Australian School of Business

Information Systems Technology and

Management

INFS1609
FUNDAMENTAL OF BUSINESS
PROGRAMMING

Course Outline*
Semester 2, 2012

Part A: Course-Specific Information

Please consult **Part B for key information on ASB policies
(including those on plagiarism and special consideration), student
responsibilities and student support services.

*This is a draft course outline. An updated version will be available

via Blackboard in O week.
**Part B will be available via Blackboard.

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

Table of Contents
PARTA:COURSESPECIFICINFORMATION

STAFFCONTACTDETAILS

COURSEDETAILS

2.1TeachingTimesandLocations
2.2UnitsofCredit
2.3CourseAimsandRelationshiptoOtherCourses
2.4StudentLearningOutcomes
3

LEARNINGANDTEACHINGACTIVITIES

3.1ApproachtoLearningandTeachingintheCourse
3.2LearningActivitiesandTeachingStrategies
4

ASSESSMENT

2
3
3
3
4
4
4
5

4.1FormalRequirements
4.2AssessmentDetails
4.3LateSubmission

5
5
6

COURSERESOURCES

COURSEEVALUATIONANDDEVELOPMENT

COURSESCHEDULE

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

PART A: COURSE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION

1 STAFF CONTACT DETAILS
Position

Name

Email

Room

Phone

Lecturer-incharge

Professor Claude
Sammut

[email protected]

K17- 401J

9385-6932

Lecturer

Dr Malcolm Ryan

[email protected]

K17- 401F

9385-6921

Course
Admin

Timothy Wiley

[email protected]

TBC

TBC

The best way to contact course staff is by emailing the class account
[email protected] and to consult the class web page at
http://blogs.unsw.edu.au/infs1609. In the first instance, please contact your tutor with
any queries and he/she will either: (i) answer your query or (ii) direct you to the relevant
person. If you need to contact the School urgently you can contact the School Office on
9385-5320.

2 COURSE DETAILS
2.1

Teaching Times and Locations

Lectures
The lecture is held Weeks 1-12 on Monday, from 12.00 to 13.00 in Central Lecture
Block 6 and Wednesday from 12:00 to 13:00, in Central Lecture Block 8.
Please be in lectures and labs no later than 5 minutes past the hour as late arrivals at
classes are very disruptive.
Laboratories
Laboratories sessions are held each week from Week 2 to Week 13 and attendance at
all workshops is compulsory. A list of workshop times and locations is available at
http://www.timetable.unsw.edu.au/current/INFS1609.html .You must attend the
workshop in which you are enrolled. If you wish to change workshops you must do so
via the enrolment mechanism at http://my.unsw.edu.au.
Attendance at laboratories is compulsory. You are expected to have attended 80% of
all workshops to pass this course (10 out of 12 workshops). An attendance roll will be
kept. If you are unable to attend your allocated workshop because of illness or
misadventure then you should notify your tutor immediately (and give them a copy of
your documentation e.g. doctors certificate).
Computer Laboratories
A list of laboratory times and locations is shown below.
Monday

13:00

14:00

Quad Lab 7

Monday

14:00

15:00

Quad Lab 7

Wednesday

13:00

14:00

Quad Lab 7

Wednesday

14:00

15:00

Quad Lab 7

Wednesday

15:00

16:00

Quad Lab 7

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

2.2

Units of Credit

Fundamentals of Business Programming (INFS1609) is worth 6 units of credit.

2.3

Course Aims and Relationship to Other Courses

This course introduces you to the foundations of the programming discipline, which
underlies most technical subjects such as software design, data management and
algorithms. It will involve both a theoretical component (e.g. learning about basic
programming concepts like loops, arrays and functions) as well as a practical
component (e.g. implementing simple algorithms in a computer laboratory). The course
also provides a first step towards learning the principles of object-oriented design and
programming through the use of the Java programming language.
The course is suitable for students with no prior programming experience. It is
particularly targeted at IS students as it relates to a number of core concepts that are
essential in understanding the technologies behind information systems in business
without getting overmuch into low-level technical details.
We will be using the Java programming language and the BlueJ environment for
learning.

2.4

Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
2. Be familiar with the concepts of object-oriented programming: classes, objects,
fields and methods.
3. Be able to read, write and debug simple programs.
4. Be able to design programs to solve simple tasks using storyboards and
flowcharts.
5. Be able to decompose a complex task into simpler functions and methods.
6. Understand and be able to use conditional statements, loops and recursion to
make more complex programs.
7. Be able to use random numbers to make programs which respond nondeterministically.
8. Be able to use lists and arrays to handle sequences of data.
9. Be able to understand basic file input and output operations.
This course contributes to your development of the following Australian School of
Business Graduate Attributes, which are the qualities, skills and understandings we
want you to have by the completion of your degree.
ASB Graduate Attributes

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

Learning
Outcomes
1-9
3

ASB Graduate Attributes

1. Critical thinking and problem solving

2. Communication
3. Teamwork and leadership
4. Social, ethical and global perspectives

1-9

5. In-depth engagement with relevant disciplinary knowledge

1-9

6. Professional skills

To see how the ASB Graduate Attributes relate to the UNSW Graduate Attributes, refer
to the ASB website (Learning and Teaching >Graduate Attributes).

3 LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES

3.1

Approach to Learning and Teaching in the Course

The lectures will introduce you to new material, which is being re-enforced and
practised in labs in smaller groups. Independent self-study of the textbook and
completion of all exercises and assignments are essential. The principal assessment
items are the assignments and the final exam.
In this course the purpose of lectures is to introduce you to the concepts covered, show
where they fit in the overall scheme of things and provide motivating examples to help
you understand them. You will need to do additional work outside of lecture time to
master the course. Lecture slides will be available to download.
Attendance to both lectures is necessary. We hope to be able to video lectures and
publish them online but we do not guarantee that every lecture will be so recorded. No
special consideration will be given to students who missed announcements or course
material by failing to attend.

3.2

Learning Activities and Teaching Strategies

The course involves three key components lectures, tutorials held in the computer
laboratories and your private study.
Each lecture will focus on the topic outlined for that week (see section 10). The lecture
will help you understand the organisational and societal context in which IS are built
and utilised, and will provide guidance on how to use workshops, laboratories and
private study to improve your understanding. lecture slides will be supplied to you
following the lecture via the course website.
Tutorials will help build your understanding of each course topic through the
application of what you have learnt in the lecture to programming exercises. Tutorial
exercises will be published on the course web site, week by week. Students are
encouraged to study the exercises before hand and may attempt them on the own
computers.

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

Your private study is the most important component of this course. The textbook and
tutorials are designed to test your understanding of the topic at hand and include
review questions, application questions and discussion questions of varying difficulty.

4 ASSESSMENT
4.1

Formal Requirements

To receive a pass grade in this course, you must meet ALL of the following criteria:
Attain an overall mark of at least 50%.
Attend at least 80% of all scheduled classes.
Attain a satisfactory performance in each component of the course. A mark of
45 percent or higher is normally regarded as satisfactory.
Attain a mark of at least 45% in the final exam.

4.2

Assessment Details

Assessment
Task

Weighting

Learning
Outcomes
assessed

Tutorial
Participation
Individual
Assignment
Final Exam

10%

19

ASB
Graduate
Attributes
assessed
1, 5, 6

3 x 10%

19

1, 5, 6

60%

19

1, 5, 6

Total

100%

Length

2 hours

Due Date

Week 2 to 13
Workshops
Weeks 5, 8 &
11
University
Exam Period

Details of each assessment task:

Tutorial Participation (10%)
Practical programming competency is an important objective of this course. The best
way to learn programming skills is to practice programming you do that in Labs and in
your assignments. Laboratories and tutorials are combined in this course. They are
your main forum for asking questions and getting personal assistance. You should
make sure that you use them effectively by examining in advance the material to be
covered, by asking questions, by offering suggestions and by generally participating.
In the laboratory component of the class you will work through set programming
exercises. This will give you a chance to develop your programming skills on small,
simple examples. The examples have been chosen to highlight particular aspects of
programming, support the material covered in the previous lectures, and are designed
to assist you in your assignments. Your tutor will be there to assist you.

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

Book your tutorial-lab time online using myUNSW. Check your tutorial times at the end
of week1 even if you selected a time when you enrolled since some tutorials may have
subsequently been cancelled and available times may have changed.
Marking Guide
0
1-2
3-6
7-9
10

Below 80% attendance (i.e. 10 workshops) as required by school

Has satisfied the attendance requirement but has not completed any tutorial
exercises
Has satisfied the attendance and completed some tutorial exercises.
Has satisfied the attendance and completed most tutorial exercises.
Has satisfied the attendance and completed all tutorial exercises.

Individual Assignments (3 x 10%)

The assignments will be available on course we site in weeks 3, 6 and 9. The
assignments will be undertaken individually and will consist of a Java programming
problem. Students will submit their code, which must include comments explaining the
operation of their program. Marks will be given for performance (i.e. correctness and
efficiency of execution), style (i.e. layout and quality of the code) and documentation
(i.e. comments describing the data structures and algorithms).
In this course submission of any work derived from another person, or solely or jointly
written by and or with someone else, without clear and explicit acknowledgement, will
be severely punished and may result in automatic failure for the course and a mark of
zero for the course. Note this includes including unreferenced work from books, the
internet, etc.
Do not provide or show your assessable work to any other person. Allowing another
student to copy from you will, at the very least, result in zero for that assessment. If you
knowingly provide or show your assessment work to another person for any reason,
and work derived from it is subsequently submitted you will be penalised, even if the
work was submitted without your knowledge or consent. This will apply even if your
work is submitted by a third party unknown to you. You should keep your work private
until submissions have closed.

Final Examination (60%)

The final examination will be held during the formal end-of-session examination period.
The final examination will cover ALL TOPICS in this Course, and will be based on
material from lectures, workshops and the textbook. The aim of the final examination is
to enable you to demonstrate that you have achieved all the Learning Objectives for
this Course. Further details of the exam will be provided in the Week 12 lecture.

4.3

Late Submission

The late submission of assignments carries a penalty of 10% of the maximum marks
available for that assignment per day of lateness (including weekends and public
holidays), unless an extension of time has been granted. An extension of time to
complete an assignment may be granted by the lecturer-in-charge in case of
misadventure or illness. Applications for an extension of time should be made to the
lecturer-in-charge by email or in person. You will be required to substantiate your
application with appropriate documentary evidence such as medical certificates,
accident reports etc. Please note that work commitments and computer failures are
usually considered insufficient grounds for an extension.

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

Quality Assurance
The ASB is actively monitoring student learning and quality of the student
experience in all its programs. A random selection of completed assessment tasks
may be used for quality assurance, such as to determine the extent to which
program learning goals are being achieved. The information is required for
accreditation purposes, and aggregated findings will be used to inform changes
aimed at improving the quality of ASB programs. All material used for such
processes will be treated as confidential and will not be related to course grades.

5 COURSE RESOURCES
The textbooks for this course are:
Objects First with Java: A Practical Introduction Using BlueJ by David Barnes and
Michael Klling. Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall / Pearson Education, 2008. [ISBN10: 0-13-606086-2, ISBN-13: 978-0-13-606086-4].
This textbook is necessary to help you to prepare for the Lectures and particularly the
workshops, It will also be needed to help you prepare for the final examination. It can
be purchased from the university bookshop.

6 COURSE EVALUATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Your feedback at the end of this course is a valuable tool to help us assess our current
course design and introduce further improvements in the future. UNSW's Course and
Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) process is an important way in which
student evaluative feedback is gathered systematically from all courses. We will also
add some more specific forms of evaluation, including informal feedback, at the end of
semester. Given our approach to teaching and learning and the role of students in
these processes, we see students evaluation as an integral part of teaching and
learning. As a result of student feedback in 2008, 2009, and 2010, we have significantly
revised the delivery of workshops and computer laboratories as well as the course
assessment. We believe that these changes will result in an enhanced learning
experience for semester 2 2011, and we look forward to receiving your feedback on the
changes.

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming

7 COURSE SCHEDULE
Lecture Schedule
Lectures start in Week 1 and finish in Week 12.

COURSE SCHEDULE
Week
Week 1
16 July
Week 2
23 July
Week 3
30 July
Week 4
6 August
Week 5
13 August
Week 6
20 August
Week 7
27 August

Lecture Topic

Tutorial Topic

References

Other Activities/
Assessment

Introduction to
procedural
programming
Data types
Conditions and
loops

Assignment 1
released

Arrays and objects

Fundamental
algorithms
Testing and
debugging
Grouping objects:
collections

Assignment 1 due
Assignment 2
released

Mid-Session Break: Week 3-9 September

Week 8
10 Sept
Week 9
17 Sept
Week 10
24 Sept
Week 11
1 October
Week 12
8 October
Week 13
15 October

Class definitions:
fields, constructors
and methods

Assignment 2 due

Object interaction

Assignment 3
released

Object-oriented
design
Inheritance

Assignment 3 due

Review & Exam

Preparation
Possible Monday
lecture if needed to
make up for holiday
in week 11

INFS1609 Fundamentals of Business Programming