Year
2021
Units
4.5
Contact
1 x 2-hour lecture weekly
1 x 2-hour laboratory weekly
1 x 57-hour independent study per semester
Enrolment not permitted
1 of COMP1001, COMP1002, COMP1202, COMP8701 has been successfully completed
Assessment
Literature review, Research proposal, Research paper, Test(s)
Topic description

Introduction to computers and operating, network and intelligent systems. History of machine computation; System architecture - hardware, firmware, software and virtual; Boolean logic; Sets and relations; Data abstraction and manipulation; Algorithms and algorithmic design; Complexity of algorithms; Programming and scripting languages and toolboxes; File and database systems; Human-machine interaction; Computer graphics.

Educational aims

This topic aims to introduce students to the fundamentals of computation so that they will have the requisite background and context to appreciate the material in subsequent ICT and AI/CI topics as well as the capability of configuring and running publicly available software.

Expected learning outcomes
On completion of this topic you will be expected to be able to:

  1. Examine the fundamentals, nature and limitations of computation
  2. Apply standard representations of data and the translation to and from standard forms
  3. Evaluate the structure of intelligent systems and their use
  4. Understand the social and ethical implications of the application of intelligent systems
  5. Construct simple imperative programs and scripts
  6. Use standard Artificial Intelligence and Computational Intelligence toolboxes
  7. Survey and evaluate a selection of emerging computer science technologies