Computer Science MSci (Hons)

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours) you will take the required modules in Computer Science alongside modules in at least one other subject. Typically, you will take one or two Computer Science modules per semester during your first two years, and three to four Computer Science modules during your third and fourth year .

1st Year

Students will take the following compulsory first-year modules:

• Object-Oriented Programming: provides an introduction to object-oriented modelling and programming using Java.
• Programming with Data: explores various aspects of data storage, processing and analysis.

Students will take the following compulsory second-year modules:

• Computer Systems: develops skills in programming in C, systems programming, digital logic and low-level computer organisation.
• Foundations of Computation: introduces fundamental algorithms, data structures and ideas about formal languages at the heart of modern software.

In third year, you must take the following compulsory modules:

• Computational Complexity: introduces Turing machines, non-determinism and pushdown automata, followed by study of decidability, simulation and the Halting problem.
• Software Engineering Team Project: gives a broad overview of software engineering, presenting the fundamental aspects as a collaborative professional activity including its concerns and approaches. Students apply these concepts and practices to a substantial software engineering project as part of a team.

In fourth year, you must take the following compulsory module:

• Logic and Software Verification: covers modelling, system property specification using temporal logics, and more applied approaches to software specification and verification through the use of model checkers.

In addition to the compulsory modules in third and fourth year, you will choose from a wide variety of advanced options, including modules in cyber security, software engineering and computer graphics.

Here is a sample of Honours modules which have been offered in previous years:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Component Technology
• Computational Complexity
• Computer Architecture
• Computer Graphics
• Computer Security
• Concurrency and Multi-Core Architectures
• Constraint Programming
• Data Communications and Networks
• Data Encoding
• Databases
• Distributed Systems
• Human Computer Interaction
• Logic and Software Verification
• Operating Systems
• Programming Language Design and Implementation
• Video Games.

During your final year you will be able to take a number of modules at Masters level, providing advanced training in Computer Science. In previous years, Masters-level modules have included:

• Advanced Networks
• Human Computer Interaction Principles and Methods
• Information Visualisation and Visual Analytics
• Language and Computation
• Software Engineering Principles.

You will also spend one semester of your final year dedicated to undertaking a major software engineering or research project, under the guidance of an individual supervisor.

The sub-honours modules listed here are the compulsory modules that students must take in order to graduate in this subject. However, most students at St Andrews take additional modules, either in their primary subject or from other subjects they are interested in. For Honours-level, students choose from a range of Honours modules, some of which are listed above.