Computer Science - BSc (Hons)

This module builds on the foundation of object-oriented design and implementation found in CO320 to provide both a broader and a deeper understanding of and facility with object-oriented program design and implementation. Reinforcement of foundational material is through its use in both understanding and working with a range of fundamental data structures and algorithms. More advanced features of object-orientation, such as interface inheritance, abstract classes, nested classes, functional abstractions and exceptions are covered. These allow an application-level view of design and implementation to be explored. Throughout the course, the quality of application design and the need for a professional approach to software development is emphasised.

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This module provides an introduction to object-oriented software development. Software pervades many aspects of most professional fields and sciences, and an understanding of the development of software applications is useful as a basis for many disciplines. This module covers the development of simple software systems. Students will gain an understanding of the software development process, and learn to design and implement applications in a popular object-oriented programming language. Fundamentals of classes and objects are introduced and key features of class descriptions: constructors, methods and fields. Method implementation through assignment, selection control structures, iterative control structures and other statements is introduced. Collection objects are also covered and the availability of library classes as building blocks. Throughout the course, the quality of class design and the need for a professional approach to software development is emphasised and forms part of the assessment criteria.

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Mathematical reasoning underpins many aspects of computer science and this module aims to provide the skills needed for other modules on the degree programme; we are not teaching mathematics for its own sake. Topics will include algebra, reasoning and proof, set theory, functions, statistics and computer arithmetic.

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An introduction to databases and SQL, focussing on their use as a source for content for websites. Creating static content for websites using HTML(5) and controlling their appearance using CSS. Using PHP to integrate static and dynamic content for web sites. Securing dynamic websites. Using Javascript to improve interactivity and maintainability in web content.

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This module follows from CO322 and aims to provide students with more understanding of the theory behind the formal underpinnings of computing. It will build upon the abstract reasoning skills introduced in CO322. Matrices, vectors, differential calculus, probability and logic will be introduced.

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This module provides an introduction to human-computer interaction. Fundamental aspects of human physiology and psychology are introduced and key features of interaction and common interaction styles delineated. A variety of analysis and design methods are introduced (e.g. GOMS. heuristic evaluation, user-centred and contextual design techniques). Throughout the course, the quality of design and the need for a professional, integrated and user-centred approach to interface development is emphasised. Rapid and low-fidelity prototyping feature as one aspect of this.

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This module equips students with an understanding of how modern cloud-based applications work. Topics covered may include:

• A high-level view of cloud computing: the economies of scale, security issues, ethical concerns, the typical high-level architecture of a cloud-based application, types of available services (e.g., parallelization, data storage).

• Cloud infrastructure: command line interface; containers and virtual machines; parallelization (e.g., MapReduce, distributed graph processing); data storage (e.g., distributed file systems, distributed databases, distributed shared in-memory data structures).

• Cloud concepts: high-level races, transactions and sequential equivalence; classical distributed algorithms (e.g., election, global snapshot, consensus, distributed mutual exclusion); scheduling, fault-tolerance and reliability in the context of a particular parallelization technology (e.g., MapReduce).

• Operating system support: network services (e.g., TCP/IP, routing, reliable communication), virtualization services (e.g., virtual memory, containers)

Find out more about CO337

This module aims to strengthen the foundational programming-in-the-small abilities of students via a strong, practical, problem solving focus. Specific topics will include introductory algorithms, algorithm correctness, algorithm runtime, as well as big-O notation. Essential data structures and algorithmic programming skills will be covered, such as arrays, lists and trees, searching and sorting, recursion, and divide and conquer.

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This module introduces students to the functional programming paradigm, using at least one modern functional programming language to put the core concepts into practice. The module will develop both the foundation and theory of this paradigm, as well as the practice and application of the paradigm to solve problems and build systems. The module will core topics, including:

• Functions as first-class language constructs and as a central organising principle;

• Higher-order functions and compositional programming;

• Basic semantics of functional languages;

• The role of types in programming;

• Algebraic data types and pattern matching;

• Recursion and recursive data types;

• Differences with imperative and object-oriented programming paradigms;

• Properties of programs, (e.g., purity, side-effect freedom, totality, and partiality).

• The lambda-calculus as a programming model and foundation.

• BNF grammars for representing context-free syntax, and its relation to ADTs and language manipulation.

• Testing and issues of building correct software.

The module will develop practical skills in programming and problem solving using functional programming. There will also be a chance to apply functional programming to help understand better concepts in logic and mathematics.

Later parts of the module will then consider concurrent programming in the context of functional programming, including concurrent programming models and primitives (e.g., message-passing concurrency), parallelism, synchronisation and communication, and properties of deadlock, communication-safety, and starvation.

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This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the fundamental components (hardware and software) of a typical computer system, and how they collaborate to execute software programs. The module provides a compressive overview from the lowest level of abstractions in hardware to the highest level of abstractions of modern programming languages. For example, they will see logic circuits, machine language, programming language implementations, high-level languages, and applications. This material provides a general understanding of computers, and it will also prepare students to develop software considering the system perspective, e.g. cost of abstraction and performance implications

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Cyber security has always been an important aspect of computing systems but its importance has increased greatly in recent years. The curriculum covers areas where cyber security is of major importance and the techniques used to secure computer systems. The areas looked at include computer operating systems (and increasingly, distributed operating systems), distributed applications (such as electronic commerce over the Internet) and embedded systems (ranging from smart cards to large industrial plant and telecommunications systems). Furthermore, the curriculum integrates the legal, ethical, and professional perspectives for instance to address concerns about data security, privacy, and societal impact of computing systems.

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The module studies team-based Agile software development in detail and places it in a wider software development context.

Topics covered include

• Concepts, principles, practice and philosophy of an Agile approach to software development, contrasting with more structured approaches.

• Collaboration: programmer collaboration, team values, customer involvement, project management, standards and reporting.

• Planning: release and sprint planning, risk assessment, user stories and resource estimating

• Development practices: incremental requirements, test-driven development, refactoring, scrum, code review, quality assurance, continuous integration.

• Tools: IDEs, version control, automated code quality evaluation, issue tracking.

• Ethics, Intellectual property, codes of conduct and professional responsibility.

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The curriculum covers topics in algorithms and data structures, such as sorting, searching, and graph algorithms. It addresses how to program such algorithms, as well as how to test them, reason about their correctness and analyse their efficiency.

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This module covers the basic principles of machine learning and the kinds of problems that can be solved by such techniques. You learn about the philosophy of AI, how knowledge is represented and algorithms to search state spaces. The module also provides an introduction to both machine learning and biologically inspired computation.

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This module provides an introduction to the theory and practice of database systems. It extends the study of information systems in Stage 1 by focusing on the design, implementation and use of database systems. Topics include database management systems architecture, data modelling and database design, query languages, recent developments and future prospects.

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Building scaleable web sites using client-side and and server-side frameworks (e.g. JQuery, CodeIgniter). Data transfer technologies, e.g. XML and JSON. Building highly interactive web sites using e.g. AJAX. Web services. Deploying applications and services to the web: servers, infrastructure services, and traffic and performance analysis. Web and application development for mobile devices.

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Propositional & Predicate Logic, including proofs. Formal languages: finite automata, regular expressions, CFGs. Turing machines, decidability.

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Students taking this module will undertake two or (typically) more assignments for the Kent IT Clinic (KITC). Each assignment will be of one of three types: .

Work on one of KITC's contracts with an external client. To the extent that client-funded work allows, every student will be given at least one assignment of this type. Wherever practical, a student will be encouraged to participate in the negotiation and pricing of contracts, under the ultimate supervision of KITC management. For each assignment, the student may work on the assignment individually or as part of a group, as directed by KITC.

A contribution to the infrastructure of KITC itself. These assignments work in a similar way to external assignments, but with KITC as the client.

Formulating a costed proposal for the future development of KITC, and presenting reasoned argument in support of the proposal to KITC management, as a candidate for inclusion in KITC’s strategic plan for the following academic year. Every student will have at least one assignment of this type.

Find out more about CO650

Students, working in small groups, undertake a project related to computer science and/or software engineering. The project may be self-proposed or may be selected from a list of project proposals. A project will involve the specification, design, implementation, documentation and demonstration of a technical artefact, demonstrating the ability to synthesise information, ideas and practices to provide a quality solution together with an evaluation of that solution.

Find out more about CO600

As a research project, this module is normally aimed at students who are achieving at upper second class level and above, and who may be intending to undertake research following graduation. Each student undertakes a project related to computer science and/or software engineering. The project may be self-proposed or may be selected from a list of project proposals. A project will involve background study and working on an open-ended research problem.

A small number of introductory lectures are given at the start of the project.

Find out more about CO620

The module starts with a comprehensive and detailed study of current computer networks and communications technologies. It includes: a review of network techniques, switching and multiple access; high speed local area networks; network protocols and Internet security protocols, including data link, network, transport and application layers; network attacks and defence mechanisms including encryption and tunnelling. A selection of key topics are looked at in greater depth to reveal the state-of-the-art and issues (problems) that remain to be solved.

Find out more about CO633

Security has always been an important aspect of computing systems but its importance has increased greatly in recent years. In this module you learn about areas where security is of major importance and the techniques used to secure them. The areas you look at include computer operating systems (and increasingly, distributed operating systems), distributed applications (such as electronic commerce over the Internet) and embedded systems (ranging from smart cards and pay-TV to large industrial plant and telecommunications systems).

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In this module you learn what is meant by neural networks and how to explain the mathematical equations that underlie them. You also build neural networks using state of the art simulation technology and apply these networks to the solution of problems. In addition, the module discusses examples of computation applied to neurobiology and cognitive psychology.

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There is an increasing use of nature-inspired computational techniques in computer science. These include the use of biology as a source of inspiration for solving computational problems, such as developments in evolutionary algorithms and swarm intelligence. It is therefore proposed to allow students the opportunity to become exposed to these types of methods for use in their late careers.

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The scope of the module is outlined below. Note that topics will not necessarily be delivered in this order:

Professional issues and professional organisations.

Data privacy legislation, and other UK laws relating to the professional use of computer systems.

Criminal law relating to networked computer use, including new Anti-Terrorism legislation; and their application

Intellectual Property Rights, including Copyright, Patent and Contract Law.

Health & Safety issues.

Computer-based Projects, including the vendor-client relationship and professional responsibilities.

Find out more about CO643

Students will spend one half-day per week for ten weeks in a school with a nominated teacher. They will observe sessions taught by their designated teacher and possibly other teachers. Later they will act somewhat in the role of a teaching assistant, by helping individual pupils who are having difficulties or by working with small groups. They may take 'hotspots': brief sessions with the whole class where they explain a technical topic or talk about aspects of university life. They must keep a weekly log of their activities. Each student must also devise a special project in consultation with the teacher and with the module convener. They must then implement and evaluate the project.

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This module is designed to provide students across the university with access to knowledge, skill development and training in the field of entrepreneurship with a special emphasis on developing a business plan in order to exploit identified opportunities. Hence, the module will be of value for students who aspire to establishing their own business and/or introducing innovation through new product, service, process, project or business development in an established organisation. The module complements students' final year projects in Computing, Law, Biosciences, Electronics, Multimedia, and Drama etc.

Find out more about CB612

A study of techniques for interpreting and compiling programming languages, implementing them in a typed functional programming language (e.g., OCaml, Haskell). The module will outline a whole compiler from source to machine code, but will focus in depth on key algorithms and techniques. Possible in-depth topics include:

• writing interpreters,

• Hindley-Milner type inference,

• register allocation,

• garbage collection,

• abstract interpretation,

• static single assignment form.

The implemented language will be based on a simple imperative (e.g., Pascal-like) language with some extensions to address advanced topics in data layout (e.g., closures, objects, pattern matching). The course will be organized around a simple, but complete, example compiler that the student will have to understand and modify.

Find out more about CO658

This module is aimed at introducing the principles of concurrency theory (1, 2, 3) and demonstrating how these can be applied to design and implement distributed applications (4). Advanced concepts of Web services will be studied and placed in the perspective of these principles (5, 6).

The following is an indicative list of topics:

• Message passing primitives for concurrency: synchronous versus asynchronous message passing, the actor model.

• Reasoning on processes: temporal logic, safety and liveness properties, bisimulation.

• Channel passing and mobility.

• Design and implementation of application–level protocols.

• Web services: from stateless services to distributed business processes (also known as service orchestrations).

• Transaction protocols on the Web: two-phase commit, long running transactions.

Find out more about CO661

This module will give students an overarching introduction to quantum information processing (QIP). At the end of the course the students will have a basic understanding of quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum cryptography; as well as the implications to other fields such as computation, physics, and cybersecurity.

We will take a multi-disciplinary approach that will encourage and require students to engage in topics outside of their core discipline. The module will cover the most essential mathematical background required to understand QIP. This includes: linear algebra, basic elements of quantum theory (quantum states, evolution of closed quantum systems, Born's rule), and basic theory of computing. The module will introduce students to the following theoretical topics: quantum algorithms, quantum cryptography, quantum communication & information. The module will also address experimental quantum computation & cryptography.

Find out more about CO822

This module explores a range of different data mining and knowledge discovery techniques and algorithms. You learn about the strengths and weaknesses of different techniques and how to choose the most appropriate for any particular task. You use a data mining tool, and learn to evaluate the quality of discovered knowledge.

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The module introduces fundamental techniques employed in image processing and pattern recognition providing an understanding of how practical pattern recognition systems may be developed able to address the inherent difficulties present in real world situations. The material is augmented with a study of biometric and security applications looking at the specific techniques employed to recognise biometric samples.

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This module introduces the theory and practice of employing computers as the control and organisational centre of an electronic or mechanical system, and examines issues related to time critical systems. It also provides exposure to practical embedded systems design through practical work, with one assignment exploring the ideas of real-time operating systems introduced in the lectures and a second using a microcomputer programmed in 'C' to control the ignition timing of a simulated petrol engine.

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The module will study some of the major works in the history of modern philosophy of cognitive science and artificial intelligence. An indicative list of topics is the Turing test; the Chinese Room argument; the frame problem; connectionism; extended and embodied cognition; artificial consciousness. The approach will be philosophical and critical, and will involve the close reading of texts. Students will be expected to engage critically with the works being studied and to formulate and argue for their own views on the issues covered.

Find out more about PL583