Department of Computer Science
Teaching and Learning Committee
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The Department of Computer Science is now just 21 years' old. Below is a potted history of the development of its teaching activities.
The academic staff during 1997 consisted of 14 people of lecturer status - all with PhDs - and one Assistant Lecturer. Below we give a list of all those in post at some time during the year, together with the qualifications as they stood at the end of the year.
J.S. Rohl, BE Qld., PhD Manc., FBCS, FAustCS
R.A. Owens, BSc W.Aust., MSc DPhil Oxon.
C.P. Tsang, BSc PhD DipComp., W.Aust., FAustCS
M.S. Cottingham, BSc PhD Glas.
P.T. Hadingham, BSc PhD Cape Town
R.S. Kozera, MSc Warsaw, PhD Flin.
C.S. McDonald, BSc PhD W.Aust.
G.F. Royle, MA Oxon., PhD W.Aust.
R.C. Thomas, BSc Wales, MSc Lond., M.Phil York, PhD W.Aust.
R.L. While, BSc, PhD Lond.
P.D. Kovesi, BE MEngSc PhD W.Aust.
X. Lin, BSc Fudan (China), PhD Qld.
C.K. MacNish, BE W. Aust., PhD Cantab.
N. Spadaccini, BSc PhD W.Aust.
C. Jones, BSc W. Aust.
During the year Colin Jones resigned to concentrate on writing up his PhD. His position will not be filled. At the end of the year, Xuemin Lin resigned to take up a Senior Lectureship at UNSW. He will be replaced early in the new year by Dr Amitava Datta.
Two members were promoted during the year: Dr While and Dr Cottingham are now both Senior Lecturers.
Associate Professor Tsang became a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society.
Four members of staff took leave during the year.
Name
Type of leave
Period
Ryszard Kozera
Leave without pay
January-July
Paul Hadingham
Study leave
August - December
Peter Kovesi
Long-service leave
January - March
Robyn Owens
Long-service leave
January - March
It is interesting to see the change to our profile over our life-time. Below is a graph (the table is too extensive), showing the number of staff at each level at the time the Faculty Handbook for each year went to press. Since the publication date has varied over the years, and the promotion system has undergone significant changes, there will be some minor discrepancies, but the trend is clear enough.
The monotonic decline in the number of staff since 1993 has continued: the number dropped 16 to 15.
The redistribution of staff across the levels has continued. The Senior Lecturer band has widened further (and the Lecturer band has narrowed accordingly). There are now no Assistant Lecturers in the department, the number having dropped steadily from 1992, when it was 6. The graph also shows the "average" level of the staff. This is obtained by associating 1 with Assistant Lecturers, 2 with Lecturers, and so on; then averaging them. The monotonic increase since 1993 has continued. The level now is almost Senior Lecturer. (In 1993 it was Lecturer.) It will continue to rise, since the two promotions referred to earlier are not reflected in the 1998 handbooks.
The student-staff ration has also continued its deterioration from 16.6 to 17.0. The table below gives the raw data of staff and student numbers, the latter including research students.
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Staff
18
23
20
19
16
15
Students
295
265
233
236
265
255
SSR
16.4
11.5
11.7
12.4
16.6
17.0
Source: Enrolment statistics and Faculty Handbooks
The department offers units and majors in two degrees, the Bachelor of Science (BSc) and the Bachelor of Computer and Mathematical Sciences (BCM). A significant number of the BSc students are taking the double BSc/BE degree. As well all students in the Bachelor of Cognitive Science (BCogSci) take the first-year Computer Science unit, and may major in Computer Science.
In both degrees there are two major streams of study offered by the department - Computer Science with focus on programming languages and the theory of computing; and Information Technology with an emphasis on applied computing. There is a compulsory unit in both majors: Algorithms 300 for Computer Science and Software Engineering 314 for Information Technology.
To claim a major in one of the the areas, a student must pass in 3 units (including the compulsory one) from the relevant list below and a fourth from either of the lists or as approved by the Head of the Department.
Computer Science
Information Technology
Algorithms 300 - compulsory
Computer graphics 311
Functional programming 301
Computer networks 312
Logic programming 302
Databases 313
Concurrent programming 304
Software engineering 314 - compulsory
Robotics 315
Operating systems 316
The BSc was the original degree, and is still a popular choice with our students. Students in the programme are required to take 1 or 2 majors, both of which must be from within the faculty of Science. There is a wide range of majors available within the faculty, and it is possible to undertake limited students from outside the Faculty of Science.
The BCM is a relatively new degree, founded within the Faculty of Science, but now coming under the auspices of the Faculty of Engineering and Mathematical sciences. It is a special degree requiring depth - students must take 2 majors and must do both Mathematics and Computer Science in each of their first two years but allowing for breadth in that one of those majors may be from outside the faculty. The majors available are:
From with in the School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
From within the Faculty of Economics & Commerce
From other faculties
Computer Science
Accounting
Biochemistry
Information Technology
Economics
Building Technology
Applied Mathematics
Economic History
Chinese
Pure Mathematics
Finance
French
Mathematical Sciences
General Management
German
Mathematical Statistics
Human Resource Management
Geographical Information Systems
Industrial Relations
Italian
Information Management
Japanese Studies
International Business Economics
Linguistics
Marketing
Philosophy
Money & Banking
Psychology
Quantitative Economics
Source: BCM Standard Courses Handbook 1997
Every year there are minor changes to the content and format of all units as co-ordinators respond to their previous experiences and to changes in the environment. We do not comment on them here. There was, however, one significant change.
When Programming Structures 220 was introduced in 1996, C++ was chosen as the programming language in which to teach object oriented programming. During 1996 it became clear that Java had a number of advantages over C++, and it was adopted for 1997. It is expected that it will become the lingua franca for the department's teaching.
A table of the student enrolments from 1992 is given below. It considers only the students with which this report is concerned - those in the Bachelors degrees and the Honours students.
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Undergraduate
274
250
218
220
250
232
Honours
21
15
15
16
15
23
Total teaching
295
265
233
236
265
255
Source: Enrolment Statistics, UWA Statistics Office
As can be seen, the honours EFTUs are always less than 10% of the total, and have an effect only at the margin. Taking a long term view the number has stabilised around 250 with a tolerance of about 15. In 1997 the undergraduate load dropped by about 7%. An increase in the honours numbers partially compensated. Nevertheless this resulted in an overall reduction of about 4%.
A feature of Australian education over the last decade has been the introduction of full fees for overseas students. Below we give a table of the full-fee and HECS-paying students since 1992.
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Local
201
182
172
185
207
201
Full-fee
94
83
61
51
58
54
Total teaching
295
265
233
236
265
255
Source: Enrolment Statistics, UWA Statistics Office
Over the long term the numbers have dropped by about 40%. They have now stabilised at around 50, this number being 20% of the total EFTSs (down from 30% in 1992). In 1997 the reduction was 8%, though this was only 4 EFTSUs.
As noted before, most of our students enroll in either the BCM, the BSc, or the joint BSc/BE degrees. The cut-off scores for these degrees from 1987 (or the year in which the degree programme was introduced) are given below.
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
BSc
324
328
325
325
325
342
340
334
328
307
305
301
BSc/BE
423
403
410
422
404
399
395
384
384
386
380
BCM
343
332
314
307
308
302
Source: Prospective Students Office
Because of changes to the requirements for a TES score in 1992, and the changing proportion of the age cohort who take the Tertiary Entrance examination, it is hard to interpret these figures. The gap between the single-degree students and the double-degree students, though, is clearly significant.
Unfortunately we do not have long-term statistics relating to the degree the students are undertaking, nor to their sex. These available at the unit-level and are discussed there
Appendix 1 gives the handbook entries for the undergraduate units taught this year. They are, of course, supplemented with an Information Sheet provided by the unit co-ordinator. An overview of the structure is given below.
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First year |
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Co-ordinator |
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Core |
Foundations of Programming 120 |
Professor J S Rohl |
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Enrichment |
Computer Science - Theory, History & Practice 104 |
Dr A Omari |
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Second year |
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Core |
Programming Structures 220 |
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Enrichment |
Programming Language Implementation 202 |
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Introduction to Human Computer Interaction 225 |
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Unix and Windows Programming 226 |
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Third year |
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Computer Science major |
Algorithms 300 |
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Functional Programming 301 |
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Logic Programming 302 |
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Concurrent Programming 304 |
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Information Technology major |
Software Engineering 314 |
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Computer Graphics 311 |
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Computer Networks 312 |
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Databases 313 |
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Robotics 315 |
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Operating systems 316 |
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Below is a table of the degree being undertaken by students across all the units.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
BCM
77
105
18
70
58
56
46
12
42
42
55
51
25
69
42
56
BSc
1
66
11
22
11
19
6
4
5
5
7
7
6
8
5
6
BSc/BE
0
64
0
33
1
2
8
5
5
5
18
17
13
22
20
22
others
0
25
0
5
0
4
3
0
0
1
5
5
1
4
3
3
Source: The examination register 1997
If we ignore the enrichment units, it is clear that the proportion of BCM students increases as the students progress through the degree. This is to be expected since the BCM is the specialist degree. On the other hand the BSc students decline in numbers as the students choose their majors across the faculty. The percentage of joint degree students remains fairly constant. It is noticeable that these students do not participate in the enrichment units: this is due to their very tight timetable.
Below is a table of the sex of the students across all the units.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
female
19
67
3
25
21
13
13
3
15
9
19
11
11
24
13
19
male
66
193
26
105
49
68
50
18
37
44
66
69
34
79
57
68
Source: The examination register 1997
The proportion of female students is consistent across all years, but consistently low. Historical data in this area is not readily accessible.
The figures in this section are taken from the results returned to the Examinations Office. Consequently they do not take into account students with deferred examinations, students who are granted a supplementary examination, or students who marks have been subsequently adjusted. The corresponding figures for 1996 are included for comparison. These are the only figures available: in subsequent years, we will include more years' data.
The enrolment numbers (excluding all withdrawals) are given below.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
1996
79
258
53
130
67
118
79
42
48
68
113
96
111
107
61
0
1997
86
260
29
130
70
81
63
21
52
53
85
80
45
103
70
86
Source: Examination marks returned to the Examination Office
We can make the following observations.
The pass rates for all the units are given below.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
1996
76
76
77
82
93
90
80
90
90
90
90
90
93
94
87
1997
80
82
72
84
93
86
92
71
92
89
82
95
93
96
86
98
Source: Examination marks returned to the Examination Office
We can make the following observations.
The median scores for all the units are given below.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
1996
63
61
65
60
70
66
62
70
66
65
70
65
66
66
73
1997
61
64
74
65
66
72
68
69
64
58
69
68
64
71
71
69
Source: Examination marks returned to the Examination Office
As in 1996 there is a trend towards higher medians in later years. There is some variation about the median. Three stand out: Programming Language Implementation 202 (high), Concurrent Programming 304 (low) and Databases 313 (low). These are being investigated.
The standard deviations for all the units are given below.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
1996
22
20
24
17
15
16
19
22
17
13
19
14
14
14
20
1997
18
18
30
17
14
19
16
21
15
17
21
15
15
11
18
12
Except for Programming Language Implementation 202 the values are very close to those of 1996.
The proportion of students awarded the 5 classifications for all the units are given below.
104
120
202
220
225
226
300
301
302
304
311
312
313
314
315
316
N/N+
20
18
28
16
7
14
8
29
8
11
18
5
7
4
14
2
P
24
20
0
25
16
6
16
5
23
42
12
15
29
3
19
24
CR
28
24
14
28
37
22
33
24
40
15
22
35
24
33
11
29
D
20
18
31
19
37
35
27
24
23
26
34
31
27
50
29
31
HD
8
20
28
12
3
23
16
19
6
6
14
14
13
10
27
14
Source: Examination marks returned to the Examination Office
Since 1997 was the first year using the new classification system, it is difficult to know what to make of this table. It will, though, serve as a frame of reference for future years.
The honours programme is an optional 4th year that is available to students who pass the undergraduate degree at a sufficiently high level. It is available as both BCM(hons) and BSc(hons), and in each the honours may be in either Computer Science or Information Technology.
A proposal by the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering to introduce a new 4th year unit, Formal Methods and Project 401, in the BE(IT) programme led to the revival of our honours unit Programming Methodology 401, which was modified to accommodate the BE(IT)'s requirements. The two units were taught as a single unit, with the teaching and assessment duties shared equally between the departments. The proposal was successfully implemented.
A proposal by the Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering to introduce a new 3rd year unit, Engineering Visualisation 301, in the BE(IT) programme led to the collaboration in the delivery of that unit and of our own Advanced Graphics 413. This collaboration extended to the sharing of half of the lectures.
Since honours is a coherent programme, we can give an overall picture, which is not possible with the undergraduate teaching.
Below we give a table of the first degree followed by the students before enrolment in honours.
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
BCM
4
0
5
6
4
7
BSc
15
13
3
5
4
2
BSc/BE
0
1
7
3
6
11
others
1
1
0
0
0
1
The graph shows that the decline in straight BSc students continued, as did the consolidation in the number of BCM students. The joint BSc/BE students increased in number this year, but the pattern over the years is hard to discern.
Below we give a table of the students' sex.
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
female
5
1
1
1
1
1
male
15
14
14
13
14
19
Since 1992 the story has been pretty depressing.
Degree classifications
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Fail
0
0
0
0
0
1
H3
0
0
0
0
0
1
2B
3
0
1
4
4
2
2A
7
5
7
5
6
7
H1
10
10
7
5
5
9
Total
20
15
15
14
15
20
Appendix 2 gives gives the handbook entry of all the honours units, including those which were not offered in 1997. Those offered are list below.
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Unit |
Co-ordinator |
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Scientific Communication 405 (233.405) |
Associate Professor R A Owens |
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Programming Methodology 401 (233.401) |
Professor J S Rohl |
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Neural Computation 407 (233.407) |
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Advanced Computer Systems 408 (233. 408) |
Dr C S McDonald |
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Logic for Artificial Intelligence 409 (233.409) |
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Expert Systems 411 (233.411) |
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Computer Vision 412 (233.412) |
Associate Professor R A Owens |
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Advanced Graphics 413 (233.413) |
Dr X Lin |
Appendix 3 gives a list of the abstracts of all the honours theses presented. Below we give the titles.
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Author |
Title |
Supervisor |
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David A. Allen-Williams |
Jamming on the World Wide Web |
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Michael Barrett-Lennard |
Second Order Derivative Shapes: Calculation, Visualisation, and Application |
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Andrew Berry |
Solving Multiobjective Optimisation Problems Using the SEE Algorithm |
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Thomas Brown |
Finger Tracking for the DigitalDesk |
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Rainer Buschenhofen |
A Graphical User Interface to Process Simulation Routines |
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Chao Miin Tyi |
Obstacle Avoidance For A Puma 560 Robot Using Minty Obstacle Avoidance Algorithm |
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Michael Cheng |
Stereoscopic Motion Tracking in Biomedical Visualisation |
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Michelle Cho |
3D Reconstruction Using Delaunay Triangulation |
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Voon-Li Chung |
Reinforcement Learning in a Small Mobile Robot |
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Peter Dreisiger |
A Statistical Measure of Text Similarity |
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Novak Elliott |
Quantification of Geological Features Stored Within a Geographic Information System (GIS) |
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Sebastian Glass |
RUSTIC: Real-time Unconstrained Synchronous Tool for Internet Conferencing |
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Simon Huband |
Heuristics for Graph Colouring |
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Tristan Lewis |
Techniques for Averaging Binary Images |
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Yuval Marom |
Improvising Jazz with Markov Chains |
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David McClure |
Wanton Destruction -- Simulating Arbitrary Computer Models Shattering due to an Explosive Force. |
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Jehann Mendis |
A Computer Augmented Chessboard |
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Matthew Miller |
The Design and Implementation of a Component-based Real-time 3D Game. |
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Bruce Murphy |
Geometric Methods in Spatial Data Mining |
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Robert Nielsen |
Evolving Artificial Life Forms |
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Sherrie Yap |
Image Normalisation of Retinal Images |
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Below we record those of our students who were recognised by the university in the offering of scholarships, by the faculties in the awarding of faculty prizes, and by the department in nominating the dux of each of the units we mount.
Postgraduate scholarships |
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Australian Postgraduate Award |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Australian Postgraduate Award |
Tristan James LEWIS |
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Australian Postgraduate Award |
Matthew Stuart MILLER |
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Australian Postgraduate Award |
Voon Li CHUNG |
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Faculty prizes | |
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ADI Prize in Computer Science |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Alphawest Prize in Information Technology |
Andrew Gareth NILSSON |
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Execom Prize |
Braden Kwang Chien BENG |
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Tang Prize in Computer Science |
Robert Ching-Kong CHEUNG |
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Outside awards | |
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Western Australian Information Technology Award (WAITA) |
Ian Brayshaw |
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Dux of units |
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Foundations of programming 120 |
John Paul BARJAKTAREVIC |
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Computer science 104 |
Gareth Thomas WHITE |
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Programming structures 220 |
Christopher Wayne BARTLEY |
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Programming language implementation 202 |
Mark James HAMMOND |
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Introduction to human computer interaction 225 |
Priscilla Li Peng TENG |
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Unix & Windows programming 226 |
Hooi Lit NG |
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Algorithms 300 |
Cameron James KINGWELL |
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Functional programming 301 |
Philip Paul DELRUE |
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Logic programming 302 |
Kean Leong NG |
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Concurrent programming 304 |
Claire Amy BOTSIS |
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Computer graphics 311 |
Ho Dong BANG |
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Computer networks 312 |
Thomas Andrew EVERS |
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Databases 313 |
Braden Kwang Chien BENG |
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Software Engineering 314 |
Braden Kwang Chien BENG |
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Robotics 315 |
Braden Kwang Chien BENG |
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Operating systems 316 |
Thomas Andrew EVERS |
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Programming methodology 401 |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Scientific Communication 405 |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Neural computation 407 |
Peter Russell DREISIGER |
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Advanced computer systems 408 |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Logics for artificial intelligence 409 |
Bruce Winston MURPHY |
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Expert systems 411 |
Simon Teverey HUBAND |
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Computer vision 412 |
Tristan James LEWIS |
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Advanced graphics 413 |
David Andrew ALLEN-WILLIAMS |
Each year changes are made to units to reflect our experience and the feedback we receive from a number of sources. We do not detail them all here. However, there are two major changes of interest.
In 1996 Java was used in the Concurrent Programming 304 unit, and in 1997 was introduced into the core second-year Programming Structures 220 unit. In 1998, it will replace Pascal in the core first-year Foundations of Programming 120 unit. It will then become the lingua franca for the department.
Many students want to do more than 4 or 5 Information Technology units, but this is impossible with a single Information Technology major. Others are keen to get access to some of the honours units, without undertaking the honours programme. To accommodate these students from 1998 onwards, we have reorganised the structure of the majors. There are now three majors Computer Science, Information Technology (Systems) and Information Technology (Applications). Some units are available in two majors. To claim a major in one of the the areas, a student must pass in 3 units from the relevant list below and a fourth from any of the lists or as approved by the Head of the Department.
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Computer Science |
Information Technology |
Information Technology |
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Algorithms 300 |
Concurrent programming 304 |
Computer graphics 311 |
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Functional programming 301 |
Computer networks 312 |
Databases 313 |
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Logic programming 302 |
Databases 313 |
Software engineering 314 |
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Concurrent programming 304 |
Software engineering 314 |
Robotics 315 |
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Neural computation 407 |
Operating systems 316 |
Computer vision 412 |
