COMP9321 Notices

Correction in last announcement

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 23 March 2026, 05:03:06 PM.

Hi all,

Sorry I made a mistake in the last announcement. The usual drop-in consultation labs are running as usual in Week6. They are not mandatory and there only to help you if you need support.

Cheers,

Morty

Welcome to Week6

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 23 March 2026, 04:49:57 PM, last modified Monday 23 March 2026, 04:58:57 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week6 of COMP9321. It’s Flexibility Week.

As this is flexibility week, so we are not running any lectures. So, make sure you make use of the extra time to look after yourself (hint: Tuesday’s weather might be suitable for the beach 😊).

By the way, even if we are not running any activities this week, but we are still there for you on the Ed forum and email communications. Please feel free to use the Forum or drop a message to the class email account if you need any help.

I hope that you are progressing confidently in assignment2 and that you have already watched the walkthrough we did at the end of last Thursday’s lecture. In order to make sure we are providing proper support for assignment2, I have created a poll to gauge the interest in attending additional consultation lab session within Week6. This is absolutely optional and it will be determined based on the interest indicated. Please feel free to participate if interested ( Interest in a consultation lab session in Week6 | COMP9321 26T1 | WebCMS3 ).

So, take some time for yourself, and we’ll see you next week (i.e., Week7).

Cheers,

COMP9321 Teaching Team

Welcome to Week5 of COMP9321

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 16 March 2026, 01:21:42 PM, last modified Monday 16 March 2026, 01:22:59 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week5 of COMP9321. Congrats, we are halfway through.

For this Week, we are going to continue with the topic of Web Services and focusing on REST API. This is the second phase of the course, where we focus on how you can allow your data to be consumed as a web service. We are going to consider how you can consider your Web API RESTful, some best practices and how you can leverage the existing Python libraries to help you build your REST Web API.

The Lab activities for Week5 are now available. We encourage you to do them at your own convenience. As always, we have consultation labs for everyday of the week (inclduuing addtional slot on Thusdays as in person). Check the timetable section for the times. It worth to remember that in each Lab session, the Tutor will be available to answer question and provide support as needed. Feel free to reach out to the tutor and you can initiate a call and share your screen as needed.

Assignment1, is Due this week of Thursday (6:00PM). I hope that you have done the majority of your assignment1 by now or finalizing and polishing your submission. Again, I want you to remember that the assignment is on the scale of a small individual project. The assignments are there to help you practice what you have learned, and the marks are there to give you feedback to improve. Use the forum in ED discussions and the consultation labs if you require support.

Assignment2 is being polished and will be released by the end of this week. We are going to have a walkthrough on Thursday. Similar to assignment1 it is also on the scale of small individual project, but with the Focus being on Web Services.

The COMP9321 teaching team is always rooting for you and here to help. Do not hesitate to use the forum to ask as many questions or contact us via the course email.

As always, remember to have fun and enjoy the learning experience. :)

Cheers,

COMP9321 Teaching Team

Assign 1 Clarification

Posted by Mehmet Rad Friday 13 March 2026, 08:40:29 AM.

Hi everyone,
Please check the latest version of the assignment. We have added additional clarifications based on your comments.
Thank you for your feedback.

Welcome to Week4 of COMP9321

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 09 March 2026, 01:48:14 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week4 of COMP9321. Things are getting more interesting…

For this Week, we are going to cover the topic of Data visualization. Visualization is a very important topic. We are going to learn what makes a good visualization, and how we can apply our knowledge in Python and Pandas to generate some useful visualisations. We are also going to start with the second phase of the course which is Web Services.

The Lab activities for Week4 are now available. We encourage you to do them at your own convenience. As always, we have consultation labs for everyday of the week. Check the timetable section for the times. It worth to remember that we are offering an additional in person consultation lab session on Thursdays 3-5 PM in Lyre Lab (K17-G12).

Assignment1 specification was released last week. I can already see many interesting conversations in the forum. Remember that the assignment is on the scale of a small individual project and the dataset we are using is a real-world dataset coming from external source (i.e., we have not synthesized the data). Utilize your analytical skills and what you have learned in the course. Start early and ask as many questions as possible in the Forum and/or the consultation labs. The assignments are there to help you practice what you have learned, and the marks are there to give you feedback to improve.

The COMP9321 teaching team is always rooting for you and here to help. Do not hesitate to use the forum to ask as many questions or contact us via the course email.

As always, remember to have fun and enjoy the learning experience. :)

Cheers,

COMP9321 Teaching Team

Assignment1 Speicifcation is released

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Thursday 05 March 2026, 11:11:01 PM.

Dear all,

We couldn't make this post earlier as WebCMS was down. As mentioned in the lecture, the specification for assignment1 is released (https://edstem.org/au/courses/32226/discussion/3145893). Please read carefully and let us know if you have any question.

We have also released an assignment walkthrough which can be found in the lecture recording folder and as a post in the General channel in MS Teams.

Best of luck to all...

COMP9321 Teaching Team

Welcome to Week3

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 02 March 2026, 02:19:45 PM, last modified Monday 02 March 2026, 02:20:34 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week3 of COMP9321.

For this Week, we are going to continue with Data pre-processing/wrangling and how you can work with the data to improve its quality and relevancy. Expect more in-lecture exercises. We will also start with Data visualization as well.

The Lab activities for Week3 are now available. If you have not checked them out, we encourage you to do them at your own convenience. Another reminder, that we have consultation labs for everyday of the week. Lab activities are not marked, but they are super important to help you get the required knowledge and skills to solve the assignments. We have also Added a new in-person consultation lab session on Thursdays 3-5PM. We are confirming the room booking, and the information will be visible in the Timetable page in WebCMS.

Assignment1 specification will be released this week. Please read the specifications very carefully and let us know if there is anything needs clarification. We are going to walk through the specification Thursday during the lecture. We encourage everyone to start working on the assignment the sooner the better.

A reminder for students who have not joined the course in Ed, please join ASAP . All the important discussions are happening in Ed.

The COMP9321 teaching team is always rooting for you and here to help. Do not hesitate to use the forum to ask as many questions or contact us via the course email.

As always, remember to have fun and enjoy the learning experience. :)

Cheers,

COMP9321 Teaching Team

Welcome to Week2 of COMP9321

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 23 February 2026, 01:33:22 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week2 of COMP9321. I hope you will enjoy the ride.<o:p></o:p>

For this Week, we are going to continue with Data Access and how to store the Data Accessed, learn about NoSQL Databases, then we dive deeper into how you can perform some basic data cleansing (cleaning) and explore your dataset to grasp some understanding. <o:p></o:p>

The Lab activities for Week2 are now available. We encourage you to do them at your own convenience and check the sample solutions if needed. Please be noted that there might be more than one correct solution for an activity. Remember that we have consultation labs for everyday of the week (starting today). Check the timetable section in WebCMS for the times. Lab activities are not marked and attending the labs is not mandatory, but the lab activities are super important to help you get the required knowledge and skills to solve the assignments. For Attending the consultation labs, head to the Course MS Teams Lab channel on the designated time. <o:p></o:p>

I can see some excellent questions in Ed forum. Please keep the questions coming and when you see a classmate asking a question that you know the answer for, don’t be shy, and contribute to the community.<o:p></o:p>

As a side note, if you are still not in Ed, please join ASAP. It is very important to join the community in Ed since all the discussions about the topics and assignments are going to be in Ed. You can do it via following the link in the poll (https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP9321/26T1/activities/polls/1819)<o:p></o:p>

The COMP9321 teaching team is always rooting for you and here to help. Do not hesitate to use the forum to ask as many questions you like or contact us via the course email.<o:p></o:p>

Finally, remember to have fun and enjoy the learning experience. :)<o:p></o:p>

Cheers,<o:p></o:p>

COMP9321 Teaching Team<o:p></o:p>

Consultations and Lab Activities

Posted by Mehmet Rad Monday 23 February 2026, 08:46:34 AM.

Dear Students,

Starting this week, you will have access to weekly technical labs designed to help you prepare for upcoming assignments and gain more hands-on experience in data analytics.

You can access the labs here: https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP9321/26T1/resources/119147

If you have any questions about the lab activities or assignments, you’re welcome to connect (on Teams dedicated channel) with the tutors during the daily consultation hours .

Intrest in attending Consultation lab in person

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Thursday 19 February 2026, 02:46:37 PM.

Dear All,

if you are intrested in attending a consultation lab session in person, please particiapte in the poll and let us know.

in person consultation lab session | COMP9321 26T1 | WebCMS3

cheers,

Morty

Welcome to Week1

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Monday 16 February 2026, 01:46:35 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to Week1 of COMP9321 Data Services Engineering. I hope that you are excited as we are for the first lecture today at 6:00PM (Sydney time). Today’s lecture will be for an overview of the course and introduction to the subject of Data Services Engineering.

As I mentioned in the welcome notice, we are using MS Teams to deliver the lecture live. I noticed some discrepancy in the Timetable page showing a location, this is not accurate as for this term the lectures are online. I would also like to correct a typo in the pervious announcement as the final exam is in UNSW campus and in-person . We are going to use Inspera as the exam platform, and the exam will be conducted in-person on UNSW campus during the exam period.

Some general notes:

• All the students have been added automatically to the course MS Teams Space, please if you are not added, contact us ASAP.
• We will be using Ed Stream as our Q&A Forum. All students are be added in Ed. if you are not added, contact the course admin.
• To minimize noise/distractions during lectures, please Mute your Mic when you join. if you need to ask a question using voice, please feel free to unmute and ask, alternatively you can ask leveraging the Chat capability in Teams. Dylan will be available in the chat space all the time to answer questions or pass them to me. Please use the chat responsibly .
• The lecture will be recorded. The recording can be found in the general channel, and we will add the link in WebCMS after the lecture.

Looking forward to seeing you all...

cheers,

Morty and COMP9321 Teaching Team

Welcome to COMP9321 2026T1

Posted by Morty Al-Banna Saturday 14 February 2026, 01:09:12 PM, last modified Monday 16 February 2026, 01:34:36 PM.

Dear All,

Welcome to COMP9321 (Data Services Engineering). Please feel free to check the course provisional outline here (https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP9321/26T1/outline ).

For the offering of 2026T1 please be advised for the following:

• The course will run completely online (lectures, and consultation labs). We will offer some consultation labs on campus and consider adding more slots based on demand.
• Final Exam is on Campus in person.
• We are going to use MS Teams for the live lectures, and the lecture will be recorded and made available after the lecture.
• We have lab activities and walkthroughs that we will share the details in WebCMS and during the lecture.
• We will also have consultation labs, that we will run everyday of the week starting week2. The intention is to provide additional support for the lab activates and the assignments. The schedule of the consultation labs will be made available in WebCMS. We are also using MS Teams for the consultation labs and we will offer some consultation labs on campus and consider adding more slots based on demand.
• You should have been added automatically to the course in MS Teams, if there is any issue, please let us know.
• We will be using Ed Stream as our Q&A Forum. All students have been adding in Ed, but in case you are not yet there please join via the link (https://edstem.org/au/join/eebdzS). You MUST be in ED, in order to be able to follow-up on important discussions and assignment specification details.
• we have got a 6-month subscription to DataCamp for free to students in COMP9321. Using DataCamp is purely optional as an external resource. To join the course in DataCamp please use the link in the poll (https://webcms3.cse.unsw.edu.au/COMP9321/26T1/activities/polls/1817 )

I hope that you will find COMP9321 Educational and Fun...

Stay tuned for further updates...

Best regards,

COMP9321 Teaching team