1. Late work will not be accepted. Special Consideration will only be granted provided that the application includes a medical certificate or professional authority showing clearly that the student was ill or otherwise incapacitated. Disruption to Studies Policy can be found here http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html

2. All assignments should be handed in via the online system at http://learn.mq.edu.au/ by the time specified in the assignment description.

3. All work submitted must be readable and complied with Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html 

Delivery of this unit is structured as a 2-hour lecture followed by a 2-hour practical class.

Computer labs are made available to students for the practical class and the required software is installed before the start of the semester. 

The resources you will be required to install on your home computer / laptops are - 

1. Java Standard Edition / Java SE (current version at the time of writing this document is 7u25)

2. Eclipse IDE for Java Developeres (or you can use Java NetBeans/ IntelliJ if you prefer those)

There are no prescribed books since there is no one book that satisfactorily covers all the topics from this unit. However, the following books are recommended for the purpose of this unit, in order of my personal preference.

Recommended:

1.   Head First Design Patterns Elisabeth Freeman, Eric Freeman, Bert Bates & Kathy Sierra [2004]. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN 0596007124.

2.   Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides. Addison Wesley. ISBN: 9780201633610

3.   Refactoring: Improving the design of existing code Martin Fowler. Addison Wesley. ISBN: 9780201485677

4.   Applying UML and patterns Craig Larman. Prentice Hall PTR; 3 edition (October 30, 2004). ISBN-10: 0131489062

5.   Thinking in Java Bruce Eckel [2002].  Prentice-Hall. AVailable for free from http://www.mindview.net/Books/TIJ/

6.   UML 2.0 in a Nutshell Dan Pilone & Neil Pitman [2005]. O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2nd ed. Edition. ISBN 0596007957.

Standards

Four standards, namely HD, D, CR, P summarize as many different levels of achievement. Each standard is precisely defined to help students know what kind of performance is expected to deserve a certain mark. The standards corresponding to the learning outcomes of this unit are given below:

Grading

At the end of the semester, you will receive a grade that reflects your achievement in the unit

• Fail (F): does not provide evidence of attainment of all learning outcomes. There is missing or partial or superficial or faulty understanding and application of the fundamental concepts in the field of study; and incomplete, confusing or lacking communication of ideas in ways that give little attention to the conventions of the discipline.
• Pass (P): provides sufficient evidence of the achievement of learning outcomes. There is demonstration of understanding and application of fundamental concepts of the field of study; and communication of information and ideas adequately in terms of the conventions of the discipline. The learning attainment is considered satisfactory or adequate or competent or capable in relation to the specified outcomes.
• Credit (Cr): provides evidence of learning that goes beyond replication of content knowledge or skills relevant to the learning outcomes. There is demonstration of substantial understanding of fundamental concepts in the field of study and the ability to apply these concepts in a variety of contexts; plus communication of ideas fluently and clearly in terms of the conventions of the discipline.
• Distinction (D): provides evidence of integration and evaluation of critical ideas, principles and theories, distinctive insight and ability in applying relevant skills and concepts in relation to learning outcomes. There is demonstration of frequent originality in defining and analysing issues or problems and providing solutions; and the use of means of communication appropriate to the discipline and the audience.
• High Distinction (HD): provides consistent evidence of deep and critical understanding in relation to the learning outcomes. There is substantial originality and insight in identifying, generating and communicating competing arguments, perspectives or problem solving approaches; critical evaluation of problems, their solutions and their implications; creativity in application.

In this unit, your final grade depends on your performance in each part of the assessment. For each task, you receive a mark that combines your standard of performance regarding each learning outcome assessed by this task. Then the different component marks are added up to determine your total mark out of 100. Your grade then depends on this total mark and your overall standards of performance.

In particular, in order to pass the unit, you must

• Have performed satisfactorily in the internal (assessment) components of the course.
• Have satisfactory performance in the final examination.

This means that you may fail the unit if you do not submit satisfactory submissions for the assignments and do not perform satisfactorily in the exam.

Department of Computing expectations are that students have to perform satisfactorily in the final exam as well as in their internal work/assignments.

Obtaining a specific grade in this unit will require a student to obtain (in addition to the above):

• the required total number of marks (Pass - 50, Credit - 65, Distinction - 75, High Distinction - 85).
• Pass - a minimum of 40% (24/60) in the final exam
• Credit - a minimum of 60% (36/60) in the final exam
• Distinction - a minimum of 70% (42/60) in the final exam
• High Distinction - a minimum of 80% (48/60) in the final exam