Comp. Sci. Elective for SECTE Student (1 Viewer)

[Music Master]

Hey guys,

Just a quick question.

I'm a SECTE student studying Computer Engineering, and one thing I wish we did more of is computer science-y stuff. Since I have an elective I can take in either the Spring or Autumn (will have to be next year now), I am looking at taking a CSCI subject.

I mainly want to get into research, mainly in telecommunications/network kind of area.

Any recommendations?

So far I have done CSCI191 and CSCI192 (requirement for electrical/computer engineering students) and I completed CSCI204 last year (which I loved) as an elective. I got HD/Ds in those subjects, so I'm not to shabby a programmer (I also do alot at home in my spare time for various projects).

Here's what I'm looking at;

- CSCI262 (Systems Security). It sounds pretty interesting. Is it more of a practical type subject or theory? Also, looking at the subject info sheet from last year, there are 3 weeks of SQL at the end. I haven't done any database subjects (although I do know a tiny tiny bit of SQL), so do you think this will pose a problem?

- CSCI319 (Distributed Systems). I'm largely interested in telecommunications/networks on the SECTE side of things, so I figured this one might be a good one to do. Can anyone tell me a bit about it (interesting? good lecturer? etc.)

- CSCI203 (Algorithms and Data Structures). I know the basics of linked-lists and bubble-sorts and that kind of stuff, but I figured this kind of stuff would be important if I ever got a job doing scientific software development-type stuff. Again, is it a hard subject? Good lecturers? Interesting?

- CSCI103 (Algorithms). Again similar to the above one, but I'm wary that this one would be "too basic". Thoughts?

Anyway, those are the ones I'm looking at. If anyone has any other suggestions, post 'em up!

Also if anyone has some lecture notes for these subjects, they wouldn't go astray... It would give me more of an idea of what each subject entails (instead of just the subject outline).

 

[jm1234567890]

Could you list who is teaching each of those subjects? It makes a huge difference.

 

[Music Master]

Could you list who is teaching each of those subjects? It makes a huge difference.

Certainly.

CSCI262 is Luke McAven.
CSCI319 was Markus Hagenbuchner.
CSCI203 was Tianbing Xia.
CSCI103 (in Spring) is Gene Awyzio.

 

[jm1234567890]

I have no idea who Markus Hagenbuchner or Gene Awyzio are....

Luke McAven is not bad, maybe a bit boring. However, he knows his stuff.
Tianbing is ok too.

If you think you are a good programmer, CSCI103 is a waste of time. CSCI203 might be interesting, but many algorithms can be picked up as you come across them.

If you are interested in the low-level networking stuff like MAC or PHY layer. Then your best best is probably with the ECTE courses. However, for courses covering the higher layers, I suggest "Systems Security" since that is quite important and definitely not covered in ECTE. You'll get to know most of the details about routing etc.. in the 400 level ECTE courses.

 

[Music Master]

Great, thanks.

Yeah I've already covered the lower-level stuff in my ECTE subjects, that was why I was primarily looking at CSCI262 or CSCI319.

Any thoughts on CSCI319?

Thanks for your help!

 

[jm1234567890]

Great, thanks.

Yeah I've already covered the lower-level stuff in my ECTE subjects, that was why I was primarily looking at CSCI262 or CSCI319.

Any thoughts on CSCI319?

Thanks for your help!

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that one. However I do know that you will cover topics like Internet routing, LAN routing, Bit-torrent etc. in the 400 level ECTE networking subjects.

Distributed systems sounds a bit different though... It sounds like something to do with distributed computing. But, I really don't know...

Are you sure you have already done MAC layer? if so they have really mixed up the courses since I left, cause I didn't do that until 400 level.

 

[Music Master]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that one. However I do know that you will cover topics like Internet routing, LAN routing, Bit-torrent etc. in the 400 level ECTE networking subjects.

Distributed systems sounds a bit different though... It sounds like something to do with distributed computing. But, I really don't know...

Are you sure you have already done MAC layer? if so they have really mixed up the courses since I left, cause I didn't do that until 400 level.

Yup, I'm sure. The main networking stuff is now covered in ECTE363 (physical layer) and ECTE364 (all the other layers)... I believe ECTE364 is an amalgamation of ECTE485 + ECTE483 (or something similar).

There have been plenty of changes over at SECTE in terms of their course structure.

 

[Spiked_Phate]

CSCI203 will give you a solid grounding in implementing algorithms, and an eye for designing your own a little bit. The first assignment is usually discrete math/proofs/etc, the next three are all C++ implementations of sorting/string matching/path finding algorithms. Not difficult assignments, but you have to keep on top of them as the exam is 60%. Tianbing this year, nice guy, happy to help out in labs. I heard quite a few people were not at all happy with Ian teaching it a while ago, ymmv I guess.

CSCI319 is stretching the memory a bit, but I seem to remember programming distributed apps designed to solve some problem by handing off work to other PC's. Sockets programming in C++ not one of my favourite things to do, but interesting if you're into that. Koren Ward lecturing at the time.

CSCI262 i remember as being fairly practical in discussions, and I'm sure there were practical assignments but this was a while ago. Yi Mu (i think) was the lecturer.

CSCI103 as someone said, only really worth it if you need an intro to algorithms, mind you, I took that a looong time ago. If you stay ontop of 203 I would think you'll be fine. Make sure it's not a pre-req.

Others:
CSCI212 sounds pretty sweet, is saff still teaching this?

What about CSCI368 (I think), probably the one after 262, always sounded interesting, and might be relevant.

CSCI399 (Server Tech - Neil Gray) is probably not worth it, it should be called web programming.

Anywho, good luck.

 

[Music Master]

Sorry 'bout the late reply Spiked_Phate, been busy studying for my exams.

Yeah Daniel Saffioti taught CSCI212 this year. I was looking at that one as well, but I'm pretty well versed in all that Linux-type stuff anyway (from what I have gathered regarding the subject).

I dunno, there's heaps of good stuff that interests me. Even something like CSCI336 (Computer Graphics... lectured by Yang-Wai Chow) I reckon would be pretty cool as well (something different).

As for CSCI368, sounds pretty cool but I think the pre-reqs would be my undoing.

*Sigh*... sometimes makes me wish I did Comp Sci lol.