CQUniversity Unit Profile
COIT20256 Data Structures and Algorithms
Data Structures and Algorithms
All details in this unit profile for COIT20256 have been officially approved by CQUniversity and represent a learning partnership between the University and you (our student).
The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
General Information

Overview

In this unit, you will study advanced data structures and algorithms for software development using an object oriented programming language. You will learn how to build classes, throw exceptions, and extend a class using inheritance and polymorphism. You will practice these concepts and build applications with front-end Graphical User Interface and back-end database using database programming. You will also learn to build software applications using built-in Java Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for generic collections of linked lists, stacks, queues, sets and maps, and creating custom generic data structures. You will also gain understanding of sorting and searching algorithms, recursion, search trees, and learn to evaluate algorithms using Big O notation. You will be introduced to functional programming using Lambdas and Streams. You will be given hands-on experience to practice all concepts during computer lab tutorials. The object-oriented design will also be covered.

Details

Career Level: Postgraduate
Unit Level: Level 9
Credit Points: 6
Student Contribution Band: 8
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load: 0.125

Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: COIT20245 Introduction to Programming

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Offerings For Term 2 - 2018

Brisbane
Distance
Melbourne
Rockhampton
Sydney

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Class and Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Class Timetable

Bundaberg, Cairns, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville
Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Assessment Overview

1. Written Assessment
Weighting: 20%
2. Written Assessment
Weighting: 30%
3. Examination
Weighting: 50%

Assessment Grading

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.

Previous Student Feedback

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Feedback from Unit evaluation

Feedback

There have been some dissatisfaction about the clarity of assignment requirements.

Recommendation

The assignments are written based on authentic software development cases and this may cause some inherent vagueness. The students will be given clear instructions to design the solution with supporting assumptions taken by them.

Unit Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
  1. Compare and contrast different algorithms in problem solving
  2. Design and implement appropriate data structures for application development
  3. Evaluate a variety of data structures and algorithmic approaches including: recursion, linked lists, stacks, queues, streams, search trees, sorting and searching
  4. Analyse, develop and implement software solutions with the focus of data structures and algorithms
  5. Apply classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and exception handling
  6. Programmatically connect to a database and implement the database operations
  7. Work collaboratively as part of a small team
  8. Demonstrate socially innovative practices in software development
  9. Accomplish functional programming with Lambda expressions and Streams.

Australian Computer Society (ACS) recognises the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA is in use in over 100 countries and provides a widely used and consistent definition of ICT skills. SFIA is increasingly being used when developing job descriptions and role profiles.
ACS members can use the tool MySFIA to build a skills profile at https://www.acs.org.au/professionalrecognition/mysfia-b2c.html
This unit contributes to the following workplace skills as defined by SFIA. The SFIA code is included:
  • Systems design (DESN)
  • System Integration (SINT)
  • Program ming/Software Development (PROG)
  • Data Analysis (DTAN)
  • Database/Repository Design (DBDS)
  • Testing (TEST)
  • Applications Support (ASUP)

Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes
N/A Level
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Professional Level
Advanced Level

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes

Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 - Written Assessment - 20%
2 - Written Assessment - 30%
3 - Examination - 50%

Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes

Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 - Knowledge
2 - Communication
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills
4 - Research
5 - Self-management
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility
7 - Leadership
8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes

Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Written Assessment - 20%
2 - Written Assessment - 30%
3 - Examination - 50%
Textbooks and Resources

Textbooks

Prescribed

Java how to program: Early Objects Edition

11th Edition (2018)
Authors: Paul Deiteil & Harvey Deitel
Perason
Upper Saddle Upper Saddle , NJ , USA
ISBN: 9780134743356
Binding: Hardcover

Additional Textbook Information

This unit has an open book final examination where students can take their Textbook with them to the examination. Therefore, it may be better to buy a hard copy of the Textbook even though rest of the study can be managed with an e-Book. Students can take a copy of consolidated notes to refer in the examination. So it is not mandatory to buy a Textbook.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:
  • CQUniversity Student Email
  • Internet
  • Unit Website (Moodle)
  • Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.8 or later
  • MySQL Database Server 5.7 or later
  • NetBeans IDE
Referencing Style

All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:

For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.

Teaching Contacts
Brijesh Verma Unit Coordinator
b.verma@cqu.edu.au
Schedule
Week 1 Begin Date: 09 Jul 2018

Module/Topic

A Deeper Look at Classes and Objects

Chapter

 8

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 2 Begin Date: 16 Jul 2018

Module/Topic

Object-Oriented Programming: Inheritance

Chapter

9

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 3 Begin Date: 23 Jul 2018

Module/Topic

Object-Oriented Programming: Polymorphism and Interfaces

Chapter

10

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 4 Begin Date: 30 Jul 2018

Module/Topic

GUI Components

Chapter

12 and 22

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 5 Begin Date: 06 Aug 2018

Module/Topic

Exception Handling, Files, Streams and Object Serialization

Chapter

11 and 15

Events and Submissions/Topic

Vacation Week Begin Date: 13 Aug 2018

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 6 Begin Date: 20 Aug 2018

Module/Topic

Object-Oriented Design

Chapter

33 (online chapter): Object-Oriented Design with the UML

Events and Submissions/Topic

Assignment 1 Due: Week 6 Thursday (23 Aug 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 7 Begin Date: 27 Aug 2018

Module/Topic

Generic Collections

Chapter

16

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 8 Begin Date: 03 Sep 2018

Module/Topic

Algorithms, Algorithmic Efficiency, Lambdas and Streams

Chapter

19 and 17

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 9 Begin Date: 10 Sep 2018

Module/Topic

Accessing Databases with JDBC

Chapter

24

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 10 Begin Date: 17 Sep 2018

Module/Topic

Generic Classes and Methods

Chapter

20

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 11 Begin Date: 24 Sep 2018

Module/Topic

Recursion

Chapter

18

Events and Submissions/Topic

Assignment 2 Due: Week 11 Thursday (27 Sept 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 12 Begin Date: 01 Oct 2018

Module/Topic

Custom Generic Data Structures

Chapter

21

Events and Submissions/Topic

Review/Exam Week Begin Date: 08 Oct 2018

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Exam Week Begin Date: 15 Oct 2018

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Assessment Tasks

1 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Assignment 1

Task Description

In this assignment you will demonstrate your understanding of object oriented programming concepts in Java, and show an ability to develop a GUI (Graphical User Interface) based Java application. This assessment task is to design, code, debug, and test using the topics covered in Weeks 1-5. Further details are available on the unit website in the Assignment 1 Specification document.


Assessment Due Date

Week 6 Thursday (23 Aug 2018) 11:45 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Week 8 Thursday (6 Sept 2018)


Weighting
20%

Assessment Criteria

  1. Efficient object-oriented program design.
  2. Appropriate use of Graphical User Interface (GUI).
  3. Appropriate use of data structures and algorithms in problem solving.
  4. Appropriate use of object-oriented concepts of classes, inheritance, and polymorphism.
  5. Development of fault-tolerant applications by appropriate use of exception handling.
  6. Effective use of good programming practice/techniques.
  7. Rigorous testing of Java applications


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Submission Instructions
Submit one zip file containing all source code (.java) and the report (.doc) file. Do not submit the whole NetBeans project folder or compiled binaries.

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • Design and implement appropriate data structures for application development
  • Analyse, develop and implement software solutions with the focus of data structures and algorithms
  • Apply classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and exception handling
  • Demonstrate socially innovative practices in software development


Graduate Attributes
  • Knowledge
  • Communication
  • Cognitive, technical and creative skills
  • Self-management

2 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Assignment 2

Task Description

In this assignment you will demonstrate your understanding of object oriented programming concepts and a variety of data structures and algorithms in Java, and show an ability to develop a GUI (Graphical User Interface) based Java application. This assessment task includes design, document, develop code, debug , and test a java application applying topics covered in Weeks 1 - 10. Further details are available on the Moodle unit website in the Assignment 2 specification document.


Assessment Due Date

Week 11 Thursday (27 Sept 2018) 11:45 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Review/Exam Week Thursday (11 Oct 2018)


Weighting
30%

Assessment Criteria

  1. Efficient object-oriented program design.
  2. Appropriate choice of data structures and algorithms in problem solving.
  3. Effective use of algorithms and Generic data structures
  4. Effective use of good programming practice/techniques.
  5. Rigorous testing of Java applications.
  6. Effective evaluation of algorithms, data structures and program designs.


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • Compare and contrast different algorithms in problem solving
  • Design and implement appropriate data structures for application development
  • Evaluate a variety of data structures and algorithmic approaches including: recursion, linked lists, stacks, queues, streams, search trees, sorting and searching
  • Analyse, develop and implement software solutions with the focus of data structures and algorithms
  • Apply classes, inheritance, polymorphism, and exception handling
  • Programmatically connect to a database and implement the database operations
  • Work collaboratively as part of a small team
  • Demonstrate socially innovative practices in software development


Graduate Attributes
  • Knowledge
  • Communication
  • Cognitive, technical and creative skills
  • Research
  • Self-management
  • Ethical and Professional Responsibility

Examination

Outline
Complete an invigilated examination

Date
During the examination period at a CQUniversity examination centre

Weighting
50%

Length
180 minutes

Exam Conditions
Open Book

Materials
Dictionary - non-electronic, concise, direct translation only (dictionary must not contain any notes or comments).
No calculators permitted
Academic Integrity Statement

As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.

Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.

When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.

Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.

As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.

What is a breach of academic integrity?

A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.

Why is academic integrity important?

A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.

Where can I get assistance?

For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.

What can you do to act with integrity?