SOFTENG 281

Welcome to SOFTENG 281!

Important Announcements

January 2025: We are working to refresh this website for the new academic year, as we have lots of new things in store for 2025! Please check back later for updates.

This is the official website for SOFTENG 281, where you will find most of the materials needed to enjoy and do well in the course.

Canvas will still be used for announcements and grading purposes.

Course Overview

Weeks 1 to 6 (Nasser Giacaman)
- Introduction to development tools (compiling, Maven, Git, GitHub)
- Programming (in Java)
- OOP fundamentals: classes, abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism
Weeks 7 to 12 (Valerio Terragni)
- Exception handling
- Basic design patterns
- Fundamental data structures
- Basic algorithms

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course, and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

This course will run in a semi-flipped classroom manner:

You will be expected to dedicate time before each scheduled lecture to study new material from online resources provided to you (such as pre-recorded videos and readings).
We will then use the in-class lecture times to engage with hands-on programming exercises to strengthen understanding.
- You are encouraged to bring a laptop to lectures. Thanks to some of the online technologies we are using, a tablet or even smartphone might do the trick (but not ideal compared to a laptop).

There will be an expectation of spending:

About 2-3 hours a week self-studying new material (such as pre-recorded videos).
About 3-4 hours a week attending lectures, and engaging with in-class exercises.
About 4-5 hours a week working on assignments and/or test preparation.

Academic integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offense. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student’s own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the world-wide web.

All students’ assessed work will be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Using GitHub also helps demonstrate that you have done your own work, as it will show how you have progressed the assignments throughout the semester.

If you have any questions

The teaching team is excited be here and help!

For face-to-face help, pop into one of the Drop-in Labs or ECSE Part II Assistance Centre sessions.
For remote help, use Ed Discussion.
For personal questions/concerns, email the instructor concerned.
For administrative questions/concerns, email the course coordinator.