CS3184 Chinese Computing

Course Duration: One Semester

Credit Units: 3

Level: B3

Medium of Instruction: English

Prerequisites:
CS2302 Data Structures and Algorithms /or
CS2303 Data Structures for Media /or
CS2468 Data Structures and Data Management /or
CS3334 Data Structures

Precursors:
(CS3103 Operating Systems or CS3161 Operating System Principles)
and
(CS3201 Computer Networks or CS3270 Fundamentals of Computer Networks and the Internet)

Equivalent Courses: Nil

Exclusive Courses: Nil

Course Aims:
This course aims to provide an overview of issues encountered in a Chinese computing environment.  The use of Chinese, multi-lingual features or multi-byte character sets in computing become inevitable and there will be impacts in all areas of Information Technology.  This course examines the implications of Chinese computing at various levels of a computer system and compares the available technologies.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs):
(state what the student is expected to be able to do at the end of the course according to a given standard of performance)

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

No.

CILOs

Priority level

1.

identify various issues, e.g., character encodings,
character input, text rendering and information processing such as searching and sorting, encountered in a Chinese computing environment, and more generally, a multilingual computing environment;

1 (core)

2.

describe the impact of the above identified issues on computer system design and software internationalization and localization;

1 (core)

3.

explain, compare and analyse available technologies concerning encoding, input, output and processing of Chinese, and more generally, other writing scripts;

2 (essential)

4.

design appropriate data-structures and algorithms to solve string manipulation  problems under various character encoding formats, the conversion problem between different character encodings, and the mapping problems between characters and other values;

3 (advanced)

5.

design and develop systems and application software which are multilingual enabled.

2 (essential)

Note on priority levels: 1-highest priority
Priority level 1 (core) – students must reach an acceptable level on these outcomes in order to pass the course.
Priority level 2 (essential) – students must reach a sufficient level on these outcomes in order to get a good grade.
Priority level 3 (advance) – students must reach an adequate level on these outcomes in order to get an excellent grade.

Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs):
(designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs)

Teaching pattern:
Suggested lecture/tutorial/laboratory mix:  2 hrs. lecture; 1 hr. tutorial.

Based on the Course ILOs, the teaching/learning activities of this course may include:

Lectures and Resources. All CILOs will be introduced, explained, discussed and demonstrated through lectures. Online resources will be given for out-of-classroom reading and learning.

Tutorials.  Tutorial sections are held in “terminal rooms”, in which concepts, comparison and analysis of various Chinese computing issues that are presented in lectures are demonstrated using software tools and operating systems.  Tutorial exercises give students a chance to learn and apply the latest technologies on developing multilingual software and international software.

Programming Projects. The individual software project gives students an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities to apply knowledge and techniques learned to create practical and workable multilingual software systems, including multi-locale programs and/or multi-locale Web pages.

Quizz and Examination. The quiz and examination give a chance for students to reflect on their understanding and levels they can achieve on the intended outcomes. They will provide timely feedback on students’ learning progress.

Correlation between CILOs and TLAs:

CILO No.

Lectures and Resources

Tutorials

Programming Projects

Quiz and Examination

1 (identify various issues)

H

L

L

H

2 (describe the impact of the issues)

H

 

 

H

3 (explain, compare and analyse available technologies)

H

L

L

H

4 (design appropriate data-structures and algorithms)

H

L

H

H

5 (design and develop multilingual software)

 

H

H

 


(L: Low focus on the ILO; H: High focus on the ILO)

Assessment Tasks/Activities:
(designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs)

Based on the Course ILOs, the assessment criteria, assessment tasks / activities of this course may include:

CILO No.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Criteria

1 (identify various issues)

Quiz

Examination

Cogently articulate a clear understanding of the input/output/processing issues in  written format

2 (describe the impact of the issues)

Quiz

Examination

Provide accurate and thorough evidence of how various issues are related.

 

3 (explain, compare and analyse available technologies)

Quiz

Examination

Clearly outline the basic ideas of various approaches and also the analytical process to evaluate their effectiveness, including both benefits and drawbacks, and the applications/scenarios that different approaches are most suitable for.

4 (design appropriate data-structures and algorithms)

Quiz,

Tutorial exercises,

Programming projects,

Examination

Successfully apply the most effective data-structures and algorithms when deriving a solution to the given problem.

Articulate a convincing rationale for approaches used in the design.

5 (design and develop multilingual software)

Tutorial exercises,

Programming projects,

Examination

Demonstrate the ability to create comprehensible, user-friendly, well-documented, and well-structured program that is multilingual-enabled.

Grading of Student Achievement:
Refer to Grading of Courses in the Academic Regulations (Attachment) and to the Explanatory Notes.

Sample weight of course ILOs to assessment tasks:

ILO No.

Tutorial

exercises

Projects

Quiz

Exam

Total for course

1 (identify various issues)

 

 

2.5%

7.5%

10%

2 (describe the impact of the issues)

 

 

2.5%

7.5%

10%

3 (compare and analyse available technologies)

 

 

5%

25%

30%

4 (design appropriate data-structures and algorithms)

 

5%

5%

30%

40%

5 (design and develop multilingual software)

5%

5%

 

 

10%

Total

5%

10%

15%

70%

100%


Coursework component: 30%
-        quiz, individual programming projects, and tutorial exercises.

Examination component: 70%
-        duration: 2 hours, at the end of the semester
-        student must obtain at least 30% from the examination to pass the course
-        In addition, student must obtain at least 35 out of 100 in the total mark to pass the course

Keyword Syllabus:

Characteristics, structure and linguistic signs of Chinese Language.  Internal code sets, Big-5, GB and Unicode.  User interface: input and output of Chinese, printing, display and typeset.  Implementation strategies of computing platform: Chinese shells and native Chinese operating systems.  Localization and internationalization of software development.  Data processing and database systems.  Information retrieval, search engines and the World Wide Web.

Related Links
Department of Computer Science