Undergraduate Course: Fundamentals of Programming for Business Applications (BUST08039)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will provide you with the basics of programming for business applications which will render you capable of solid algorithmic thinking, building your own programs, and of understanding and critically reflecting on the technical aspects of quantitative business problems. It requires no background knowledge and is specifically tailored to the novice's needs. Anyone with an interest in technology will greatly benefit from following this course.
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| Course description |
This course aims at introducing business students to the topic of software engineering and it is the building block of many quantitative courses. Indeed, being able to collect and transform data, perform analyses on them, and do this in an efficient way, is the basic setup of many topics in statistics, financial modelling, operational research, and so on. By providing a thorough background in the building blocks of programming and its applications, this course aims to provide non-technical profiles with the necessary basics to be mature in a quantitative environment. A direct connection with major quantitative business problems will be made through case studies and exercises.
Outline Content
The course will cover the following topics:
- An introduction to programming concepts: differences between programming languages, computer compiling, data types, programming styles, and programming building blocks
- Programming constructs: data structures, programming control flow, basic algorithms
- Business applications: a study on a range of business problems from statistics and operations research to illustrate the concepts
Student Learning Experience
Teaching will take the form of class lectures, and lab sessions. Since software engineering is a real learning-by-doing topic, the concepts and methods discussed during the lectures will be illustrated and transformed into exercises on Python which will help you to develop your skillset gradually. Assignments will introduce various topics one at a time, but will gradually become more difficult as they start combining different concepts. Nevertheless, they provide iterative feedback on a weekly basis and engage students to keep up with the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 121 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
166 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
30% Coursework (Group) -Assesses course Learning Outcomes 1 to 4.
70% Coursework (Individual) - Assesses course Learning Outcomes 1 to 4.
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| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on the assessments within agreed deadlines. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop an awareness and understanding of the concepts prevalent in systems engineering and adapt a problem-solving attitude that employs algorithmic thinking.
- Critically reflect on the level of difficulty of programming a range of problems in various business settings
- To employ the programming language Python in a practical and effective manner.
- To autonomously list the requirements in terms of procedures and data needed for tackling a precise, quantitative business-oriented problem and be able to communicate them to the relevant stakeholders.
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Reading List
| Learning Python (2013), Mark Lutz https://www.learnpython.org/ |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
Apply creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, sustainable and responsible business solutions to address social, economic and environmental global challenges.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts. |
| Keywords | Computer programming basics,data analysis,business applications |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ruini Qu
Tel:
Email: rqu@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Emma Allison
Tel:
Email: ealliso2@ed.ac.uk |
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