KV4008 - Computing Fundamentals

You will learn through lectures, workshops, and independent learning. Lectures will be used to introduce you to theories and key concepts. You will explore these further in seminar and workshop sessions through practical exercises.

The seminar classes will allow you to explore concepts from the lectures through practical exercises. You will be given advice and feedback on your work and progress on these during your classes by your tutors. In addition, the eLP (electronic Learning Portal) Blackboard is used to make the study materials available electronically. You can also request appointments outside of scheduled classes from your tutors.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Demonstrate knowledge from first principles of set theory, logic and computer models and apply them in modelling software, systems and data
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the system architecture of a von Neumann computer and how storage, arithmetic and I/O system interact in such a computer
3. Describe how data and instructions are represented and stored in a von Neumann computer and how high level language abstractions relate to the machine implementation.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
4. Apply appropriate tools and methods to program von Neumann machines.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. Discuss major paradigms of Computation and their application in software systems

Summative assessment will be a single assignment involving a mixture of written tasks (totalling no more than 2000 words), problem-solving and programming exercises. The assignment will be submitted electronically in early January. Feedback will be provided using the university’s e-learning portal. This assessment addresses all MLOs (1, 2, 3, 4 & 5).

Formative assessment will take the form of exercises in seminar classes to help you apply the concepts covered in the lectures and to check your understanding. Your tutors will provide you with feedback on your work. Computer-based multiple-choice tests will help check your basic knowledge outside of class time.

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This module aims to provide you with a theoretical and practical foundation required to understand the fundamental underpinnings of a computing system. You will be introduced to the basic concepts involved in computer software, information representation and the operations and components used in computer system architectures. You will gain an understanding of the underlying theory of computation as well as the major computational and programming paradigms. To complement this theoretical underpinning, you will also study the standard von Neumann computer architecture and von Neumann machine programming.

Indicative topics include:
- Number representation (binary, hexadecimal, floating points, Unicode)
- Mathematical foundations for computing from first principles (set theory, relations and functions)
- Digital logic (logic notations, logic gates)
- Computer Systems architecture (CPU, computer functional units, memory, registers)
- Assembly programming
- Theories of computation from first principles (for example, the work of Turing, von Neumann, Babbage and/or the nature of state machines)

Lectures will be used to introduce you to theories and key concepts. You will explore these further in seminar and workshop sessions through practical exercises.