With the introduction of a specialised Computer Science Bachelors degree under the new Course Architecture redevelopment comes an opportunity to re-introduce fundamental core computer science material such as programming paradigms study. This essential material had been dropped from the BCS degree previously due to the need to cater for a wider variety of students in what had become a more general degree.

29/08/2017 - Admin: update prerequisites to include a new unit being introduced as part of the redevelopment of the Bachelor of Computer Science Advanced (Honours) for 2018.

12/06/2017: Admin - updating location of offering to reflect actual campus offerings at the ADE's request.

27/09/2016: Revised learning outcomes.

9/9/2016: Updated synopsis and learning outcomes - primarily to give a little more consideration of theory. Changes were reviewed and edited by BCS course director Arun Konagurthu.

Introduced for course architecture programs. Effective semester 1, 2016

22/8/2016: Changed the assessment to 40% Exam, 60% in-semester. This is in-line with a more "flipped-classroom" model with greater emphasis on continuous assessment. In-semester assessment will be a combination of project-work, quizzes, assessed classroom-activities and so on. Adjustment approved by the BCS course director Arun Konagurthu.

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

11/6/2020: Changed assessment to 100% in semester as part of exam removal to support online hybrid delivery of unit (further details available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D5yfAOgd54VDPinwG1caQTXSWcU60Gtj4zyqR5nVsrE/edit?usp=sharing)

12/06/2020: Minor updates to reflect the evolved content of the unit. (submitted on behalf of Tim Dwyer)

18/6/20: Updating workload from laboratory to tutorial (as advised by Tim Dwyer)

30/6/20: updating assessment section to include academic integrity and authentication method 1/7/20: added reference to similarity matching (MOSS use is intended)

01/10/2020 Admin: Update to include new assessment and teaching approach fields as per Handbook requirements.

13/07/2021: Admin - Adding 'Reasons for Change'. Currently, FIT2102 has 100% in-semester assessment, and there is technically no hurdle in this case.

Request for Additional Hurdle

1. 45% hurdle for the total of Assignment 1 and Assignment 2
2. 45% hurdle for the total of Tutorial Homework

Currently, FIT2102 has a 100% in-semester assessment, and there is technically no hurdle in this case. There are two components for in-semester assessment:

• 40% for tutorial work
• 60% for assignments (assignment 1 + assignment 2)

The challenges is that students could technically pass the unit without doing much work for the tutorial component if they do well in assignments.

The unit is core in the BCS degree and introduces students to a variety of programming paradigms apart from the conventional imperative / procedural and object-oriented approaches they will be familiar with from the majority of programming-related units in the degree.

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

1. describe the major attributes that differentiate programming paradigms considered;
2. describe the major features, strengths and weaknesses of important programming languages in the context of their historical development;
3. analyse and critique past, present and future programming languages;
4. evaluate the suitability of different paradigms for different problem types;
5. design and implement programs in several programming languages of different paradigms and demonstrate an ability to solve more complex problems in at least one non-procedural paradigm.
6. describe the theoretical aspects of modern programming paradigms and apply this theory to analysis and design of programs.

020103

Ability to code in differently constructed programming languages is analogous to speaking in different natural languages with varying grammars. Similar to natural languages, programming languages from different paradigms (styles) vary in their expressiveness and efficiency. One programming language may require many screens-full of complex code to accomplish a task for which another requires but a few expressive lines of code. Therefore, understanding the design principles of programming languages enables computational problems to be implemented in dramatically different and powerful ways; leading, in some cases, to solutions that are more elegant, correct, maintainable, efficient and/or extensible.

This unit examines a selection of programming languages and paradigms and explores the evolution of language design from low-level paradigms that are closer to the execution model of the machine, to more high-level declarative paradigms that allow programmers to model a problem precisely rather than specify its solution. The unit covers paradigms such as functional and declarative programming styles, comparing and contrasting them to programming styles that students are already familiar with, including object-oriented, imperative and procedural programming paradigms. We compare type systems supported by various languages, from scripting languages like JavaScript with weak type systems, to gradual typing as in TypeScript, to advanced compiled languages with strong type correctness, such as Haskell. We see these applied to data-modeling techniques (covering polymorphism, mutability-versus-purity, state management, and side-effects) and different models of execution such as strict-versus-lazy evaluation.

The unit provides practical experience with using modern functional programming techniques, non-procedural, non-object-oriented programming languages and discusses the influence of programming language theory on the design of current main-stream computer languages, and how the theory translates to practice. A focus of the unit is that these techniques are applicable and ubiquitous in a variety of modern languages, for example, we will see how functional programming techniques are used in relatively conventional imperative languages like JavaScript, and compare and contrast this with pure functional languages, such as Haskell.

On-campus

Active learning

All lectures and classes will be interactive and require active participation by students in problem solving and programming exercises.

Lectures, tutorials and lab classes

Lectures will be interactive and involve group problem solving activities - students should bring a laptop to the lectures. Participation in lecture activities will be assessed through rolls and on-line forums and quizzes.

Lab classes will involve individual work and homework problems and exercises. Acceptable completion of these will be assessed through one-on-one interviews at each lab with the tutors. Problem-based learning There will be take-home programming and problem-solving challenges given in each lecture and students will continue to work on these in the labs. They will be structured to provide a working understanding of the theory and topics covered.

In-semester assessment: 100%

Assignment 1: 30% Assignment 2: 30% Tutorial Tasks: 40%

Students are interviewed on their efforts in assignments and tutorial tasks. Students maintain a diary of efforts to clarify individual contributions to team tasks.

Similarity matching is performed on student assignment submissions.

1. Assignment 1: Functional Reactive Programming 30% - ULO 4-5
2. Assignment 2: Haskell Programming: 30% - ULO 2-6
3. Tutorial Homework: 40% - ULO 1-6

Additional Hurdle

1. 45% hurdle for the total of Assignment 1 and Assignment 2
2. 45% hurdle for the total of Tutorial Homework

Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:

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

(b.) Additional requirements (all students):

FIT1008 or FIT1054