1997 QUT Handbook

equirements of the business and industrial community and
the implications for library services; investigation of what types
of services are required and can be targetted to help further
develop existing library resources (can our commercial information
service run at a profit?); issues involved in selling information,
including legal liabilities and ethical concerns; how
to establish a feebased service, including staff selection; staff
skills, client relationships, confidentiality, management and
location of the service; implications for the future; costs and
the relationship of costs to the rapid expansion of the Internet.
Courses: IT40
Prerequisites: ITP328, ITP329, MGN409
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN357 SPECIAL TOPIC – INFORMATION
STUDIES
Topic developed on an individual basis.
Courses: IT40
Prerequisites: Dependent on individual topic
Credit Points: 12
■ ITN358 MANAGEMENT OF INFORMATION
PROGRAMS
The specific role and functions of the manager of an information
agency; social, ethical and legal responsibilities of information
agencies; the managerial challenges associated with
modern dependence on computer and other technologies in
the day-to-day operations of information agencies; the need
to prioritise an information agency’s resource and service commitments;
report writing; aids to decision-making and decision
implementation; skills and techniques for converting
‘good ideas’ into credible and persuasive plans; budgeting,
cash flow and marketing in both profit and nonprofit information
agencies.
Courses: IT40 Prerequisites: MGN409
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN360 EVALUATION OF INFORMATION
PROGRAMS
Project goal setting; project design and planning; evaluation/
measurement tools, including locating appropriate tools and
establishing their reliability and validity; implementing the
project plan; managing the project within time and budget
constraints; maintaining good relations with information service
personnel; data analysis; report and recommendations.
Courses: IT40
Prerequisites: ITP329, ITP328, ITP330
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN410 SOFTWARE PRINCIPLES
Use of efficient data structures; languages illustrating the variety
of features found in computer programming languages;
structured program design techniques; advanced algorithms
and methods of providing program correctness.
Courses: IT40
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
Incompatible with: ITB422
■ ITN411 SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE &
OPERATING SYSTEMS
Computer organisation; the nature and roles of system software
and the nature of microcomputers and computer graphics;
computer systems architecture; micro-operations; instruction
formats; microprocessor types; machine language; system
software including operating systems, assemblers, compilers,
loaders.
Courses: IT40 Corequisites: ITN410
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
Incompatible with: ITB412
■ ITN420 COMPARATIVE PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
Language is the fundamental conceptual tool and means of
expression within information technology so its principles need
to be understood and the similarities and differences between
different languages appreciated. This unit provides an understanding
of the languages currently used and, importantly, in
what directions they can be expected to develop. Language is
also the major technical support for software engineering principles,
and so can be seen as a large part of the solution to
current and future software engineering problems.
Courses: IT30, IT40 Prerequisites: Knowledge of ADTs
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN421 SOFTWARE SPECIFICATION
The use of formal methods is viewed as an integral part of the
software engineering process. The unit includes formal specifications
and uses the laws of refinement to derive Modula-2
code. Later temporal logic to deal with real-time issues is introduced.
Courses: IT30, IT40
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN430 ADVANCED OPERATING SYSTEMS
This unit has two themes: the nature, design and implementation
of real-time systems on the one hand, and the nature of
object-oriented programming environments and operating
systems on the other. The latter theme is further supported by
the coverage of a number of relevant industry standards. Students
are expected to be familiar with systems programming
and object-oriented concepts.
Courses: IT30, IT40
Prerequisites: ITN410 and ITN411 (IT40 only
Corequisites: ITB430
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN431 DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS
The rationale for distributed computer systems, their domain
of application and the principles of distributed control underlying
their construction. A number of representative systems
are examined.
Courses: IT30, IT40 Prerequisites: ITB430
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN440 ADVANCED GRAPHICS
Advanced level extension of the material in the undergraduate
curriculum; the use of facilities provided by existing graphics
systems.
Courses: IT30, IT40 Prerequisites: ITB441
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN441 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Artificial intelligence in the computing industry; aspects of
artificial intelligence which have given rise to commercial
products; background research efforts which promise to have
a major impact on the use of computers in the near future.
Courses: IT30, IT40 Prerequisites: ITB442
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN442 COMPILER CONSTRUCTION
The organisation and structure of language translator and compilers.
Some emphasis is placed on those parts of these software
tools which are amenable to formal analysis. The material
extends undergraduate studies in algorithm design and in
the semantics of formal languages. Special attention is paid
to techniques which are applicable in the implementation of
special purpose languages such as database query languages
and production systems.
Courses: IT30, IT40 Prerequisites: ITB440
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN443 NEUROCOMPUTING
An introduction to the principles upon which current artificial
neural network computing is based, giving examples of
current applications, and exploring the potential future development
of the technology.
Courses: IT30, IT40
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
■ ITN444 PARALLEL PROGRAMMING
An introduction to parallel programming and parallel computing
in general. A practical emphasis is placed on parallel
program design and construction using different languages
and paradigms.
Courses: IT30, IT40, IT25
Credit Points: 12 Contact Hours: 3 per week
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UNIT SYNOPSES