BSc: Introduction To Programming

Introduction to Programming

• Course name: Introduction to Programming
• Code discipline: CSE101
• Subject area: Programming Languages and Software Engineering

Short Description

This course covers the following concepts: Basic concept - algorithm, program, data; Computer architecture basics; Structured programming; Object-oriented programming; Generic programming; Exception handling; Programming by contract (c); Functional programming; Concurrent programming.

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics

Section	Topics within the section
Introduction to programming	Basic definitions – algorithm, program, computer, von Neumann architecture, CPU lifecycle. Programming languages history and overview. Imperative (procedural) and functional approaches. Translation – compilation vs. interpretation. JIT, AOT. Hybrid modes. Introduction to typification. Static and dynamic typing. Type inference. Basic types – integer, real, character, boolean, bit. Arrays and strings. Records-structures. Programming – basic concepts. Statements and expressions. 3 atomic statements - assignment, if-check, goto. Control structures – conditional, assignment, goto, case-switch-inspect, loops. Variables and constants. Routines – procedures and functions.
Introduction to object-oriented programming	Key principles of object-oriented programming Overloading is not overriding Concepts of class and object How objects can be created? Single and multiple inheritance
Introduction to generics, exception handling and programming by contract (C)	Introduction to generics Introduction to exception handling Introduction to programming by contract (C)
Introduction to programming environments	Concept of libraries as the basis for reuse. Concept of interfaces/API. Separate compilation. Approaches to software documentation. Persistence. Files. How to building a program. Recompilation problem. Name clashes, name spaces
Introduction to concurrent and functional programming	Concurrent programming. Functional programming within imperative programming languages.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

What is the main purpose of this course?

The Introduction to Programming course teaches the fundamental concepts and skills necessary to perform programming at a professional level. Students will learn how to master the fundamental control structures, data structures, reasoning patterns and programming language mechanisms characterizing modern programming, as well as the fundamental rules of producing high-quality software. They will acquire the necessary programming background for later courses introducing programming skills in specialized application areas. The course focuses on Object Oriented paradigm.

ILOs defined at three levels

Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• Basic concepts of programming. What is algorithm, program.
• Concept of typification. Dynamic and static types.
• Concepts of structured programming, object-oriented one.
• Concepts of exception handling and generic programming.
• Concurrent programming and functional programming in imperative programming languages.
• verification of the software based on programming by contract (C)

Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• How to create high quality software using mainstream concepts of programming.
• What is object-oriented programming and its main advantages
• How to increase the level of abstraction with help of genericity.
• How to create concurrent programs and what are the main issues related to this kind of programming

Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?

By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...

• To be able to create quality programs in Java.

Grading

Course grading range

Grade	Range	Description of performance
A. Excellent	85-100	-
B. Good	75-84	-
C. Satisfactory	60-75	-
D. Poor	0-59	-

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type	Percentage of the overall course grade
Labs/seminar classes	40
Interim performance assessment	30
Exams	30

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Activities within each section

Learning Activities	Section 1	Section 2	Section 3	Section 4	Section 5
Homework and group projects	1	1	1	1	1
Midterm evaluation	1	1	1	0	0
Testing (written or computer based)	1	0	0	1	1
Oral polls	1	1	1	1	1
Discussions	1	1	1	1	1
Development of individual parts of software product code	0	1	0	0	0
Reports	0	1	0	0	0

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What is the difference between compiler and interpreter?	1
Question	What is the difference between type and variable?	1
Question	What is the background of structured programming?	1
Question	How to compile a program?	0
Question	How to run a program?	0
Question	How to debug a program?	0

Section 2

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What is the meaning of polymorphism?	1
Question	How to check the dynamic type of an object?	1
Question	What are the limitations of single inheritance?	1
Question	What are the issues related with multiple inheritance?	1
Question	How to handle array of objects of some class type?	0
Question	How to implement the class which logically has to have 2 constructors with the same signature but with different semantics?	0

Section 3

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	What is constrained genericity?	1
Question	What is exception?	1
Question	What is assertion?	1
Question	How constrained genericity may be used for sorting of objects?	0
Question	In which order catch blocks are being processed?	0
Question	Where is the problem when precondition is violated?	0

Section 4

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	How reuse helps to develop software?	1
Question	How concept of libraries and separate compilation co-relate?	1
Question	What are the benefits of integrating documentation into the source code?	1
Question	Why is it essential to have persistent data structures?	1
Question	What is to be done to design and develop a library?	0
Question	How to add documenting comments into the source code?	0
Question	What ways exists in Java to support persistence ?	0

Section 5

Activity Type	Content	Is Graded?
Question	Explain the key differences parallelism and concurrency	1
Question	What are the key issues related to parallel execution?	1
Question	What are the models of parallel execution?	1
Question	What is the difference between function and object?	1
Question	Which Java construction support concurrency?	0
Question	What is a thread?	0
Question	What is in-line lambda function?	0

Final assessment

Section 1

1. What are the basic control structure of structured programming?
2. What is the difference between statements and expressions?
3. What are the benefits of type inference?

Section 2

1. Name all principles of object-oriented programming?
2. Explain what conformance means?
3. Explain why cycles are prohibited in the inheritance graph?

Section 3

1. Can array be treated as generic class?
2. What is the difference between throw and throws in Java?
3. What is purpose of the class invariant?

Section 4

1. How to deal with name clashes?
2. What is the main task of the recompilation module?
3. What are the differences between different formats of persistence files?

Section 5

1. What is the meaning of SIMD and MIMD?
2. What are the implications of the Amdahl’s law?
3. What model of concurrency Java relies on?
4. Which function can be considered as pure?
5. How to declare a function to accept a functional object as its argument?
6. How Java supports high-order functions?
7. How capturing variables works in Java?

The retake exam

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5