request a 3 hour exam.

06/07/2017 - CE modified the hurdles to add active participation of students in tutorials for at least 8 out of the 12 tutes. This used to be a hurdle in the related FIT1008. Given the extreme low attendance to tutorials this semester and the related discussion at the Clayton review of results, the CE decided to re-instate it. 17/09/2020 Admin: Update to include new assessment and teaching approach fields as per Handbook requirements.

05/02/2017 - CE modified UnitObjectives/Objectives to clarify a bit and differentiate slightly with FIT1008 (FIT2085 students are in second year and will be able to deal with slightly more complex problems).

Modified Workload/ContactHours to eliminate the additional workload requirements (there are more than those shown and should appear in unit guide).

10/01/2017 - Admin: replaced Reading and noting time in assessment which was deleted in error.

6/01/2017 - Admin: assessment simplified as requested by ADE.

4/1/2017 - Update to Examination hours and reading/noting time as requested by Maria Garcia de la Banda and Julian Garcia with new assessment procedures for 2017. Effective S1 2017

21/10/2016 - Update to timetabling information in Workload.

3/08/2016 - changes made to tailor the unit for BSEng(Hon) students starting from 2017: unit name, prerequisites as well as prohibitions

17/06/2016 - change to learning outcomes (objectives) to improve the wording to allow better mapping to Aloha. Effective Sem 1, 2017.

28/09/2015 - updated prerequisites for BSE students commencing in 2016 (add ENG1003 and ENG1060). Learning outcomes and unit title still to be updated for 2017 offering.

13/05/015 - The UnitObjectives/Objectives have been made simpler. This should make the mapping of the outcomes to the assessment outcomes and graduate attributes easier.

27 May 2014: Admin - minor change to unit learning outcomes.

19 May 2014: Unit proposed.

FIT2085 is a core unit in the Computational Science Major and Extended Major in the Bachelor of Science (BSc).

It builds on the introduction to computer programming begun in the faculty core unit FIT1040 Programming Fundamentals, Its' most important role is to introduce some major themes from the discipline of computer science, namely, Algorithms and Data Structures, and Abstract Machines. This selection of topics allows students to understand how problem solving in computer science involves different levels of abstraction, from high-level algorithms and programming down to the machine level. It gives the students practice in various aspects of problem solving, including developing, applying and implementing simple algorithms and data structures, and encourages them to reason about their properties. Finally, it uses the Python programming language to implement the aforementioned algorithms.

The unit is related to FIT1029 Algorithmic Problem Solving in that it looks at some of the algorithms already discussed in FIT1029 at the level of pseudocode. FIT2085 gives more depth to these algorithms by going from pseudocode to actual code, reasoning about different alternative approaches and possible optimisations, and determining time complexity in more detail.

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

1. Translate problem statements into algorithms and implement them in a high level programming language.
2. Summarise and compare the properties of basic abstract data types such as stacks, queues, lists, trees, priority queues, heaps and hash tables.
3. Theoretically and experimentally evaluate different implementations of basic abstract data types.
4. Analyse algorithms by determining their best case and worst case big O time complexity
5. Implement and evaluate different strategies for solving a given problem.
6. Recognise the limitations - both theoretical and practical - of algorithms.
7. De-construct simple high-level code into assembly code such as MIPS R2000.

020109

This unit introduces students to core problem-solving, analytical skills, and methodologies useful for developing flexible, robust, and maintainable software. In doing this it covers a range of conceptual levels, from high level algorithms and data-structures, down to the machine models and simple assembly language programming. Topics include data types; data structures; algorithms; algorithmic complexity; recursion; and translation to assembly language.

Recommended resources

For algorithms and data structures:

Technological requirements

Students must regularly check Moodle for announcements.

The following software will be used:

On-campus

Workshop, tutorials and lab-based problem classes

Examination (3 hours and 10 minutes): 60%; In-semester assessment: 40%.

Justification: a longer exam (3 hours) is good given the amount of material in FIT2085 as it has 3 hours of lectures a week and more time is needed in the exam to assess the students knowledge.

1. Interview Pracs - 26% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
2. Solo/Colab Pracs - 14% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
3. Examination - 60% - ULO: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:

(b.) Additional requirements (all students):

Laboratories must follow tutorials. The workshop(s) in Sunway follow those in Clayton (day after or a few hours after).

FIT

ENG1003 and ENG1060