Foundations of Computing (COMP10001)

Undergraduate level 1Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville) and Dual-Delivery (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
Summer Term - Dual-Delivery
Semester 1 - On Campus
Semester 2 - On Campus
FeesLook up fees

AIMS

Solving problems in areas such as business, biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, humanities, and social sciences often requires manipulating, analysing, and visualising data through computer programming. This subject teaches students with little or no background in computer programming how to design and write basic programs using a high-level procedural programming language, and to solve simple problems using these skills.

This subject is the first subject in the Computing & Software Systems and the Informatics majors, and introduces students to programming and the basics of algorithmic thinking.

INDICATIVE CONTENT

Fundamental programming constructs; fundamental data structures; abstraction; basic program structures; algorithmic problem solving, testing and debugging; introduction to the Web, multimedia and visualisation.

Examples of projects that students complete are:

  • A text analytics “library” consisting of a series of independent functions to calculate/extract different things given a document/document collection as input
  • A video recommender system, broken down into a series of functions
  • An AI player for an online card game, designed such that students play off against each other (and against the class) at the end of semester

Please view this video for further information: Foundations of Computing

Intended learning outcomes

On Completion of this subject,the student is expected to:

  • Use the fundamental programming constructs (sequence, alternation, selection)
  • Use the fundamental data structures (arrays, records, lists, associative arrays)
  • Use abstraction constructs such as functions
  • Understand and employ some basic program structures
  • Understand and employ some basic algorithmic problem-solving techniques
  • Read, write, and debug simple, small programs

Generic skills

On completion of this subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:

  • An ability to apply knowledge of basic science and engineering fundamentals
  • An ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution
  • The capacity to solve problems, including the collection and evaluation of information
  • The capacity for critical and independent thought and reflection
  • An expectation of the need to undertake lifelong learning, and the capacity to do so

 

 

 

Last updated: 9 April 2025

Eligibility and requirements

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Non-allowed subjects

Credit cannot be given for COMP10001 if students have already obtained credit for COMP20005 Engineering Computation (Intro. to Numerical Computation in C as of 2022).

INFO10001 Informatics 1: Practical Computing (prior to 2011)

Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)

The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.

Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home

Last updated: 9 April 2025

Assessment

DescriptionTimingPercentage

One 2-hour end-of-semester examination, due during examination period.

  • 2 hours
Hurdle requirement: And 30/60 for the mid-semester test and end-of-semester written examination combined.		During the examination period50%

A two-stage project, requiring approximately 30 - 35 hours of work, with stages due in approximately weeks 7 and 12 (15% each project stage).

  • 35 hours (of work required)
Week 730%

One 1-hour mid-semester test.

  • 1 hours
Mid semester10%

Workshop assignments that demonstrate programming competency, due weekly, requiring 10 - 13 hours of work per student.

  • 13 hours (of work required)
Hurdle requirement: 50% overall, 20/40 for the project and assignment work.		Throughout the teaching period10%

Last updated: 9 April 2025

Dates & times

  • Summer Term - Dual-Delivery
    Principal coordinatorEkaterina Vylomova
    Mode of deliveryDual-Delivery (Parkville)
    Contact hours45 hours, comprising three 2-hour lectures (1-hour live lecture, 1-hour pre-recorded material) and three 1-hour tutorials per week
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period17 January 2023 to 17 February 2023
    Last self-enrol date23 January 2023
    Census date27 January 2023
    Last date to withdraw without fail 3 February 2023
    Assessment period ends20 February 2023

    Summer Term contact information

    Ekaterina Vylomova

    Email: ekaterina.vylomova@unimelb.edu.au

     

  • Semester 1 - On Campus
    Principal coordinatorChris Ewin
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours60 hours, comprising three 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour workshop (1-hour tutorial followed by 1-hour computer lab) per week
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period27 February 2023 to 28 May 2023
    Last self-enrol date10 March 2023
    Census date31 March 2023
    Last date to withdraw without fail 5 May 2023
    Assessment period ends23 June 2023

    Semester 1 contact information

    Chris Ewin

    comp10001-lecturers@lists.unimelb.edu.au

  • Semester 2 - On Campus
    Principal coordinatorChristopher Leckie
    Mode of deliveryOn Campus (Parkville)
    Contact hours60 hours, comprising three 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour workshop (1-hour tutorial followed by 1-hour computer lab) per week
    Total time commitment170 hours
    Teaching period24 July 2023 to 22 October 2023
    Last self-enrol date 4 August 2023
    Census date31 August 2023
    Last date to withdraw without fail22 September 2023
    Assessment period ends17 November 2023

    Semester 2 contact information

    Professor Chris Leckie

    caleckie@unimelb.edu.au

Time commitment details

170 hours

What do these dates mean

Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:

  • Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
  • And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
       -  Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
     

    Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.

Last updated: 9 April 2025

Further information

  • Texts

    Prescribed texts

    There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.

  • Subject notes

    LEARNING AND TEACHING METHODS

    The subject is delivered through a combination of lectures and workshops (combination of tutorial and individual/group work in a computer lab). Students get a hands-on introduction to Python through a series of online worksheets with embedded programming tasks/automatic assessment, and then go on to complete three projects.

     

    INDICATIVE KEY LEARNING RESOURCES

    Students have access to lecture notes, lecture slides, tutorial worksheets, which houses the interactive worksheets as well as a programming environment. The subject LMS site also contains links to recommended resources relating to basic programming, and advanced problems for students who want to extend themselves.

     

    CAREERS / INDUSTRY LINKS

    As an introductory programming subject, this is relevant to all aspects of the IT industry. Exemplar companies/organisations which have been involved in the delivery of the subject (through guest lectures etc.) are: Palantir Technologies (software engineering, intelligent systems), AURIN (Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network: geomatics, distributed computing, web development), VLSCI (Victorian Life Sciences Computing Initiative; computational biology, bioinformatics, distributed computing, big data). There have also been guest lecturers from within the university in fields including computational ophthalmology, electronic voting, and social media analysis.

  • Related Handbook entries

    This subject contributes to the following:

    TypeName
    CourseDiploma in Informatics
    CourseBachelor of Biomedicine
    CourseMaster of Science (Mathematics and Statistics)
    Informal specialisationScience Discipline subjects - new generation B-SCI
  • Breadth options

    This subject is available as breadth in the following courses:

  • Available through the Community Access Program

    About the Community Access Program (CAP)

    This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.

    Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants

    Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.

  • Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students

    This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.

Last updated: 9 April 2025