A Selection of Courses and Lecturers

It actually takes ten years to become a really competent programmer. What we're doing is making you basically able to be taught.

- a harsh but fair tutor

AWESOME FEATURES GREAT JOB:

• Absolutely entry-level: the only prerequisites are high-school maths.
• Large 24-hour computer lab exclusively for postgrads.
• The core languages are Java, Assembly, and SQL.

You should by now know that a course's teacher is far more important than the topic’s apparent appeal. All things can be made to reflect on all things. (This is the upshot of human pareidolia.)

No Winter exams: all of your 11 courses are examined in May. Also, the programme grading is heavily weighted towards these exams. This makes semester 1 very easy, if you’re one of the ~10% of people who just slot into programming with ease.


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SEMESTER 1

• Programming.
• Information Systems and Databases
• Systems and Networks
• Requirements Engineering

Plus one elective, either

• Enterprise Computing (avoid)
• Human-Centred Security

SEMESTER 2

• Required: Software Engineering


• Advanced Programming
• Algorithmics and Data Structures.
• Cyber Security.
• Safety-Critical Systems
• Trends in Information Security
• Internet Technology
• 2D Digitisation
• Multimedia Applications

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Excellent teachers I was taught by:

• Alessandro Vinciarelli (Introduction to Programming): funny, charismatic, analogical. Take any course he gives. Not actually a computer scientist - an analytical social scientist of the highest order.
• Lewis Mackenzie (Systems and Networks): Earnest, literate. Gave a philosophically and scientifically sophisticated treatment of the low-level side (the processor).
• Simon Rogers (Advanced Programming): extremely able and intolerant of waffle.
• Karen Renaud (Human-Centred Security): An enjoyable psychology course. Lectures frequently involve non-traditional engagement and expert guests.
• Chris W Johnson (Safety-Critical Systems): Extremely competent alumn of NASA and the MoD; was several times called away to e.g. rescue European aviation.
• Leif Azzopardi (Internet Technology): hyperactive, scathing, scatological. Really not for everyone.