Most difficult modules in 4th Year CASE stream

lego

Which subject modules are generally considered the most difficult in Computer Applications (SE stream) year 4?

Septico

To be honest it sort of depends on what you yourself are good at.

In my opinion, and im fresh out of DCU this May, i found the more difficult ones were probably distributed/concurrent programming.

Closely followed by an unpredictable computer graphics module
( You should check previous years CA forums regarding this to see what i mean )

I did the 2 OR modules, 2 Database modules and Multimedia Information Retrieval and Multimedia Technology.

A lot of people may tell you DB 2 is hard too. i enjoyed it though as thats what i was good at.

In summary: Avoid graphics! and concurrent/distributed.

What are you thinking of picking?
No matter what you will have to do a s*it load of work to do well..

StickyMcGinty

lego wrote: »

Which subject modules are generally considered the most difficult in Computer Applications (SE stream) year 4?

IMO, from what i've done and what i've heard. Subjects in bold are subjects that i've done myself

Semester 1
Cryptography (since the new lecturer)
Graphics
Compiler 1 (you gotta work hard)
DSP (bogey lecturer)
Concurrent programming (unless you love learning SR code)

Semester 2
Compiler 2 (easy exam, hard project)
Multimedia Tech (Exam format tough 4q's do 4, hard project to get high in)
CA422 Object Models. dont underestimate this one. its compulsory too.


one of the lads said this to me before 4th year, and i wished i'd listened to him - pick easy subjects that you can do very well in to try get your First... doesnt matter if your not interested in them. Subjects like cryptography etc have cost a few of my mates a decent degree

dregin

Steer well clear of crypto if Mike isn't lecturing it. The lecturer we were landed with was a complete joke. Graphics was pretty much a case of learning off the Java3D API... Those two were the real stingers.

OO is the one to look out for in semester 2, but it's compulsary.

Zyox

Things have changed since I was there but at the time Crypto was a highly interesting subject, lectured by Mike, but a tough as nails exam. And from what I've heard with this American woman taking over, echoed by what Dregin said, stay well clear. Which is a pity cos it was a top module.

Graphics was a piece of piss when I did it but seems to have gotten messed up in DCU bureaucracy and become stupid.

And yeah, watch out for OO Models. Attend all lectures, take down every single thing he puts on the boards and add notes for what he says out loud. This is vital. Then get on the project early and submit questions to him at the end of class/via email well before the exam/project due date. Real easy to mess this one up.

H2G2

FYI, there are some changes to CAIS4 and CASE4, not sure what final list is. New option for both IS & SE is Software Quality Assurance in semester 1 and new for SE in semester 2 is Software Process, which was semester 1 IS only before.

lego

What are the Speech processing, operations research, security protocols and Multimedia Information Retrieval modules like?

Septico

lego wrote: »

What are the Speech processing, operations research, security protocols and Multimedia Information Retrieval modules like?

TBH, Multimedia information retrieval will bore the absolute head off you.
But you get an easy enough assignment (No coding, its an essay based on some topics of Gareths choosing). The topics are tricky enough but definitely doable. The exam is also extremely fair, no hints given but you are only required to answer 4 from 6 which is a lot more generous than other lecturers who make you do 4 from 4.

Operations research actually requires more work than you would think. But again, its definitely doable. Assignment is handy (my one was some sort of queuing simulation) and lynn is again very fair with her exam layout and willlso grade answers you submit to her prior to the exam.

If you are to email her stuff in remember that she is probably getting stuff from the whole class so you should email her early to make sure yours are corrected and you know where you went wrong.

Never did security protocols.. seems interesting though. But i do remember some of the class going a bit mad trying to get their assignment done..

see last years forums for this.

StickyMcGinty

Septico wrote: »

see last years forums for this.

yea, definitely one of the best learning tools for final year - the CA forums

http://forums.computing.dcu.ie

Theres also archived forums going back a few years, i'll bang up the link when i can find it

lego

Has anyone done Security Protocols or does that module exist anymore?

Do 4th years still choose three optional modules for the first semester and two options for the second?

Any news on who is lecturing Software Quality Assurance?

cooker3

Don't do graphics

Diarmaid07

lego wrote: »

Any news on who is lecturing Software Quality Assurance?

From another thread in here:

http://www.computing.dcu.ie/~roconnor/modules/ca481/index.html

TomCo

• For the love of all that is holy DO NOT DO CYPTOGRAPHY! Somehow I managed to pass it with a reasonable mark, but it was pure luck.
  The lectures are incomprehensible (I actually have an audio recording of one of them if you'd like to hear it) and the workload is massive; hours of homework every week.
  
• Skip Artificial Intelligence if you havent done it before or didnt like it.
  
• MIR is handy, a lot of the notes make sense and half the course is about stuff you might already know about. Assignment is an essay, ie. just bull**** about something. I managed to wedge a comparison between Slayer - Reign In Blood and Bethovens Moonlight Sonata into the yoke for lulz.
  
• Didn't do graphics, I don't think you'll learn much of value if you do.
  
• Compilers 1 is quite a handy exam and if you put a bit of work in going over the notes you can make sense of every topic and figure out how stuff works. The notes are godly. The assignments on the other hand are a load of arse, interesting in some respect, but very time consuming and often mindboggling. Some you might not even be able to attempt.
  
• Concurrent programming is alright, its not an easy subject nor is it impossible. You'll be falling asleep in this one guaranteed. Assignment is ok, usually a bit of java threads solving some real world problem or other (lift simulation with queuing for example). Exam is quite tough, can necessitate learning off whole SR code programs, SR is a piece of piss though.
  
• Don't know much about DSP, I think my friends really enjoyed it though.

In semester two you'll need lots of time for doing your project, so I chose modules with respect to difficulty and time tabling.

• Even though I got a really good mark in Compilers I skipped Compilers 2 due to the length and difficulty of the assignments
  
• Operations Research is a bit of a tricky one in some respects. It seems easy enough and you might neglect studying for the exam but some parts of it are quite hard to grasp from the notes (notes are a bit poor for this subject).
  
• Multimedia has a ****e assignment and the exam can be quite hard. Its an alright subject, not easy.
  
• If have a choice about Object Models give it a miss, one of the worst modules of the entire course. Assignment is a load of balls and the exam isnt much better, course content is like something out of the dark ages.
  
• I think Real Time Embedded is supposed to be good, pretty sure my friends liked it. Not sure though.
  
• Security Protocols is awesome (totally different from cryptography), absolutly great course. Lots of plain talking notes and a good lecturer. Assignment is interesting and useful, exam is straight forward and doesnt change much from year to year.

the butcher

If your in CAIS4, do not do OO modelling, as tom said, prob the worst module in all the 4 years. I wouldnt recommend doing DB2 or MM2....awful just awful. Aslong as you try to stay clear of these you should be ok.

lego

the butcher wrote: »

If your in CAIS4, do not do OO modelling, as tom said, prob the worst module in all the 4 years. I wouldnt recommend doing DB2 or MM2....awful just awful. Aslong as you try to stay clear of these you should be ok.

Whats wrong with DB2? I'm thinking of doing that or Security Protocols. Which would be the better choice?

Eccentric

the butcher wrote: »

If your in CAIS4, do not do OO modelling, as tom said, prob the worst module in all the 4 years. I wouldnt recommend doing DB2 or MM2....awful just awful. Aslong as you try to stay clear of these you should be ok.

I thought OO was handy enough, I don't think it's hard to do well in this module as long as you go to all the lectures and take down all the notes you'll do fine in this.

Agree about the rest of what you said mainly because of how they're taught. DB2 can be hard to follow at times. The MM2 assignment takes up way too much time and is hard enough to get a good mark in. Both exams are 4 questions, answer 4, which is a shít format given that it's your final exams, it's easy enough to drop marks in these if you don't know how to do everything on the course in great detail. Final year is all about getting your good marks so these two modules can easily bring down the standard of your degree if you don't know the all the course material completely.

Unless they've added more optional modules to the course I don't think it's possible to drop both the DB2 and MM2 modules if your an IS student (because they got rid of some of the IS optional modules that were available in 2006/7) so last year it was pick 4 from 5 for IS, whereas SE got to pick 4 from 7 (if I'm not mistaken).

the butcher

lego wrote: »

Whats wrong with DB2? I'm thinking of doing that or Security Protocols. Which would be the better choice?

as tom said "Security Protocols is awesome (totally different from cryptography), absolutly great course. Lots of plain talking notes and a good lecturer. Assignment is interesting and useful, exam is straight forward and doesnt change much from year to year."

DB2...the good thing about it is the in-class test. fairly easy to get above 80%, most of the class gets it. its the exam format mainly i did not like. 4 out of 4 questions to be answered with the exam changing every year...not exactly what u want for your last year. id go with toms advice and do security, i would of done it if it was an option for me

i guess the beef i had with OO modelling is that:

1. i still do not know any one in the class that actual understood Z modeling.
2. that did well in the assignment without help
3. it really has no relevance
4. if google cant find anything on Z, it must be evil

cooker3

Eccentric wrote: »

Unless they've added more optional modules to the course I don't think it's possible to drop both the DB2 and MM2 modules if your an IS student (because they got rid of some of the IS optional modules that were available in 2006/7) so last year it was pick 4 from 5 for IS, whereas SE got to pick 4 from 7 (if I'm not mistaken).

I did IS in 2007 and didn't do DB2 or MM2

StickyMcGinty

cooker3 wrote: »

I did IS in 2007 and didn't do DB2 or MM2

IS don't have a graphics option anymore, that might account for 1 anyway

Eccentric

cooker3 wrote: »

I did IS in 2007 and didn't do DB2 or MM2

When you did it I think you had the option to do Graphics, that's gone from IS now. So last year (2007/8) the options for IS were to choose 4 from the following 5:

Operations Research Management Science OO Models MM2 DB2 Supply Chain Management

The SE semester 2 options were to choose 4 from the following 7:

Operations Research Management Science MM2 Compilers 2 DB2 Real Time Embedded Distributed Programming Security Protocols

At least I think they were all the Semester 2 options for both streams last year.

H2G2

CA447 Software Process Improvement is now a Semster 2 option for both CAIS4 and CASE4.
Real time appears to be gone.

Septico

the butcher wrote: »

1. i still do not know any one in the class that actual understood Z modeling.

i did.

the butcher wrote: »

2. that did well in the assignment without help

i did.

the butcher wrote: »

3. it really has no relevance

ok i agree. Theres a relevance out there. But it was completely different to any other CA module. Doesnt mean its irrelevant though.

the butcher wrote: »

4. if google cant find anything on Z, it must be evil

Yes, This is true


The reason everybody did not like this module is because they were found out by not doing enough work for it.

Any of the previous modules taught by this lecturer have an "easy" tag attached to them. Everybody thought this was the same. I seen over half the class putting the assignment together after even the first assignment deadline. They did badly because it was deserved.

This module, although a bit strange, is not too bad but like anything you will have to work at it. Go to lectures.. Johns notes are brilliant and have a knack of mysteriously appearing on the exams. ( he put about 50% repeated stuff on our paper this year)

the butcher

Septico wrote: »

The reason everybody did not like this module is because they were found out by not doing enough work for it.

I'm sure everyone puts a lot of effort in for their last year which actually counts towards their degree marks. Majority of people I know went to most of the lectures and tried to learn the stuff independently also. It's very abstract stuff.

TomCo

Septico wrote: »

The reason everybody did not like this module is because they were found out by not doing enough work for it.

Bit self richeous of you there.

mankind123

Most difficult for me was cryptography, if it is done like last year you will have to do homework assignments every week. Security Protocols states that you need to do cryptography but you don't really use much from it and protocols is an easy enough subject.

Also Real Time might be different this year as the lecturer retired last year, it was not the hardest subject but the assessment was difficult.

H2G2

mankind123 wrote: »

Also Real Time might be different this year as the lecturer retired last year, it was not the hardest subject but the assessment was difficult.

Real time isn't running this year

lego

DB1 is postponed until semester 2 due to Lecturer Illness. Now I have a choice between DB1 and Security Protocols in Semester 2. If I don't do cryptography will that make the Security Protocols module incomprehensible?

StickyMcGinty

lego wrote: »

DB1 is postponed until semester 2 due to Lecturer Illness. Now I have a choice between DB1 and Security Protocols in Semester 2. If I don't do cryptography will that make the Security Protocols module incomprehensible?

iirc, crpto is a pre-requisite for security and protocols anyway, so you'll have to do one to do the other. Unless the lecturer for Security and Protocols lets you off this pre-requisate you wont have a choice