Enterprise Computing (2014/2015)

Enterprise computing is the name given to distributed computing as practised in medium-sized or large organisations where the need to share data between physically-distributed sites is the primary motivator for the creation of a distributed system. The course is biased towards the acquisition of practical skills rather than an investigation of the theoretical limitations of distributed systems. The aim is to treat the dominant relevant technologies in depth rather than to give a more superficial survey of a larger number of technologies. The technologies studied are based on HTML or XML for data presentation and Python or Java as a programming language.

Awards

Enterprise Computing Best Lightning Hack Team — Team Phaser (Conrad, Mantas, Christine, Lubomir)

In contention for Best Team

Team Klingon (Sky, Richboy, Jamie, Marton, Joseph)
Team Romulan (Anders-Petter, Judy, Lorraine, Parker, Kostadin)
Team Sulu (Jon, Ioannis, Jing, Ayrton)
Team Vulcan (Silver, Hayden, Darin, Troy, Chimwemwe)

Learning outcomes

This course provides an introduction to the design and implementation of distributed computing systems and encourages an understanding of semi-structured data. This understanding is demonstrated by being able to construct small-scale examples of systems which use these components.
The intellectual skills encouraged by the course include the ability to reason about the effect of design on remote evaluation, recovery from failures and performance. These skills can be applied in the design of new enterprise systems or the modification of existing ones.
The practical skills acquired in the course include understanding HTML and XML technology, client-server systems and multi-tier systems, distributed programming techniques and Web services. Students demonstrate their understanding of this technology through essay-based examination questions and programming exercises undertaken as coursework.
The transferrable skills acquired in the course include design of distributed computing systems and modern data structuring methods. Students display these skills through being able to use the APIs and technology of enterprise computing platforms.

Lectures

Lectures for this course are given in the second semester.
There are two lectures each week, on Monday at 9:00 and Thursday at 9:00 as detailed in the Informatics Teaching Timetable.
Lectures take place in the H.R.B. Lecture Theatre, of the Hugh Robson Building in George Square. The H.R.B. Lecture Theatre is on the ground floor, to your right as you come in the door. It's really nice. Why don't you come along and see for yourself?
Innovative learning week 2015 took place from 16th-20th February 2015. There were no Enterprise Computing lectures this week.

Slides

Notes

Media

Monday, 23rd February 2015 — Open-source ideas

Thursday, 26th February 2015 — Communication

Monday, 2nd March 2015 —Language

Thursday, 5th March 2015 —App distribution

Monday, 9th March 2015 — App testing

Thursday, 12th March 2015 — Road testing

Monday, 16th March 2015 — User testing

Assessment

This course has both coursework and a written examination.
The coursework is worth 25% of the assessment for the course. The written exam accounts for the remaining 75%.
The coursework is in two parts. Part 1 is zero-weighted: it is just for feedback. Part 2 accounts for 100% of the coursework mark.

Coursework

The coursework specification
The coursework for this course is undertaken in teams. Teams may have at most five members, or maybe six.
The coursework will involve software development. Knowledge of a general purpose programming language such as Python or Java is assumed.
Any server-side software submitted for assessment should be implemented in either PHP or Python or Java (whichever is preferred: your choice). Other languages will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Any client-side software submitted for assessment should be implemented in TypeScript.

Important dates

Thursday 15th January 2015	Coursework released
Thursday 12th February 2015 at 16:00	Part 1 due
Thursday 5th March 2015	Part 1 feedback received
Thursday 9th April 2015 at 16:00	Part 2 due
Thursday 23rd April 2015	Part 2 assessment received

The coursework specification for both parts of the coursework was released as a PDF document after the second lecture, on Thursday 15th January 2015.
The deadline for Part 1 is Thursday of Week 5 of Semester 2 (i.e. Thursday 12th February 2015) at 16:00. Submission is electronic only.
You should expect to receive feedback on your Part 1 submission no later than 15 working days after the deadline for submission for Part 1, thus by Thursday 5th March, 2015. This feedback will take the form of an email with an attached document, sent to all members of a group. The same message is received by all members of the group. Feedback from Part 1 makes suggestions for improvement to your submission, feeding into the work which you submit for assessment in Part 2.
The deadline for Part 2 was Thursday of Week 11 of Semester 2 but has now been extended to Week 12 of Semester 2 due to a clash with other courseworks. Submission is electronic only. Please use the submit command on DiCE.
You should expect to receive feedback within three weeks of your submission for Part 2, thus by Thursday 23rd April, 2015. This feedback will take the form of an email with an attached document. Each student receives an individual message.

Feedback

You have received a group email message giving you written feedback on your Part 1 submission. Feedback on Part 1 is formative. It is provided in order to help you to improve your work before it is submitted for the assessment in Part 2.
You will receive an individual email message giving you written feedback on your Part 2 submission. Feedback on Part 2 is summative. It gives an explanation of how the grade for your practical was derived. In addition there will be formative feedback at this stage which is hoped to be useful for future courses which involve some element of software development.