CSE Electives: which one to pick? (1 Viewer)

[Nightwish218]

I'm in my third year ( Doing Software Engineering ) and its time to start picking CSE electives, having a pretty hard time deciding as I don't find most of them terribly interesting and am unsure which ones will be useful or will give me an edge in securing a job after graduating.
The only two I am strongly interested in are Security Engineering and Game Design Workshop. Both of which may not be very useful.

The following seem to be useful:
Concepts of Programming Languages - COMP3161 http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2013/COMP3161.html
Algorithms and Programming Techniques - COMP3121 http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2013/COMP3121.html

The entire list can be found at: http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/vbook2013/brCoursesBySubjectArea.jsp?studyArea=COMP&StudyLevel=Undergraduate

It'd be great if someone can give me some recommendation or advice on picking electives.

Thanks!

 

[RazorICE]

I can't speak for COMP3161, and I'll be taking COMP3121 this coming semester, but here are a random selection of course opinions from me and what I believe my friends say:

COMP3441 Security Engineering - Haven't done this one, but I've heard it isn't great. On the other hand:

COMP9447 Security Engineering Workshop - Haven't done it, but have only heard good things about it. Also seems like if you're quite good you can skip the pre-reqs.

COMP4431 Game Design Workshop - Heard it's a lot of fun, though obviously how useful it may be depends on you.

COMP3211 Computer Architecture - I found it to be quite a fun and very informative course, but I also found the assessment to lean towards easy.

COMP4181 Language-based Software Safety - Quite a good course. Gets you into the whole functional programming mindset and teaches you a lot about the importance of type systems and magical programming stuff. Assessment is challenging but doable (unlike the next one).

COMP9242 Advanced Operating Systems - Amazing. Brutal. Exhilarating. You will jolt awake in the middle of the night, sweating profusely and screaming out for help. You will cry like a bitch. You will come out a changed man. Quite possibly the hardest course CSE has to offer, and you will learn a metric shit-ton. I ended the semester with a literal scar on my hand. (Pre-req is COMP3231 Operating Systems, which runs in Sem 1.) I'd say this is probably the most likely course to give you an "edge" after graduating.

 

[Nightwish218]

Thanks for the review, Razor. Could you explain what makes 3441 not so great compared to 9447? I'm also looking for some sort of WAM booster for the elective as my performance hasn't been great although it is improving. (WAM of 62).
2911 was a real pain and although I did get a credit, I don't feel very confident at all in the material covered. Anyone who enrolled in it last sem would know why (;

 

[RazorICE]

Thanks for the review, Razor. Could you explain what makes 3441 not so great compared to 9447? I'm also looking for some sort of WAM booster for the elective as my performance hasn't been great although it is improving. (WAM of 62).
2911 was a real pain and although I did get a credit, I don't feel very confident at all in the material covered. Anyone who enrolled in it last sem would know why (;

Sorry, I never saw this reply. I haven't done either 3441 or 9447, so I can't comment on why the latter is considered better. I heard a 3441 tutor complaining about marking the course because the questions were stupidly easy and people were being terrible at it. On the other hand, there's practically a cult of students who do 9447 each year, and as far as I know it's somewhat related to Richard Buckland (teaches it maybe? I'm not sure).

Honestly, I don't know of any WAM boosters in CSE, at least not the courses I've done
2911 tends to have poorly organised lecturers which doesn't help at all.