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Essay Instructions: -----------------------------Discription
Write a report on one of the topics below. These are not necessarily topics covered specifically in the course. This is an exercise in researching a programming language topic, using the knowledge you have of programming languages in general.
Your report should be structured around the claim proposed for each topic, which typically summarises a relevant aspect of the topic, and it should be based on your independent investigation. You should understand the relevant aspects / problems / features of the proposed topic and present them in a clear and self-contained report. A person having a general understanding of programming languages, but not much previous knowledge of the topic should be able, by reading your report, to gain a clear understanding of the main aspects of the topic.
You are encouraged to make use of several references in the writing of your report, and it is expected that you will use (and cite) references other than those listed below, which should therefore be regarded as the starting point for an information search. The best reports draw their information from a wide variety of sources.
A good report will be composed of sections with suitable headings through which you present the results of your investigation. Your report will be structured around
• an Introduction, i.e. a brief highlight of the topic addressed and the result presented,
• a Background/State of the art part, introducing the relevant context for the topic, and possibly relevant results/proposals/alternative approaches of interest,
• one or more sections about the Technical content of the report, i.e. your account of the chosen topic, and
• a Summary / Evaluation / Conclusion section which might include possible/expected future developments.
• A Reference section should conclude the report
The above schema can be modified, and/or other parts can be added or removed, as
appropriate for the chosen topic.
Importantly, the proposed topics generally refer to technical aspects which you should try to cover in your report. Where appropriate, you should provide examples, for instances diagrams and snapshots of a given programming language, in order to
University of Stirling
Computing Science and Mathematics
ABB - CES page 1 of 5
clearly illustrate relevant technical issues or to provide examples of the practical implementation of general principles and ideas (perhaps those seen in the CSC9Y4 module).
Reports should be about 6-8 pages (in a reasonable font size, typically 11pt). This is roughly equivalent to 3000-4000 words. Much longer reports will not be viewed favourably, unless of exceptional quality. This assignment counts for 25% of the final grade in CSC9Y4. It must be submitted in order for you to be given a grade for the module.

-----------------------------Programming Life
Position: Programming genetic circuits is fundamentally the same as programming electronic circuits, so we can just adapt an existing programming language to the problem of programming live cells to carry out specialised tasks.
Computing techniques have been used to understand biology for a long time. Technology has now advanced to the point where we may also use programming techniques to build biological systems from scratch. This is the basic idea of the field of synthetic biology. Generally, this means the design and construction of simple genetic circuits encoded in DNA, akin to building logic gates in computer hardware.
Building more complex devices requires construction of suitable programming languages which can describe the complex interactions of many simple circuits in order to carry out some complex task. This program can then be compiled into DNA and executed in a cell. It is possible to envision many linguistic approaches to this problem. For example, we already have programming languages for electronic chip design: are these suitable for genetic circuits? It may be that the object-oriented approach may be universal and we can just devise a biologically-oriented version of Java for the task. Lastly, perhaps the component-based nature of biology makes a scripting approach more appropriate.

----------------------------References
computer.howstuffworks.com/dna-computer.htm
http://www.synbiont.org/ http://lifesciences.ieee.org/publications/newsletter/may-2012/107-synthetic-biology- building-a-language-to-program-cells
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Biology www.qath.net

Essay Instructions: In perfect APA format, write a paper, eight full pages long, that completely answers the question ?Why isn?t there just one standard programming language?? Be sure to properly cite and reference all sources used.

Recommended, but not required sources are:
The Essential Guide to Computing: The Story of Information Technology.
By E. Garrison Walters

Software Development: Building Reliable Systems
By Marc Hamilton

Essay Instructions: Below is the testing section from an outline of a procedural manual to be used within a computer-programming environment.

Following this outline, write a 4-page synopsis containing the business reasons for the sub-topics and description of what you would expect the content of the manual to be.

There isn?t any need for a lead-in or summary, just the data that relates to this particular section of the outline.

More topics or sub-topics may be added as long as they belong under the TESTING title.


I.Testing
A.Code
1.Manual
2.Automated
3.Unit Testing
4.Integration Testing
5.Regression testing
B.User Acceptance
1.At whose site?

Essay Instructions: Present an introduction of Object Oriented Programming and compare it to traditional forms of programming. Present examples of the kind of advantages that Object Oriented Programming presents us when compared to traditional approaches. Also talk about any disadvantages that we might face.

Also to be included are: a title page and a bibliography. The paper is to be in the APA format.
The paper is to be typed, double-spaced, 12 font, using Times New Roman type.

The paper needs to be completed no later than 3:00PM Eastern time.