Hi everyone!
We hope you had a good flex week. Very straightforward update this week.
🦃 Project
Iteration 2 - Previews & 7 days to go
Iteration 2 is due at 12 pm (midday) Tuesday 8th April (week 8). One week! Keep working :)
We will be running the previews this Thursday, Saturday, and next Monday.
🪜 Lecture
In past terms, we’ve only had one lecture in Week 7 to give everyone a bit of breathing space and time to focus on Project Iteration 2 (another reason being not many attended the second lecture in Week 7 😭). This term, we’re open to doing a short second lecture if it is desired. I’d love to hear what you prefer:
[ Poll - View on Ed ]
📝 Feedback
Thanks a lot to those who provided feedback. If you have other feedback, could you please complete the feedback survey to help us refine the lectures, labs, and project further? Click here for the survey. We really are keen to use your feedback to make your learning experience better.
🦃 Project General
Make sure not to use AI-generated code for your project and labs. Refer to project spec section 9 for more details on "Plagiarism & Academic Misconduct". You should be able to explain your code to your team members and your tutors.
I'd love to share with you this chat that my research intern student (Alan) had with our course admin (Tam) about using ChatGPT-ed code. Tam was helping Alan deploying an AI chatbot for COMP1531 (coming soon).
📬 Week 6 Newsletter
Yuchao Jiang
Hey everyone!
We've hit the halfway point of the course - congratulations!! I'm proud of you, at least :)
I will also remind you of a few things:
By now, you need to have watched the week 4-5 lectures, including iteration 2 live lecture.
Make a strong start on iteration 2 early this week if you haven't. If you aren't halfway through iteration 2 by the end of week 6, I regret to inform you that week 7 will get very hard :(
🐢General Updates and reminders
Tutorial 5 solutions are being released.
Lab 5 solutions to help you with iteration 2.
Lab 4 marks have been released.
Don't forget to nominate your slot for the final project presentation!
Useful post on the forum about "What is a "wrapper function" and how do I use it?".
Intern at Atlassian
"This course is awesome"
🥰 Extra One-on-One Help
We know that many of you are keeping up well with the course content—great work! That said, we also recognise that everyone learns at their own pace, and some topics may click more slowly depending on your background or current workload.
To support all students, we’re offering optional one-on-one help sessions in Week 6. If you’re feeling stuck or just want to talk through anything in more detail, you’re very welcome to book a time (where resources available). We’re here to make sure everyone feels confident, well-supported and taken good care of.
🍉 Iteration 1 results and Re-runs
Mid-week, your iteration 1 marks will be released and made available on the course website on the Grades page. If they are not available, your tutor will email you with an update. If you have any follow-up questions about your grades after that time, please email your tutor directly within 7 days of marks release.
If you want to see a breakdown of your automark, you will be able to view it on the gitrun.
Minor isolated fixes after the due date are allowed but please take a look at project spec section 6.2 for details on how to request a re-run. The deadline for reruns and mark reviews is 7 days from the release of each iteration's mark release.
🍉 Project Spec
In your project spec, we aim to strike a balance between too much detail and too little guidance for the following reasons:
1. Keeping it Readable & Practical
A highly detailed specification would become extremely long and difficult to navigate.
Instead, we provide key requirements while allowing room for your engineering judgment and team discussions to interpret and implement solutions.
2. Reflecting Industry Practice
In real-world software development, specifications are rarely 100% complete.
Engineers are expected to clarify ambiguities by communicating with stakeholders and making informed decisions.
How to Handle Spec-related Questions
Use the Course Forum – Treat the forum as your stakeholder and check for clarifications.
Search Existing Discussions – Many common questions may have already been answered.
Ask Clear & Constructive Questions – If you need further clarification, frame your questions professionally, as you would in a real project.
By following this approach, you’ll develop skills in interpreting specifications, seeking clarifications, and making informed decisions—just like in real software development.
We recognise that this can feel like a big shift—especially if you’re coming from 1511, where the approach is much more guided and handholding. The more open-ended nature of this project might seem overwhelming at first, but it’s designed to help you build the confidence and skills needed, just like you would in a real industry team.
Let us know if you need help with anything, or interpreting the spec.
📝 Feedback
Thanks to everyone who’s shared feedback so far!
We really value your input—it helps us improve the course both now and in future terms. We work hard to address what we can during the term, and for things outside our control, we look for ways to reduce their impact and improve over time.
Your feedback can be about anything—lectures, labs, tutorials, the project—and we’d love to hear what’s working well and what could be better.
Please share your thoughts via the feedback survey: [Click here for the survey].
🌈 Enjoy your flex week
Enjoy the time spent on the project without the burden of lectures and class time. Remember that in terms of content, we're well over the hump of the course.
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See you in week 7 :)
Super Struggling? Extra One-on-One Help in Week 6 🤗
Rani Jiang
Hi everyone!
If you feel like you're really struggling with course content, feel lost on where to start, aren't sure you understand the specification properly, are procrastinating more than you should, or more... we've organized some additional private online help sessions for week 6 below.
You can self-nominate for a 1-2 hour one-on-one online session with an experienced tutor here:
https://forms.office.com/r/0AvFFeu7HK
If you're successfully placed with a tutor, you'll receive an online meeting link to join. Though there is limited availability so it's first come first served! 🍨
Note: if you're struggling with debugging or more specific questions, we recommend attending a public help session and/or asking on the forum instead 🙌
Iteration 2 Released!
Sudarshan Manikandan
Hi Everyone!
Hopefully your Iteration 1 went well! 😊 If you haven't had your lab session already, make sure to attend them for your project demonstrations! 🥳
Also, we highly recommend completing lab05 before starting Iteration 2, as it will help you get familiar with almost all the content required. 🧑💻📚
With that said,
🚀 Iteration 2 has now been released! 🚀
Unlike previous iterations, Iteration 2 will not show up automatically in your GitLab repo – instead, it will appear as a Merge Request.
Just to clarify, here’s what you need to do before you can see it:
1️⃣ Go to your project's Merge Requests tab (just like in Iteration 1).
2️⃣ Click on the "Updated starter code" request by COMP1531 Bot (that's us! 🤖).
3️⃣ 😱 Oh no, a merge conflict! But no worries - you’re all experts at resolving them now after Iteration 1! 🎉
4️⃣ Apply your favourite method of resolving merge conflicts (either locally or on gitlab) and you can now merge in Iteration 2! 🔧
Before you begin, make sure to read Section 4.1 of the Task 📖 - it contains lots of valuable information! 🧠💡
Good luck and happy coding! 💻✨
📬 Week 5 Newsletter
Yuchao Jiang
Hi everyone!
Project Iteration 1 is due tomorrow midday at 12pm! 🎯 Focus on submitting what you have, even if it’s not perfect. Learning and iteration are part of the process! 🚀 If you’re feeling stuck, take a deep breath, prioritize key tasks, and give it your best shot. You’ve got this! 💪 Looking forward to seeing your work!
As we said in lectures, iteration 1 is really an exercise in forcing people in a group to actually work together (come up with a plan, communicate) and we're hoping that you made it through OK :)
Don't forget to catch up and make sure you're on top of the week 4 lectures.
🐢General Updates and reminders
Lab04 is due today at 8pm.
Tutorial 4 solutions have been released.
Lab05 is due Week 5 Saturday (extended from Friday) at 8pm! The earlier due date is due to the flexi week in week 6. Please keep an eye on it.
Lab03 marks have been released.
iteration 1 teamword evaluation will be due this Friday midday at 12pm.
Don't forget to nominate your slot for the final project presentation ASAP! Make sure you discuss this with your group first.
if you have any concerns with your iter0 marks, today is the last day to raise your concerns with your tutors.
Lecture recording now also on UNSW Sharepoint/Teams (no ads 🥳) .
We have a lot of help sessions running and they are not fully used so far. Make good use of those opportunities and clear your questions about javascript, http servers and all. The pace of the course is fast in the first half of the term but will slower down in the second half. We have no exams which is great but also means that you need to work hard every week rather than struggle at the final weeks.
🍹Teamwork Evaluation ITER1 - complete ASAP!!!
Everyone is required to complete their first teamwork evaluation for iteration 1. This is invaluable feedback for your tutor to track how your group is performing together.
The teamwork evaluation feedback will open once iteration 1 is due and the deadline is 12pm on Friday week 5.
🔥 Iteration 2 to be released
Iteration 2 will be released this Wednesday night according to this Poll. Keep an eye out for it, and get started later this week.
Remember that iteration 2 is where you will need topics from lectures:
Static Verification
Linting
HTTP Servers
Persistence (this week) - but this is easy
You will have about three weeks for iteration 2, but it is also more work to do compared with iteration 1. The advice is to start iteration 2 early. The very beginning of it (particularly in adjusting to Typescript + Linting + HTTP) will feel like a hurdle. But just focus on getting over that hurdle so that you can get into the more interesting stuff.
🤖 Use of AI-generated code in the project
A reminder that we do not allow code obtained with the help of ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Gemini or similar automatic tools (as in the spec Section 9).
Last but not least, If you are struggling with your group teamwork, talk to your tutor early, they are experienced in handling group teamwork. Do not hesitate to seek feedback or support. for example, if you have group members droped or group changed or whatever.
Week 4 Newsletter
Yuchao Jiang
Hi everyone!
We're about a third of the way through the term - how exciting :)
Please don't forget to stay up to date with the lectures. A reminder that in previous terms, we found that the majority of students who struggled with the course had also fallen behind on lectures :(
🐢General Updates and reminders
Some key updates and reminders for you:
We will keep the lecture recordings and live stream on YouTube unless we receive further feedback regarding ads on YouTube. This is based on feedback received during week 3, lecture 1, and feedback sent to me - feedback indicates that students still prefer YouTube due to its accessibility.
🚓 [Action Required] Final Presentations Week 11
As part of the last stage of your major project, your group will be required to do a 15-minute presentation during week 11. If you are in an in-person class, your entire group must attend this time in person. If you are online, your entire group must attend online. Penalties do apply if people can't make it (without special consideration and relevant ELP) which is why we are giving you basically 2 months notice.
Booking starts in Week 4. To reserve a slot, simply let your project tutor know during your labs. Instructions on booking is here on the course website.
🍉 Iteration 0 results
Your iteration 0 marks and comments have been made available to you on the course website.
If you want to see a breakdown of your auto-mark, you can view it HERE. This page is the place that we put everything to do with the running of a particular iteration of your project including:
Official results from an iteration (this)
Preview runs (see below)
Re-running code (we'll talk about that in 2 weeks)
If you have any follow-up questions about your grades after this time, please email your tutor directly.
🦃 Iteration 1 - 1 week to go & Previews
Iteration 1 is due on the Tuesday of week 5 at midday (12pm at lunch time rather than mid night!). If you haven't started yet, get to it!
We will be running the pre-submission previews (as per section 8.2 in the spec) to give you early feedback opportunities, which are available on Thursday and Saturday of week 4 and Monday of week 5. Please read the spec for more specific information about timing. At this stage, we will be providing a "range" for the mark you currently have at the time we take your commit. You will find it here.
This will help you:
Identify fundamental issues in your project early on. Allows your group to troubleshoot problems early rather than scrambling last-minute.
Encourages more proactive teamwork and helps you stay on track throughout your project timeline.
Also, a reminder that teamwork evaluation starts from iter1. See more details on the project spec under section 7.5.
🌈 This week
In week 4 the content we learn will focus mainly on web servers, with a bit of advanced Javascript function features and linting.
See you Tuesday!! :)
COMP1531 - Atlassian partnership
Yuchao Jiang
This term, we’re partnering with Atlassian to give you access to Jira and Confluence for your project.
Watch the video below on how to use it; you’ll get access to the software shortly!
COMP1531_ Introduction to Project Management with Jira & Confluence.mp4
This is not required in terms of marking, but it's a great opportunity to learn about industry software.
Week 3 Newsletter - Project Iteration 1 released!
Yuchao Jiang
Hi everyone!
We hope you are having a good start to Week 3.
🌳 Labs
Your lab01 has been marked. Click here for instructions on understanding your lab marks and feedback. Remember, these marks don't count for anything! It was just a trial run.
Lab solutions are released by pushing a solution branch to each of your personal lab repositories. Click here for instructions on finding solutions.
Lab02 will be due tomorrow (4th March), 8:00 pm.
🦃 Iteration 1
Iteration 1 is released (by pushing a new merge request on your project), so you can start now. An introductory video is contained in the spec.
Iteration 1 is due on the Tuesday of week 5 (18th March), so you a bit more than 2 weeks to complete it.
Now that you've seen the week 2 lectures, we expect to see engagement with stand-ups, meetings, task boards, etc from everyone between now and iteration 1 being due.
You can start with the requirement tasks. We will learn about testing this week in the lectures and tutorials, and then you can start working on the related tasks after the Tuesday lecture.
📝 Feedback
Click here for the survey. We are really keen to use your feedback to make your learning experience better.
⏰ Lectures
The lectures this week are very important!
On Tuesday, we will talk about package management and dynamic verification (testing). We strongly recommend attending or watching the lecture recording before your tutorial class. This week's tutorial will also be about these topics. You will also be able to practice them in your project iteration 1 and in labs.
This Thursday, we will talk about static verification (Typescript) and continuous integration (CI pipelines).
🍉 Iteration 0 results
Your iteration 0 marks and comments will be released in Week 3 weekend. See them here.
If you want to see a breakdown of your auto-mark, you will be able to view it HERE.
If you have any follow-up questions about your grades after this weekend, please email your tutor directly.
🐸 Last things!
Tutorial 2 solutions are released.
Lab 2 is due on Tuesday (tomorrow) at 8:00 pm.
Please regularly check for merge requests and spec updates on your labs and project! Every day or two, check out the git commit history or any course-pushed pending merge requests. Click here for instructions on what to do in case of a course-pushed merge request.
You can subscribe to the UNSW COMP1531 channel on YouTube to be updated on the new videos.
Week 2 Newsletter - Project Released!
Yuchao Jiang
Hi everyone! 😻
🫡 Week 1 recap
The key things that happened in week 1 are:
Week 1 lecture slides and recordings on the course website.
We talked about javascript and git usage
Tutorial solutions are released on a "solution" branch.
Labs are due this Monday (today 24 Feb - you can find all due dates here)
Lab solutions will be released on a solution branch on Monday evening after due date (24 Feb). Lab solutions are released by pushing a solution branch to each of your personal lab repositories. Click here for instructions on finding solutions.
Lab marks will be returned to you on Friday (Feb 28th, in 4 days from now). Click here for instructions on understanding your lab marks and feedback. Remember, these marks don't count for anything! It was just a trial run.
Project groups are finalised (if you're unsure about any of this, email your project tutor).
The project iteration 0 is released to you.
If you're still a bit unsure about any of the software or tools to set up for the course, check out the getting started guide.
We created a help sessions calendar that you can download.
🐑 Lectures and Tutorials - Week 2
To better support your learning collaboration within software projects, in Week 2 Tuesday's lecture (Feb 25th), we invited senior students to panels to discuss collaboration on projects. They will provide insights on how to survive collaboration in industry and in university courses.
We will talk about requirement engineering after the teamwork lecture and continue talking about it on Thursday.
🐇Project groups
During your week 1 class your tutor should have finalised your project groups in your lab time.
A reminder that whilst you aren't required to communicate via the Microsoft teams channel we make for you, it's important to note that if teamwork disputes arise or you make claims about other team members contributions later in the course - the only places we will look to for evidence of how you interact with your group are:
The project check-ins and iteration demonstrations
Gitlab contributions (code you push)
Peer reviews at the end of the iteration
Any UNSW emails sent between group members
Conversations that occur on Microsoft Teams only
If we need to analyse group communication, we simply won't be able to look at things like Facebook, Discord, Slack, etc, as these are out of our control and are open to tampering etc that make it unfair to consider reasonable evidence. However, anything in your Microsoft teams chat we'll happily take into account. If you're uncertain about anything here or aren't agreeing in your group how to communicate, talk to your tutor in week 2 and they will help you figure it all out! :)
If you don't have your group sorted, or weren't added to your groups Microsoft teams chat, please email your tutor ASAP.
🪜Project release & Iteration 0
A group project repository has been created for you that you can find here.
The first stage of the project is iteration 0 and you have 5 days this week to complete it. It is due this Friday night (see the spec). All due dates can be found here.
It's extremely easy and could be mostly done in the lab time this week.
Please watch the introductory video at the top of the spec - it explains everything.
It's important that you start chatting to your group on MS Teams first thing today - some of you have labs later in the week, and even though iteration 0 is small, you don't want to be pressed up against a wall trying to rush last minute.
Over the coming days, there may continue to be slight changes to your group primarily due to students potentially dropping the course before census date. Your tutors will always support you and find solutions that will make things OK :)
📝 Feedback
Could you please complete the feedback survey to help us refine the lectures, labs, and project further? Click here for the survey. We really are keen to use your feedback to make your learning experience better.
🐸Last Things!
This week, we'll talk about collaboration in software projects and requirement engineering.
Sometimes, we push updates to your repos (e.g. labs or projects) that may appear as merge requests in the left-hand sidebar. Keep an eye out for it. Your tutor(s) can always help out if you're confused.
You can subscribe to the UNSW COMP1531 channel on YouTube to be updated on the new videos.
Other than that, enjoy your week 2!!!
Week 1 Newsletter - 👋🏽 Welcome to COMP1531
Yuchao Jiang
(The first lecture will be both in-person and online. You are welcome to come in person regardless of if you enrolled in the in-person or online stream).
Hi everyone!
Welcome to COMP1531 25T1 🚀🚀🚀🚀 :)
The fundamental aim of COMP1531 is to help you transition from being a solo programmer into being a collaborative software engineer. We have a teaching staff team of 45, and we're all super excited to get to know you.
If you haven't already done so, introduce yourself on the forum!
👀 About the course
I made a short video about the course structure for you to check out! It's a great one to watch before our first lecture on Tuesday.
I’ve added captions to this video to make it easier for everyone to follow along, whether you prefer reading along, reviewing key points, or watching in different environments. Feel free to use them in whatever way helps you best engage with the content!
👔 Getting ready for week 1!
Here is a quick summary of getting ready for week 1.
Lectures
Our first lecture is on Tuesday, 2 pm - 4 pm in Ainsworth G03 (K-J17-G03). We’d love to see you there in person (see map directions). We will also stream the lecture online (LINK HERE).
We will upload the lecture slides here.
Tutorial / Lab
Your week 1 tute/lab class is a one-hour tutorial and a two-hour lab. Make sure you have looked at where your tutorials and labs are (and if you're not sure, email your tutor—emails here).
There are lab questions to complete in week 1! We have released all labs on the course website.
However:
Week 1 lab questions aren't worth anything - we mark them for practice, but don't actually count your marks.
Week 1 lab is due on MONDAY of week 2. So for late enrollments, you have week 1 and weekend to sort that out.
Your tutorial and lab material for week 1 can be found here!
During your class, your tutor will finalise your group allocations for the major project.
See you soon!
It's a pretty relaxed week and things will really start to pick up next week where we'll send another newsletter. The main update in the newsletters will be information about the very first & easy milestone your group will have for the major project.
If you have any questions you can just post on the forum.
See you in the first lecture 😎😎😎
🐕
😎 IMPORTANT - Pre-course information
Yuchao Jiang
Hi everyone!
Welcome to COMP1531. If you haven't done so yet, come and introduce yourself. This term, we will use the EdForum for announcements.
Our course website is here and course outline is here. We don't use Moodle for this course.
There are just two things you need to do or be aware of this week.
🍎 1. First Lecture
Our first lecture will be Tuesday the 18th of February from 2pm-4pm in Ainsworth G03 (K-J17-G03). We’d love to see you there in-person (see map directions). We will also stream the lecture online (LINK HERE).
🍊 2. Group Preference Form‼️‼️
The form is due on Monday 17th of February at 12pm!! CLICK HERE TO FILL IT IN.
As specified in the course outline, COMP1531 has a major project component that is a 5-person, 9-week group project that constitutes 80% of the course assessment. The successful and equitable formation of amazing groups of students for this major project is a priority for us. And we need to finalise these groups before week 1.
For us to form groups effectively, you are required to complete the preference form.
This form asks you to:
Optionally preference only 1 other student to be in your group of 5.
If you preference someone, to avoid us disregarding the preference, they must:
(1) Be enrolled in the same class at the same time (i.e., same code on MyUNSW)
(2) ⚠️Fill out the form preferencing you as well (we disregard preferences if it only goes one way) ⚠️
Answer a few further questions that help us form groups, regardless of whether you have a person-preference.
🍇 Finally, here is a quick Q&A about the project and groups:
Q. Will you accept late preferences?
A. We sadly aren't in a position to accept late preferences, so please fill it in prior to then. Preferences are not guarantees that you will be in a group with that person, however, in nearly all cases we make it work.
Q. What if I don't have a preference?
A. If you don't have anyone to preference or only have one preference, don't even worry! That's very normal. You might hear murmurs from other students that you could end up with a "horror group" for COMP1531. Believe it or not, typically about 50% of student's don't provide preferences, and we just randomly match students in the same class.
Q. I'm scared about being in a bad group and them pulling my mark down, help?
A. We can assure you that while groups that struggle do exist, they only make up a small number of groups. We have structured the course and assessment very intentionally to have processes in place to ensure that if you work hard and follow the rules, your accomplishments should reflect your mark, even if you end up with some challenging group situations. In fact, in 25T1, we've devised the most individualised marking approach where, essentially, we have the capacity to mark any student individually from their group.
Q. Can I be with my friends even if they're in a full class I'm not in?
A. Lastly, a reminder that we can't manually enrol you in a full class, and we aren't accepting more than one preference per person as this ensures equitable group formation.
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We'll reach out again later this week with more information about getting started and first classes! You can also find other common start of term questions answered here.
👋 Until then, enjoy your week. We can't wait to meet you all!
COMP1531