COMP00900 Foundation Year Project - Computer Science Project 2019/20

Project title:

Markup Languages and Scripting

Time and Room:

Mondays 14:00 - 17:00 in Kilburn 1.8

Aims

The main aim of this project is to introduce you to the discipline of Computer Science and the role of Computer Science at the University of Manchester.

The generic objectives and deliverables (ICT skills, finding information, writing reports, making presentations, etc.) are important, but much more important is to show you how Computer Science differs from other disciplines, and also from some of your previous computing experiences (e.g. using Microsoft Windows and Office, or playing computer games).

In particular, Computer Science is about creating applications, rather than just using them, so it involves a lot of practical work. You have to be able to analyse and research a problem, and then design, implement and validate a solution. Usually, this means using computer languages to create or modify programs, but it can also involve building hardware, and being aware of the limitations of the hardware and software platforms that you are using. It also usually involves using much more specialised and powerful tools than ordinary users.

Because of this, we will include some scripting i.e. simple programming, as programming is central to the discipline of Computer Science, and it would not be realistic to avoid it completely, despite the difficulty of doing anything significant in the time available.

We also want you to develop your intellectual skills (e.g. to be able to compare alternatives to select the best in a given context) and professionalism (e.g. to be aware of the range of possible alternatives, or at least be able to find out about them).

Markup Languages

These are not normally used to write programs, but are instead used to describe the purpose of chunks of text - this is a section heading, that is a paragraph, these make up a list, and so on. Various programs, such as browsers and document processors, can then be used to convert these marked-up texts into nicely-formatted documents for humans to read.

This project consists in the main of you finding out about and using two different markup languages: HTML and LaTeX.

Organisation

Formally, in semester 2 you will be expected to attend in the School of Computer Science each week to further your work and to discuss your progress with us.
This will happen during our Monday tutorial sessions in "Kilburn 1.8".

Informally, you can use the Computer Science PCs at any time, as long as you can find a spare seat. There are three main sets of rooms you can use: the Linux lab (LF31), the Tootill labs (LF9), and the Ground-Floor lab (G23). (Kilburn building 39)

Activities & Tasks

• Introduction to Linux (individual) -- 2 weeks.
  ( Linux Introduction Old Linux tutorial)
• Introduction to (Linux Bash) Scripting (individual) -- 1 week.
  Scripting tutorial
  Turing (our input list used in the tutorial)
  
• Introduction to writing documents in LaTeX (individual) -- 1 week.
  LaTeX lab instructions source code helpful latex notes
  
• Introduction to HTML (individual) -- 1 week.
  (lab description)
• Create a website with facts about the Foundation Year Project, the University of Manchester and the School of Computer Science (group) -- 2 weeks.
  This website will include sections about LaTeX and HTML, information about health and safety, some facts about the university extracted from other sources using scripting as well as facts that you find interesting about the School of Computer Science.
  Try to impress the other groups with the coolest finds and a nice design of your website. details
• Report: Markup Languages and Scripting (group) -- 2 weeks.
  details
  What have you learned in the Foundation Year Project, what have you experienced, has it helped in growing your CS skills?
• Project Presentation (group) -- 1 week.

For the various documents and web-pages, and especially your project report and presentation, remember that:

• We don't just want you to regurgitate information. We want you to progress to higher levels in Bloom's taxonomy: from knowledge to comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.
• Where you make use of anything written by someone else, you must make it clear where you found it e.g. Guidance on plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice from Manchester University.
  If you copy any text verbatim, rather than summarising it in your own words, you must also make it clear exactly which words you have copied e.g. using quotation marks: "Plagiarism is presenting the ideas, work or words of other people without proper, clear and unambiguous acknowledgement."
  Similarly, if you use any information about HTML or LaTeX code, e.g. from an on-line tutorial, you must add a comment in your code saying where you found the original, and make it clear if you copy any code verbatim e.g.:
  <!-- HTML copied from ... -->
  % LaTeX copied from ...