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The Art of Scientific Computation (COMP90072)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
To learn more, visit 2023 Course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Overview
Availability | Semester 1 Semester 2 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
The physical, social and engineering sciences make widespread use of numerical simulations and graphical representations that link underlying their theoretical foundations with experimental or empirical data. These approaches are routinely designed and conducted by researchers with little or no formal training in computation, assembling instead the necessary skills from a variety of sources. There is an art to assembling computational tools that both achieve their goals and make good effective use of the available computational resources.
This subject introduces students to a wide range of skills that are commonly encountered in the design and construction of computational tools in research applications:
- Formulation of the task as a sequence of operations or procedures that express the context of the assigned problem in a form accessible to digital computing (Mathematica).
- Implementation of this formulation using computer languages appropriate for numerically intensive computation (C, C++, Fortran)
- Modularization of computationally intensive tasks, either as user-written procedures or existing libraries (for example BLAS, lapack)
- Documentation of the code to explain both its design, operation and limitations (LaTeX)
- Instrumentation of the code to verify its correct operation and monitor its performance (gprof)
- Optimization of the code, including the use of parallelization (OpenMPI)
- Visualization of data using graphical packages or rendering engines (Geomview, OpenGL)
- Interaction with the code through a graphical user interface (Python, Matlab)
These skills are introduced to the student by undertaking a short project that is selected in consultation with the Subject Coordinator.
Intended learning outcomes
The objectives of this subject are:
- to plan and execute a short computational research project that includes conception, implementation and application of appropriate computational methods,
- to understand the effective use and limitations of the numerical algorithms that are used in completing the project,
- to communicate the results obtained from the project using graphical output and computer typesetting software,
- to make efficient use of the available computational resources through the use of tools to profile, optimize and parallelize the code generated in the project,
- to document the project with sufficient detail and clarity that it could be used as the basis of further development by others.
Generic skills
- Time management: the ability to plan and manage an independent project involving a number of different tasks to a deadline
- Computational skills: the ability to adapt existing computational methods and tools to a target application
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
This subject cannot be undertaken by any student admitted to any of the following courses:
MC-ENG Master of Engineering
MC-IT Master of Information Technology
MC-SCICMP Master of Science (Computer Science)
MC-DATASC Master of Data Science
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: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
The software tools that are written by the student and submitted will be assessed on the basis of their accuracy in achieving the goals of the project and the computational efficiency with which these goals are met (60% of total assessment).
| End of semester | 60% |
A document that describes the design of the software tools, the context of the project (which may be in any branch of physical, social or engineering science) and specimen applications of the software will contribute the remaining 40% of the assessment.
| End of semester | 40% |
Additional details
This Dual-Delivery subject has On Campus assessment components.
The subject develops skills through a project-based approach comprising (i) the design and implementation of computer software and (ii) the verification and documentation of that software. The assessment is based on the student's achievement of these two tasks:
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Dates & times
- Semester 1
Principal coordinator Roger Rassool Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 27 February 2023 to 28 May 2023 Last self-enrol date 10 March 2023 Census date 31 March 2023 Last date to withdraw without fail 5 May 2023 Assessment period ends 23 June 2023 - Semester 2
Principal coordinator Roger Rassool Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 24 July 2023 to 22 October 2023 Last self-enrol date 4 August 2023 Census date 31 August 2023 Last date to withdraw without fail 22 September 2023 Assessment period ends 17 November 2023
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.
Additional delivery details
This Dual-Delivery subject has On Campus assessment components.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
There are no specifically prescribed or recommended texts for this subject.
Last updated: 31 January 2024