Course Philosophy

Welcome to COMP2511: The Art of Software Design. While the course outline provides a formal overview the course, this page aims to tell you what the course is about thematically and qualitatively.

Course Themes

1. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Brain Training

Up until this point much of your education has been like a 50 metre swimming pool:

Everything is laid out clearly, you know where the start and end are and there is a clear path for how to get to the end. All you need to do is swim 50 metres. This course (and real life) is not like that. It is more like a maze - there is a start and end, but the path is not immediately clear. You will have to try things, reach dead ends and go back and try again. Eventually you will find the end and it will be incredibly rewarding when you do. We will be here to support you every step of the way through the maze. You will need to be patient, pay attention and - most importantly - think in order to solve the mazes we have constructed for you.

As you progress through the course your ability to solve problems and think critically will improve - the brain is a muscle like any other and you will be training it for the next 10 weeks.

2. An appreciation for beautiful and elegant software and how to write it

In this course we will be exploring what it truly means to write good code, what it means to write bad code and how people before us have come up with patterns of solving problems that create solutions that are intriguing and elegant.

This painting by Vincent Van Gogh is called "The Starry Night". It makes use of visual patterns in colour, texture and foregrounding to create an artwork which is beautiful and very well known. It's not something that can be achieved by following a set of instructions - it is qualitative - and that is what good software design is like as well; an art form. Things are not clear-cut, black and white but rather we work in shades of grey - and as a designer you will need to make decisions about what you think is good design.

In this course you'll work on an assignment and project which while not visual we hope you are proud of and become and artwork of your own creation.

3. Professional Maturity & Personal Growth

There will be times in the next 10 weeks when you will encounter difficulties and challenges. This is ok. We want you to overcome these challenges, to learn and to grow. Throughout the course you will have the opportunity to reflect on what you have experienced, a vital part of this process. This will help you in your professional career in building maturity as well as your own personal development in cultivating resilience and the ability to persevere.

We believe that good education is about changing people. By the end of this course you will not only be able to climb but to move mountains compared to when you started. We will be here with you every step of the way if you need a hand.

We are very excited and hope you are too - see you soon!

Image credits: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4