Study Guide

School of Information Technology

Department of Computer Science

Program Design: Introduction

COS 110

Lecturers: Dr Anna Bosman, Mr Pula Rammoko

Last Revision: Version 1.0 (August 16, 2021)

Copyright
c reserved
Contents
1 Overview 1
1.1 Description and Related Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Plagiarism Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.4 Statement of Anti-Discrimination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.5 Grievance procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2 Study Material 2
2.1 Prescribed Textbook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.2 Additional Material . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.3 Programming Language and Operating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.4 Course Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3 Instructors 3
3.1 Course coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1.1 Lecturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.1.2 Assistant Lecturers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
3.2 Contacting COS 110 Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

4 Organisation 4
4.1 Module website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
4.2 Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

5 Assessment 4
5.1 Final Mark Break-down . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.2 Practicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.3 Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.4 Homework Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5.5 Exam Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
5.6 Re-exam and Sick Exam Entry Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

6 Querying 6
6.1 Tutorials and Exam Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

7 Excuses 7
7.1 Tutorials and Practicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.2 Homework Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
7.3 Exam Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

8 Schedule 7
8.1 Lectures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
8.2 Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.3 Practicals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
8.4 Exam Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

9 Support Services 8
9.1 Safety in the evening and emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
9.2 E-learning Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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1 Overview
This study guide serves to inform you of the administrative matters of COS 110. The infor-
mation contained in this study guide is subject to change at the discretion of the lecturers.
Such changes will be communicated to students and an updated version of the study guide
will then be made available. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves with the
content of the latest study guide and to take note of any changes, should they occur.

1.1 Description and Related Modules

The focus is on object-oriented (OO) programming. The module will cover topics such as
inheritance and multiple inheritance, polymorphism, operator overloading, memory man-
agement (static and dynamic binding), interfaces, encapsulation, re-use, etc. The module
teaches sound program design with the emphasis on modular code, leading to well struc-
tured, robust and documented programs. A modern OO programming language is used as
the vehicle to develop these skills. The module will introduce the students to basic data
structures, lists, stacks, and queues.
The knowledge obtained in this course is relevant to any and all other Computer Science
modules that include a programming component.

1.2 Prerequisites
The prerequisites of COS110 are: COS132 and COS151. You may not register for COS110
if you do not comply with the prerequisites.

1.3 Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is a serious form of academic misconduct. It involves both appropriating someone
elses work and passing it off as ones own work afterwards. Thus, you commit plagiarism
when you present someone else’s written or creative work (words, images, ideas, opinions,
discoveries, artwork, music, recordings, computer-generated work, etc.) as your own. Only
hand in your own original work. Indicate precisely and accurately when you have used
information provided by someone else. Referencing must be done in accordance with a
recognised system. Indicate whether you have downloaded information from the Internet.
For more details, visit the librarys website: http://www.library.up.ac.za/plagiarism/
index.htm.
Submitting somebody else’s work, or sharing your work with others, will result in a mark
of zero. Plagiarism reports will be subsequently sent to the Legal Services office of UP. A
student who has plagiarised more than once may be expelled from the University of Pretoria.

1.4 Statement of Anti-Discrimination

The University of Pretoria is committed to building an inclusive, affirming and transformed
institutional culture, curriculum and campus life. It rejects and condemns racism, sexism,
homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ethnic chauvinism, religious intolerance, unfair dis-
crimination, hate speech, sexual harassment, gender-based violence and retaliation, and all
other forms of discrimination. The University has committed itself to the eradication of these
practices, and in 2019 adopted an Anti-Discrimination Policy, in order to realise procedural
and substantive equality in all respects.

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 As the lecturers and presenters of this module, we acknowledge the extreme harm that
racism, sexism, xenophobia and other forms of discrimination have inflicted and continue to
inflict on our society and communities. We commit to ensuring that there is an open dialogue
between the staff and all the students in the module on curriculum content and teaching
method which may be interpreted as discriminatory or exclusive. We undertake to ensure
that any such concerns are raised without fear of intimidation or recrimination. Moreover, we
resolve to continuously improve the teaching of this course in a way that allows the inclusion
of all the students enrolled for this course, building their self-confidence and self-efficacy,
and supporting the ultimate goal of substantive equality for all persons.
The choices that we make about curriculum content and pedagogy (what and how we
teach) are also choices about what kind of society we wish to build. In this declaration of
intent, we resolve to be part of and give substance to the Universitys anti-discrimination and
transformation endeavours.

1.5 Grievance procedures

All issues should be reported in writing, providing details of the complaint or issue. First
consult the lecturer concerned about the complaint or issue. If the matter is, however, not
resolved, you should consult the class representative (the primary function of the class rep-
resentative is to serve as a two-way communication channel between the class and the
lecturer.) If the matter remains unresolved you should consult the module co-ordinator in the
case of large module classes with multiple lecturers. Where the co-ordinator is unable to or
fails to resolve the matter, you should consult the Head of Department. Should the matter
remain unresolved, you may approach the Dean of the Faculty.

2 Study Material
2.1 Prescribed Textbook
The prescribed textbook for COS 110 is:

Title: Starting out with C++: From control structures through objects
Author: Tony Gaddis
Edition: Ninth Edition, Global Edition
Publisher: Pearson
ISBN: 978-1-292-22233-2

2.2 Additional Material

Memos will not be made available. Additional material, including material used during lec-
tures, will be uploaded to the course website at the discretion of the lecturers.

2.3 Programming Language and Operating System

All practical work must be done in C++ and must compile and run under Linux environment,
unless explicitly stated otherwise. Please ensure that your code is backwards-compatible
with the C++98 standard, unless other standards such as C++11 are explicitly allowed.

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 In COS 110, no IDE is prescribed and you may complete your coding assignments and
practicals in any environment you deem fit. However, your programs must compile and run
independent of any IDE, which may require some slight modifications on your part before
you submit your final programs. To check whether your code compiles, it is advised that you
make use of the testing facility available on the Fitchfork portal prior to submitting your code
for marks.
All practical work will be assessed using the Department of Computer Science’s Fitchfork
automarking tool. No manual marking of the submitted programs will take place.

2.4 Course Participation

In order to achieve your best result it is imperative that you participate in as many evaluation
events as possible. Participation in course activities is vital to your success in COS 110.
Failure to attend lectures or failure to complete evaluation events will have a negative impact
on your final results.

3 Instructors
The staff that present and support this module are listed below.

3.1 Course coordinator

Dr Anna Bosman
Office: IT 4-31
Telephone (w): (012) 420 2156
E-mail: anna.bosman@up.ac.za

3.1.1 Lecturers
Mr Pula Rammoko
Telephone: (012) 420 2616
E-mail: p.rammoko@up.ac.za

Mr Tshepiso Mokoena
E-mail: tshepisomokoena20@gmail.com

3.1.2 Assistant Lecturers

Mr Frederick Atiah
E-mail: u16403381@tuks.co.za

Mr Emilio Singh
E-mail: u14006512@tuks.co.za

Mr Savvas Panagiotou
E-mail: u17215286@tuks.co.za

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3.2 Contacting COS 110 Staff
This course will use Discord as a primary communication platform between COS110 staff
and students. Practical and tutorial session questions and queries will be handled via Dis-
cord. You can join the Discord server via the following link: https://discord.gg/wF4dP54yCE
If you would like to contact a specific lecturer regarding the course, please use email.
While the lecturers will monitor the Discord server, personal and urgent matters should rather
be raised via email. You can use the queries email to have your query delivered to all
lecturers presenting this course: COS110Queries@cs.up.ac.za
You are advised to make use of the consultations with the teaching assistants and tutors.
Teaching assistants will be available during practical and tutorial sessions via the Discord
server. Additional consultation slots will also be organized, schedule to be made available
via the course website.

4 Organisation
This module shall be conducted as discussed below.

4.1 Module website

All video lectures, tutorials and tests will be conducted via the COS110 ClickUP page. The
practical assignments will be made available on the Fitchfork portal: http://ff.cs.up.ac.
za/.
The lecturers for COS 110 will communicate announcements through the ClickUP page,
and students are expected to consult the ClickUP page regularly. Access to practical as-
signments and homework assignments will be available exclusively through the Fitchfork
portal.

4.2 Lectures
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lectures will be released as pre-recorded videos via
the ClickUP page. The lecturers will aim to release the videos in advance, but the students
are encouraged to adhere to their prescribed lecture schedule, available via the UP student
portal.
It is important that you attend theory lectures (i.e. watch the lecture videos), as special
cases and examples not explicitly covered in the prescribed textbook may be discussed in
detail. All work covered during theory lectures is examinable. Three theory lectures are
presented every week. A detailed lecture schedule, outlining the content covered in each
lecture, will be made available via the course website.

5 Assessment
COS 110 follows a continuous assessment model. As such there will be no formal semester
mark and separate exam mark. All evaluation events will count directly towards your final
mark. There are four types of evaluation events, namely: practicals, homework assignments,
tutorials and exam opportunities. In order to pass COS 110, you need to obtain a final mark
of at least 50%. Additionally, a subminimum of 40% has to be obtained as the average mark
for the exam opportunities.

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5.1 Final Mark Break-down
The evaluation events will contribute to your final mark as follows:

Event Type Contribution to Comments

final mark (%)
Practicals 10 Only 80% of your best practicals will count
Tutorials 10 Only 80% of your best tutorials will count
Homework Assignments 20 All homework assignments will count
Exam Opportunities 60 All exam opportunities will count

5.2 Practicals
You will be completing practical assignments in your weekly practical session. Each practical
assignment will require you to write C++ code to solve a problem/s. Your solutions will be
automatically assessed when uploaded using an automarking system. You will be allowed
to make multiple submissions, however, only the last upload before the submission deadline
counts towards your marks.
There will be a total of nine practical assignments throughout the semester. The best 7
out of 9 practical assignments will contribute to your final mark. This gives you the possibility
of missing 2 out of 9 practicals without a mark penalty, thus no sick practical assignments
will be given.

5.3 Tutorials
You will have to complete a compulsory tutorial test on a weekly basis. Tutorials will cover
work done prior to the exercise, but will exclude work covered by all previous tutorials. Tuto-
rials will be in the form of a discussion (conducted via Blackboard Collaborate on ClickUP),
followed by a ClickUP test. The test will take the second half of each tutorial (last 20 to 30
minutes).
The aim of tutorials is to provide a room for discussion in addition to the evaluation of
progress. Students are advised to ask questions and thus deepen their understanding of
the subject.
There will be 9 tutorials in total. Similarly to the practicals, only 7 out of the best 9 tutorials
will count towards your final mark.

5.4 Homework Assignments

Homework assignments are in the form of substantially large programming exercises and
should be completed individually. There will be a total of four homework assignments
throughout the semester, each contributing a total of 5% to your final mark. The dead-
lines for these assignments will not be extended and no excuses will be accepted for late
submissions.
Homework assignments incorporate a component of self study to serve as enrichment
and to test your ability to apply and generalise the knowledge you’ve obtained in the course.
It is important that you follow the submission instructions and compile-and-run instructions

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for each assignment exactly. Failure to comply with these instructions will lead to the loss of
the mark for the assignment.

5.5 Exam Opportunities

There are a total of three official exam opportunities, each contributing 20% to your final
mark. Each of the exam opportunities will be a 2-hour open book ClickUP test.
The exam opportunities will not cover the same scope. Each will cover the work done
prior to the event, and will not explicitly examine the work covered in the previous exam
opportunities. However, an understanding of the previously covered work will be assumed
in all subsequent exam opportunities. The detailed scope for each exam opportunity will be
announced in advance via the course website.
To gain entrance to the final exam opportunity (exam opportunity 3), you must have a
final mark of at least 20%. Failure to comply with this requirement will lead to exam refusal.
There is no subminimum fo individual exam opportunities, but there is a subminimum on
the average mark. You must obtain 40% average mark for the three exam opportunities in
order to pass COS 110.
All exam opportunities are compulsory. Missing an exam opportunity without a valid
excuse will lead to COS 110 failure.

5.6 Re-exam and Sick Exam Entry Requirements

The re-exam (supplementary exam) will have the same scope as all exam opportunities (i.e.
the entire COS 110 curriculum) and will replace the result of all of the exam opportunities
(i.e. 60% of your final mark). All other evaluation events (i.e. practicals, tutorials, and
assignments) will still contribute towards your final mark. You must obtain at least 40% for
the supplementary exam, and 50% overall mark, to pass COS 110.
If you are admitted to the re-exam, the highest final mark you can obtain for COS 110 is
50%. If you write the sick exam, you may achieve a result above 50%. Note that the sick
exam will replace the last exam opportunity only.
To gain entrance to the re-exam or sick exam you must have had exam entrance, obtained
a mark of 40 to 49 after writing the final exam opportunity, or missed exam opportunity 3 with
a valid medical excuse.

6 Querying
Upon the release of marks, a query deadline for all new marks will be announced. No
queries will be considered after the query deadlines. Each deadline will be associated with
a set of evaluation events.

6.1 Tutorials and Exam Opportunities

For exam opportunity 3 you will be allowed to peruse your script. Detailed instructions will
be announced before the perusal date. The only queries considered during this perusal
are: if questions have been overlooked for marking or if there is a mark addition error. No
discussions about the contents of your script will be allowed during the perusal session.

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7 Excuses
7.1 Tutorials and Practicals
Only a percentage of your best practicals and tutorials will count toward your final mark.
As such, there is the opportunity to still achieve a good mark for a particular assessment
component if few enough of these are missed. Therefore no excuses will be accepted for
any of these events.

7.2 Homework Assignments

You will have substantially more time to complete homework assignments. You are required
to plan your schedule accordingly to ensure that you do not miss any deadlines. No excuses
for any homework assignments will be accepted.

7.3 Exam Opportunities

Missing the first two exam opportunities will require that a valid medical certificate is submit-
ted electronically (via email) to the course coordinator. The hand-in deadline is three days
after the particular exam opportunity has taken place. No certificates will be accepted at a
later date. You must include your name, student number and the title of the missed oppor-
tunity on the certificate. No certificate without this information will be processed. You will
qualify for the sick test only if you missed exam opportunities 1 or 2 with a valid excuse.
There will be one sick test covering the work of the first two exam opportunities. Only
students with valid medical certificates indicating that these opportunities were missed due
to illness will be allowed to write the sick test. The sick test result will be used as a substitute
for the missed opportunity. The date and time of this test will be announced at a later stage.
Failure to attend exam opportunity 3 should be taken up with Faculty. Your valid medical
certificate should be handed in before the deadline at the EBIT Faculty, complying with the
the Faculty’s requirements regarding such cases.

8 Schedule
8.1 Lectures
There are two lecture groups for COS 110. All lectures will be presented in English, and
released as pre-recorded videos. The lectures for each group are scheduled as follows:

• English group 1:

– Wednesday 12h30
– Thursday 07h30
– Friday 08h30

• English group 2:

– Monday 08h30
– Tuesday 10h30
– Thursday 14h30

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8.2 Tutorials
The tutorial slots as indicated in the UP timetable are as follows:

• Monday: 13h30 to 14h20

• Wednesday: 10:30 to 11:20

• Thursday: 13h30 to 14h20

• Thursday: 16h30 to 17h20

• Friday: 09h30 to 10h20

8.3 Practicals
Practical sessions are scheduled for:

• Tuesday, 14:30 - 17:30

• Tuesday, 16:30 - 19:30

• Wednesday, 14:30 - 17:30

• Thursday, 10:30 - 13:30

• Friday, 14:30 - 17:30

8.4 Exam Opportunities

The exam opportunities are tentatively scheduled as follows:

• Exam Opportunity 1: 11 September 2021, 07:30 - 09:30

• Exam Opportunity 2: 13 November 2021, 09:30 - 11:30

• Exam Opportunity 3: 8 December 2021, 16:00 - 18:00

Any changes to the above schedule will be announced via the course website.

9 Support Services
Please download a QR code reader on your cellphone. To download a QR code reader open
your mobile app store (App Store, Google Play or Windows Marketplace) and search for QR
code readers.

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9.1 Safety in the evening and emergencies
• For any safety or emergency related matters, e.g. if you need a security officer to
accompany you from your residence to campus, phone the Operational Management
Centre (details at the back of your student card).

• The 24-hour, multi-disciplinary UP Crisis Line offers professional and confidential sup-
port to victims of crime in times of trauma. For assistance and immediate action, phone
the UP Crisis Line on: 0800 00 64 28.

• Hatfield residence students: From 18:00 till 06:00 security officers are available to es-
cort you (on foot) to and from your residence or campus anywhere east of the Hatfield
Campus through to the Hillcrest Campus.

9.2 E-learning Support

• Report a problem you experience to the Student Help Desk on your campus.

• Visit the open labs in the Informatorium Building or IT labs on your campus to report
problems at the offices of the Student Help Desk.

• Approach the assistants at the help deskscampus specific (for example: adjacent to
the Student Computer Laboratories in IT Building, NW2, CBT or Aldoel Building IT
labs, etc).

• Call: 012 420 3837

• Email: studenthelp@up.ac.za

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