COMP3331 Notices

Updates: Final Lab Marks, Assignment Feedback, and Ed Forum Closure

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Saturday 17 August 2024, 07:13:04 AM.

Please note that the Ed Forum will be closed for new posts starting at 8 AM on Saturday, the 17th. However, you will still be able to access all existing discussions. We wish you the best of luck on your exam! For any urgent concerns, the class email will be monitored.

Final marks for the labs are now available. You can view the scaled lab marks under "labs_total." To check all your marks (labs and assignments), please use this link: GIVE System

Preliminary marks for the assignment are also available. Please use the WebCMS interface or the " 3331 classrun -collect assign " to see the detailed breakdown of marks and feedback. If you have any concerns about your marks, please contact your tutor immediately and resolve them by Wednesday, the 21st.

Reminder Final Exam: 1:45 pm - 4pm (Afternoon slot) , Saturday, 17 August 2024 , Sydney, Australia time zone

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 16 August 2024, 09:11:49 AM.

A final reminder that you'll have your final exam tomorrow: 1:45 pm - 4pm (Afternoon slot) , Saturday, 17 August 2024 , Sydney, Australia time.

Make sure you do not miss it!

This will be your last assessment in this term.

Ed forum will be turned off from tomorrow. Emails will be open for any urgent matters.

Please have a good rest before sitting for the exam.

The final exam will be monitored by the central university exam officers. There will be no direct communication channels between the students and the lecturer during the exam. Instead, you'll need to contact the exam officers via the prescribed contact details (as will be shown on your screen/Inspera cover page during the exam). They may contact the lecturer if needed and get back to you.

Exam marks could be accessed after the course results are announced for the term by the university.

The exam solutions will not be released until the start of the next term.

We extend our best wishes and best luck to you all.

Change of final exam consultation hour for 14 August

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Tuesday 13 August 2024, 08:06:29 PM.

Due to an unforeseen event, the final exam zoom consultation hour for the 14th of August have been moved from 1pm to 3:30pm. The new time is:

14 August (Wednesday): 3:30pm - 4:30pm (On-line only: Zoom: Meeting ID: 821 2180 3792, Password: 989676)

Last day (08 August) to complete your MyExperience survey

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Thursday 08 August 2024, 11:36:44 AM.

Today, Thursday 08 August, is the last day MyExperience will be open for you to complete.

You can fill out the survey here.

Only 46% of the students have completed their surveys so far (many thanks, indeed).

A vast majority of 54% students are yet to complete. This is your last chance to tell us know your feedback.

I'm still hoping that all of you will be able to complete the survey.

Please complete your MyExperience survey: only 72 hours left!

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Monday 05 August 2024, 05:09:05 PM.

Thanks very much to the 40% students who have completed their surveys.

To the remaining 60%: Can you please honour my request and complete your surveys ASAP? The surveys will close in 72 hours!

Your written comments are very valuable, so please express what you liked and where we could improve, in your opinion. I read all comments.

Final Exam Consultation Hours

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Thursday 01 August 2024, 09:36:34 AM.

Given that your final exam is on August 17th (Saturday), we have scheduled the following consultation hours for you to meet with your lecturer (Mahbub) during the week leading up to the exam (no appointment is required, just turn up):

13 August (Tuesday): 11am - 12 pm (face to face in K17 607)

14 August (Wednesday): 1pm - 2pm (On-line only: Zoom: Meeting ID: 821 2180 3792, Password: 989676)

15 August (Thursday): 9am - 10am (face to face in K17 607)

The Ed forum will also remain open until August 16, but will be turned off from the 17th.

Best of luck with your exam.

Sample practice exam for Finals

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Monday 29 July 2024, 05:15:15 AM.

A practice exam for final is available here: Moodle link which will be open from 10 :00 AM, 30-07-2024 , to 12:00 PM, 16-08-2024 . You can only attempt the exam once, so start it ONLY when you are ready to take it. Answers are available as feedback in Inspera after completing the exam. The questions that require manual marking won't be marked. You can examine the answers provided and compare them with your own. Everyone is strongly urged to attempt the exam.

Please note that the number of questions, total marks, and duration will be different in final exam and exact details will be communicated seperately

Week 10: The final week of the term!

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Sunday 28 July 2024, 04:21:37 PM.

We have completed Week 9!

Here are a few important announcements for next week (Week 10), which will be the last teaching week of this term:

In Week-10 lectures, we will wrap up the Link Layer by covering Wireless Network with a focus on WiFi. This will be the last topic to cover. The lecture slides are available in WebCMS for you to review.

Your assignment was due last Friday. We expect to complete marking and release the marks in Week 11.

Do to forget to submit the last lab, Lab 5, due next week

The final exam will be held on Saturday, 17 August, from 1:45pm to 4pm. It will be held online in Inspera. Students are expected to attempt the exam remotely, just like you did with your Mid-term Exam. I'll explain more details about the final exam in my Thursday lecture next week and hope to release a practice/sample final exam soon. Stay tuned.

Please complete the myExperience surveys . The response rate so far is very low (only about 6%). I am sure you all can do better. We would really appreciate your feedback and this year I'd like to hear from each and every student. Your written comments in the survey would be really useful, so please take a few minutes and complete the survey.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and I hope to see you in the lecture tomorrow.

Week 9: Assignment due + Link Layer

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Sunday 21 July 2024, 09:43:29 PM.

We have completed Week 8!

In Week 9, we shall delve into the last protocol layer, the link layer. The lecture slides are available for your review.

Your assignment is also due at the end of Week 9 (Friday noon). Don't forget to submit by the deadline to avoid any late penalties.

Your MyExperience survey to provide feedback will open soon. Please make sure you submit your feedback.

See you tomorrow at the lecture. Have a good night.

Mid Term Exam marks are available

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Wednesday 17 July 2024, 04:32:03 AM.

The mid-term exam marks are now available. You can check your response and the marks in Inspera. Log into Moodle (or Inspera) and access the same mid-term exam link as before. Sample Solution for the mid term exam is available here .

You should ignore the Pass/Fail grade in Inspera. I am unable to turn this off. There is no such grade for the mid-term. The final mark for the course will be computed as noted in the course outline.

On the main Inspera page, you will also see a candidate report ("View Report"). This includes the specific feedback from your maker for the manually marked questions if marks were deducted. At the bottom of the report, you can see a detailed view of the marks received for each question and the total mark.

Your total mark on the mid-term exam (out of 20) will also be available through give .

Check out the class statistics available here . I have included names of students who scored 16/20 or more. Congratulations !

Week 8: Continue with the network layer

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 12 July 2024, 03:36:44 PM.

This week (week 7) you have taken your mid-term exam worth 20% of your total grade. We are still busy marking your exam papers and hope to release the marks along with sample solutions sometime next week.

We also delved into the network layer this week. We plan to continue with the network layer next week (Week 8) covering topics such as Network Address Translation (NAT), which helps the Internet keep expanding despite the limited address space of IPv4, and routing algorithms that help the routers maintain their forwarding tables up-to-date.

You are also busy working on your assignment. Make sure you take advantage of the consultations that are offered for the assignment preparation.

Work hard and have a good weekend.

Week 7 Programming Workshop and Start of Assignment Consultations

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Friday 05 July 2024, 11:31:28 AM.

Hope everyone is working hard for the midterm exam. Good luck!

Week 7 is also important as we have our Programming Workshop and the start of our Programming Consultation sessions to help you with the Assignment due in Week 9.

Programming Workshop (Revised Timetable)

In Week 7, we will hold a programming workshop instead of the usual lab session. The goal is to help you get started with the programming assignment. Please review the tutorial specifications in advance. We will revisit client-server architecture and socket programming using a simple example. The workshop will have separate slots for Python, C, and Java, so attend the session based on your preferred language. Please check the revised timetable for week 7 .Note that this tutorial is not graded, and no code submission is required. Starter codes are available for you to practice. Sample solutions will be made available by the end of the week 7.

Assignment Consultations

Special assignment-specific consultations will be available weekly from Week 7 to Week 9 as per the schedule here . There are dedicated sessions for C, Java, and Python. You are encouraged to attend these sessions if you need help. Please note that the purpose of these sessions is to provide general assistance with programming, not for tutors to debug your code.

We will aim to add more consultation slots based on demand as the deadline approaches, and any changes will be announced accordingly. However, we expect everyone to attend the programming workshop in Week 7 to get a solid start on the assignment.

Mid-term exam reminder

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Thursday 04 July 2024, 09:52:20 PM.

We had no lecture or lab during this week (Week 6) but we believe you have been preparing well for the Mid-term exam.

The Mid-term exam will take place on Inspera in Week 7 at 2:05pm on Monday (08 July). No lecture on Monday.

The exam link is available here (you need to be logged into Moodle).

All information about the mid-term exam is available here . Please read them carefully and discuss any questions/issues in Ed forum.

Please note that there is no supplementary exam for the Mid-term exam. If you cannot take the exam and your special consideration application is approved by the university, your mid-term exam weight maybe carried over to the final exam, i.e., your final exam performance will be used to award your mid-term grade.

The exam is open book and you can take the exam from any location with good Internet connectivity.

We will be monitoring the Ed forum as you continue to prepare for the exam.

Work hard. Prepare well. We wish you best of luck in the exam!

Lab 3 marks are released

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Wednesday 03 July 2024, 07:48:07 PM.

Marks for Lab 3 are now available.

You can now use webcms to check marks using collect submission . Alternatively you can run 3331 classrun -collect Lab3 inside vlab and check your marks too.

We are in the process of migrating marks for approximately 9 labs. If your marks are not available through the previous method, please use the following link to check them. Sorry about the inconvinience caused.

https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~give/code/login.php?app=/~give/Student/sturec.php

Use your zid/password.

Make sure to check the mark and feedback. If you lost marks there is a comment on where you lost marks. If the tutor has asked to contact him/her, do it ASAP.

If you have problem with the marks or feedback, directly contact your tutor. If it's not resolved in reasonable amount of time, please contact course email.

Week 6: Preparing for the Mid-term Exam

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 28 June 2024, 05:06:06 PM.

1. We have completed Week 5.

2. Week 6 is No-teaching week: no lecture and no lab next week. You'll rather prepare for the Mid-term exam. We will continue to provide support through Ed forum during Week 6 as you prepare for the Mid-term exam.

3. A practice Mid-term exam is now available on Inspera for you to attempt (see the details in the previous notice/announcement). This is a copy of a real past exam paper. It will be open for you until the morning of the 8th of July, but you can attempt it only once. So take it when you feel prepared.

4. The real Mid-term exam will open in Inspera in Week 7 at 2:05pm on Monday (08 July) and end after 75 minutes. There will be no grace period, so you will have to start at 2:05pm to avoid loss of any exam time. As this will take place during your regular lecture hours, there will be no lectures on Monday. The contents of Week 7, which are now available in WebCMS, will be covered during Thursday's lecture. More information about the real Mid-term exam along with the link to it will be announced later next week.

Have a good weekend and prepare well for the Mid-term exam!

A Practice exam for Mid Term 24T2 is now available

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Thursday 27 June 2024, 10:36:27 AM, last modified Thursday 27 June 2024, 10:38:38 AM.

Dear Students,

A practice exam is available here: Moodle link . The exam uses the Inspera platform , which will be used for both exams in this course.

The practice exam will be open from 9:00 AM, 28-06-2024 , to 9:00 AM, 08-07-2024 . You can only attempt the exam once, so activate it ONLY when you are ready to take it. Answers are available as feedback in Inspera after completing the exam. The questions that require manual marking won't be marked. You can examine the answers provided and compare them with your own. Everyone is strongly urged to attempt the exam. It will familiarize you with the Inspera assessment environment so there are no surprises on exam day. A PDF file with the exam questions and answers will be posted on the mid-term exam page in webcms.

Lab 2 marks are released

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Tuesday 25 June 2024, 09:04:43 AM.

Dear Students

Marks for Lab 2 are now available.

Your tutor in your enrolled lab is the the person who marked your submission.

Please use following link to check your marks.

https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~give/code/login.php?app=/~give/Student/sturec.php

Use your zid/password.

Make sure to check the mark and feedback. If you lost marks there is a comment on where you lost marks. If the tutor has asked to contact him/her, do it ASAP.

If you have problem with the marks or feedback, directly contact your tutor. If it's not resolved in reasonable amount of time, please contact course email.

Week-5: Let's continue transport layer with TCP

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 21 June 2024, 12:44:31 PM.

You have completed 4 weeks of the term. Congratulations!

In week-4, we spent a fair bit of time learning the required constructs and concepts to build a reliable communication system over an unreliable network. Next week we shall study in detail how TCP implements them in practice. We shall also learn a number of other useful functions executed by TCP such as congestion control, without which the Internet would collapse. The lecture slides for Week-5 are released now for your review.

In Week-5, you will be solving problems during your lab hours instead of executing practical lab exercises. The problem solving session will be a preparation opportunity for your Mid-term Exam, which will take place in Week 7. Later in Week-5, we shall also try to release a mock-test on the Inspera platform for you to have a trial of your Mid-term Exam.

The census date for the term is 23 June. While we do not encourage it, this is the last day that you can drop the course without incurring fees.

Have a great weekend but don't forget to work hard!

Hope to see you next week Monday in the lecture.

Lab 1 marks are released

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Monday 17 June 2024, 09:16:03 PM.

Dear Studetns,

Marks for Lab 1 are available in the webcms.

Your tutor in your enrolled lab will be the person who mark your submission.

Please use following link to check your marks.

https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~give/code/login.php?app=/~give/Student/sturec.php

Use your zid/password.

Make sure to check the mark and feedback. If you lost marks there is a comment on where you lost marks. If the tutor has asked to contact the tutor, do it ASAP.

If you have problem with the marks or feedback, directly contact your tutor. If it's not resolved, please contact course email.

Week-4: Let's begin our journey into the Transport Layer

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Saturday 15 June 2024, 03:08:22 PM.

We have completed the Application Layer in Week-3. Congratulations!

In Week-4, we shall begin our journey into the Transport Layer of the Internet. The slides for Week-4 are now available for your review.

Here is a poll on the pace of the lectures . Let me know your thoughts so I can make adjustments as necessary.

Labs have started in full swing. Note that even you miss attending the actual lab session, you can still submit your lab report by the report submission deadline without any penalty using the on-line submission system. That is, there is no marks allocated for the attendance per se, but the marks are based on the submitted report.

Enjoy your weekend but don't forget to work hard as always.

See you Monday next week in the lecture.

Week-3: Continuing with the Application Layer

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 07 June 2024, 03:04:55 PM.

Congratulations! You have completed TWO weeks!

Note that Monday (10 June) is a Public Holiday, so there will be no lectures on Monday in Week 3. Instead, we shall cover the remaining contents of Application Layer (DNS, P2P, CDN, Socket) during our Thursday lecture. Lecture slides are now available under Week-3 in WebCMS for your review.

Don't forget to submit your Lab-1 report by its due date, 10am Tuesday 11 June, to avoid late submission penalty.

Very few students appear to be attempting the homework questions. We strongly encourage everyone to work through these questions on their own. We will post answers for the collated questions (e.g. Introduction Questions). However, the questions marked with "Students to Discuss Solutions" are exclusively left for you to work on. Please post your solutions on the Ed forum. We are happy to provide feedback on your attempts. This should serve as good practice for the exams.

An anonymous feedback form is available here in case you wish to leave us some comments. We value your feedback and will try our best to act on your input.

Have a nice long weekend (but also work hard!).

Revised Lab Schedule for Public Holiday on Monday, June 10

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Thursday 06 June 2024, 06:03:46 PM.

Due to the public holiday on Monday, June 10th, the affected labs will be replaced with the following online sessions.

https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP3331/24T2/reso...

Please attend these sessions as scheduled and they will also be recorded. Note that this change applies only to Monday, June 10th, of Week 3. Regular classes will resume from Week 4 onwards.

Week-2: What's coming up?

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Friday 31 May 2024, 05:01:10 PM.

Congratulations! You have now completed the first week! Under Week-1 lecture, I have now released an additional slide set with answers to the in-lecture quizzes we discussed during Week-1 lecture.

In Week 2 lectures, we will complete our introduction to computer networks, i.e., discuss the layers of the Internet (cake:-), and dive into the top layer (Application Layer) covering networked applications (principles, Web/HTTP, and Email). Week-2 lecture slides are now released for review.

Labs will commence in Week 2. Please attend the lab class you have enrolled in, as many classes are at full capacity. Don't forget to submit the lab report by its due date, as they will be assessed.

Several problem-solving questions are accessible on the Homework Questions page. You are strongly encouraged to work through these questions on your own. These are not assessed. We will post answers for the collated questions (e.g. Introduction Questions). However, the questions marked " Students to Discuss Solutions " are exclusively left for you to work on. We are happy to provide feedback on your attempts but will not provide ready solutions. Working through these questions will provide good practice for the exams. Please discuss them on the Ed forum.

See you Monday 2pm next week in the lecture.

Have a great weekend (but also work hard!).

Programming Assignment

Posted by Isura Bamunusinghe Arachchige Monday 27 May 2024, 11:44:39 AM, last modified Monday 27 May 2024, 06:11:26 PM.

We have released the programming assignment, which is due at 11:59 AM (noon) on Friday, July 26, 2024 (Week 9) . Please download the specifications from the Assignment tab in WebCMS and read them carefully.

In the assignment, we'll be using socket programming to develop a simplified DNS implementation. We'll be discussing these topics in the Week 2 and Week 3 lectures, and exploring them further in the first half of the term through Lab 2, Lab 3, and Tutorial 1. In the second half of the term, more assignment specific support will be provided, for each of the 3 available programming languages, through the programming tutorial on week 7 and regular assignment consultations ( shedule to be announced).

Welcome to COMP3331/9331 Term 2 2024

Posted by Mahbub Hassan Wednesday 22 May 2024, 02:07:19 PM.

Welcome to COMP3331/9331, Term 2, 2024 . We will be using this WebCMS page for the course delivery. Please read the course outline carefully.

The course is being offered in a hybrid mode. All lectures will be in person. Face-to-face lectures will be recorded and available via the echo360 platform in Moodle: Link to Monday's Lectures and Link to Thursday's Lectures .

Most labs are in-person, supplemented with a few online labs. The consultations will be hybrid. The exams, both the Midterm and Final, will use the Inspera exam platform.

Please check your enrolment and attend the appropriate lab class. If you have enrolment issues, please get in touch with the Nucleus Student Hub. The course staff do not have access to the enrolment system.

Our first lecture will be held on Monday , 27th May, from 14:00 - 16:00 in Ainsworth G03 .

Labs will commence in Week 2 , even if your timetable indicates they start in Week 1. Details are on the Labs page.

We will be using Ed Forum for the course forum. Please join via this link. The forum on WebCMS is disabled. Please post any course-related questions on the Ed forum. If you must email us, use cs3331@cse.unsw.edu.au instead of personal emails.

We would appreciate it if you could complete the following poll: Your Internet Speed .

See you on Monday the 27th of May in Ainsworth G03 at 2pm.