NTU, CSC102 Introduction to Programming

Course Type: Core
Academic Units (AUs): 4

My Opinion about CSC102:

CSC102 was related to building basic programs using a programming language, particularly Java. jGRASP was used as the program editor. Two main lessons learned from this subject were basic program logic and Object Oriented Programming (OOP) principles.

Optionally, getting used to NetBeans IDE (and its debugger) as the program editor could help doing CSC105 assignments and lab tests.

Grade Parameters:

• 2 Assignments
• Examination

2 Assignments

The first assignment was given near the middle of the semester, and the second one was given near the end of the semester.

The first assignment consisted of four questions strongly related to program logic, whereas the second assignment consisted of one big problem related to OOP.

All the assignments’ questions were taken from the past year exam papers.

Tips:

1. Understand the assignment questions well.
   Any doubts? Discuss with other students.
   The other students are not sure either?  Ask your supervisor.
2. Do as your supervisor tell you, as he will mark your assignment.
   If he asks you to ask/e-mail the lecturer, go ahead!
3. Indent your code clearly.
4. Use complete names of variables.
   Make your code readable and understandable by other people.
5. Comment the source code necessarily.
   I suggest that the comments should be similar to program logic but written in human language (English).
6. [Optional] Handle some possible errors (e.g. incorrect user input) that are not mentioned in assignment questions.
   However, your program must still follow the assignment questions.
7. Check if there are program errors.
   - Read through your programs and test them by yourself.
   - Sometimes you cannot see your own mistakes. So, ask some of your friends to test your programs.

Examination

Good preparation before the exam was finishing all the past year exam papers related with Java. Additional knowledge about Java API, even though was not discussed in lectures, could help a little (e.g. using Scanner class to read and write text files). Relevant questions from reference books might also help.

The usage of complete variable names for the exam was encouraged. However, when the time did not allow, using relevant abbreviation of variable names was acceptable.

Sadly, this exam pushed students to write as quickly as possible…