We hope everyone enjoyed the programming tutorial. The sample code used in the session is available here .
To help us further improve our programming support, we invite you to complete a short survey about the programming tutorials (both week 2 and week 7). Your feedback will help us understand what additional support would be most helpful for the remainder of the term.
Week 7 Update
Midterm exam (20 % of the course) : The midterm exam is now behind us! Marking is under way. We expect to release your scores and sample solutions next week. Please take the mid-term exam poll .
Lectures : With two hours allocated to the mid‑term, we have a single two‑hour lecture this week. Today we begin the Network Layer (Layer 3) —shifting our focus from end hosts (phones, laptops) to the routers that move packets through the network but remain invisible to users.
Assignment support : The submission deadline is approaching; please make full use of the scheduled consultation sessions if you need help.
See you in class tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon.
Please be reminded that your mid-term exam starts at 9:05 am tomorrow morning.
The practice test opportunity will end tonight, so please take the test in case you haven't had the opportunity to do so yet.
There will be no lecture tomorrow.
Best of luck with your midterm exam and I hope to see you during the Wednesday lecture.
The Mid-Term Exam is available via Moodle (login required) and should also be visible on your Inspera Dashboard .
The practice mid-term can be attempted once only and must be submitted within 75 minutes . If left idle beyond this time, the test will time out and cannot be submitted or reviewed. The practice test is available until 11:59 PM, 30 March . Feedback can be viewed (in Inspera, view submission ) after successful submission.
Hope you are enjoying the flexibility week and preparing for the midterm exam.
Support for the programming assignment will begin in Week 7 , with a programming tutorial and consultation sessions running from Week 7 to Week 9 (until Friday 17 April 2026) .
Week 7 Programming Tutorial
Week 7 and 8 (3rd April, Friday and 6th April, Monday) Public holidays
Assignment Consultations (Weeks 7–9)
All students are strongly encouraged to attend the Week 7 programming tutorial to ensure a solid start on the assignment.
Your 75-minute midterm exam will start at 09:05 (9:05 am) on Tuesday the 31th of March.
You can attend a Practice mid-term test on Inspera via Moodle by following this link from 12 PM today (18th March until 11.59 PM 30th Match), but you can attempt only once (so attempt it only when you feel ready).
Important information about the mid-term exam is available here .
Mid-term Exam Terms and Conditions are available
here
.
You have completed 4 weeks of the term. Congratulations!
In week-4, we spent a fair bit of time learning the required design constructs and concepts to build a reliable communication system over an unreliable network. Next week (Week-5) 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.
There will be no lecture or labs in Week-6.
Your Mid-term Exam will take place in Week 7, Tuesday (31 March) starting 9:05am on Inspera, which you can take from anywhere with good Internet connectivity. More details about the mid-term exam, including a practice test on Inspera will be released in Week 5. There will be no lecture on 31 March due to the mid-term exam.
Have a great weekend, but don't forget to keep yourself up-to-date with the course contents.
We have completed Application Layer, the top layer of the Internet protocol stack, in Week-3. Congratulations!
In Week-4, we shall begin our journey into the Transport Layer of the Internet. As discussed in the first lecture, Transport Layer is the interface for the application developers and supports the end-to-end data delivery over the vast Internet.
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. Make sure you always submit your lab report by the report submission deadline without any penalty. Enjoy the rest of your weekend but don't forget to work hard as always.
See you in the lecture next week.
Congratulations! You have completed TWO weeks!
You should have now attended your first lab session during Week-2. Don't forget to submit your lab report by its due date to avoid late submission penalty. Note that the lab marks are only awarded when you submit the lab report.
We shall cover the remaining contents of Application Layer (DNS, P2P, CDN) this week (Week 3).
See you in the lecture tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 9am.
We will be running an online session during Week 2 to explore socket programming in greater depth, including core concepts and programming APIs using Python,C, and Java. The specifications and starter code have also been released.
At the end of the session, there will be a hands on activity where you will build a simple client–server application.
Please note that this session is not assessed , and attendance is optional , although we highly recommend joining.
Socket programming is an essential part of the Programming Assignment, and there are marked exercises in Lab 2 and Lab 3, so attending will help you prepare.
The session times vary depending on your preferred programming language. All sessions will be held on Zoom , and recordings will be available afterwards.
Session Times
Python : Tuesday 24th :12:00 pm to 2:30 pm
C : Wednesday 25th : 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Java : Thursday 26th: 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Welcome to COMP3331/9331, Term 1, 2026 . We will be using this WebCMS page for the course delivery. Please read the course outline carefully.
All lectures will be in person. Face-to-face lectures will be recorded and available via the echo360 platform in Moodle.
Most labs are in-person, supplemented with a few online labs. The exams, both the Midterm and Final, will use the Inspera exam platform. Midterm exam will be open book and un-invigilated. However, the final exam will be closed book, on-campus, and invigilated.
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 Tuesday, 17 Feb, from 9am to 11am in Law Theatre G04 .
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 Discourse for the course forum. The forum on WebCMS is disabled. Please post any course-related questions on Discourse. 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 Tuesday the 17th of Feb in Law Theatre G04 at 9am!