Diploma in Computer Programming (Introduction to Programming)

Course details

The ICT sector is booming, the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) indicated that Ireland is facing an average 5% a year increase in demand for ICT skills up to the year 2018 or the need for 91,000 ICT professionals in Ireland alone. Across Europe the conservative projected shortage for ICT professionals by 2015 will be 372,000, and potentially as high as 864,000. This increase in demand is due to the fact that the global ICT industry is in the midst of a "once every 20-25 years" shift to a new technology platform, this wave of ICT innovation is driving demand for new ICT skills and abilities, particularly those who can develop and deploy new software applications and services.

Ireland has gained increasing recognition as Europe’s premier location for software development. There are now almost 730 indigenous software companies, employing over 10,000 people, and continuing to grow. Ireland has now overtaken the USA as the biggest exporter of software in the world; 60% of all software sold in Europe originates in Ireland. Nine of the world's top 10 software companies have today established a significant presence in Ireland. Traditional players with long-established operations – such as Intel, HP, IBM, Microsoft and Apple – have now been joined by newer firms at the forefront of the internet and social media revolution, including: Google; Facebook; LinkedIn; Amazon; PayPal; EBay, and most recently Twitter, firmly positioning Ireland as the internet capital of Europe. But many have been forced to look outside the country for employees with the right skills. According to the European Commission’s annual Digital Agenda Scoreboard, more than half of Irish businesses that tried to recruit ICT specialists in 2013 reported difficulties in filling their vacancies.

Trained computer programmers are ideally placed to take advantage of such skills shortages. Programmers are essential for websites, databases, web applications and games, it looks highly likely that programming graduates at all levels will be in strong demand well into the foreseeable future. Computer programming involves creating a sequence of instructions (code) in order to get a computer to perform certain tasks. There are many different kinds of programming languages, but just as learning one foreign language can help you learn others, becoming familiar with one programming language will allow you to develop a reading knowledge of others and pick them up more easily. Java is one of the more popular programming languages, it is an object oriented, cross platform programming language which is widely used in industry for internet based website and applications. More than 800,000 Java programmers are using their knowledge, skills and recognition learned through varies courses to improve their job prospects, earn more money and become more valuable employees. There are over 3 billion devices running Java worldwide, the world’s top companies rely on Java Programmers to build and maintain these critical applications, as such companies across all sectors have shown an increased demand for ICT Professionals that are skilled in Java Programming.

If this all sounds like double Dutch, don’t worry, this introductory-level computer programming course is specifically designed for those with little or no previous experience in the area. It provides learners, regardless of their background, to feel justifiably confident in their ability to write code and is ideal for any learner with an interest and motivation to embark in a career in software development.

This course is aimed at learners with little or no prior programming experience, but a desire to understand computational approaches to problem solving. Learners will learn the fundamental concepts and terminology of software development and develop skills in designing and writing computer programs. The course assumes no programming background and provides an overview of the software development process in addition to introducing important programming constructs and methodologies. This course provides a comprehensive and easy to follow lesson plan and tutition in one of the most popular, versatile and widely used programming languages in common use today, all taught in modern specialist computing labs.

If you want to learn computer programming but don't have any prior experience, you'll enjoy this programming course in Java, one of the most widely used computer languages in the world. It's a breeze to learn in a friendly and supportive environment. Start with the basics of programming and go on to write your own programs and integrate input and output, calculations, decision making, and loops. Build your knowledge and confidence with easy-to-understand examples and plenty of skill-building exercises. The course will also serve learners as a pathway to preparing for the Java SE7 Fundamentals exam by Oracle.

Module Topics

Week 1:

You will be introduced to computer programming in general and to Java in particular. You will get to set up your computer with the downloads and installations you'll need for the rest of this course. You will be walked through the process of editing, compiling, and running other computer programs written in Java.

Week 2: 

Week 3 You will learn about primitive data types;the building blocks you need to use before you can build more complex types. You will be shown how to use them in some simple programs, and look at how they relate to each other.

Week 4:

You will be introduced to classes and objects. We'll revisit the HelloWorld application and rewrite it in Java's OOP (object-oriented programming) structure. This will include how to declare classes, objects, attributes, and methods to Java.

Week 5:

You will be shown how to declare data variables to Java and how to use variables in arithmetic expressions to calculate new results. Also included will be an introduction to data input, getting information into our programs from an outside source. Then write a program that incorporates all these features.

Week 6:

Making decisions is one of the most important and powerful things a computer language can do. We're going to look at the decision-making process in detail and see how Java does it. When you're done with this lesson, you'll know how to write Java programs that make decisions based on the principles of computer logic.

Week 7:

You'll learn how to repeat actions using a control structure called a loop. Loops in Java involve decisions, just as branches do. But in a loop structure, if the condition is met, the branch is backward instead of forward, allowing us to repeat actions. You'll learn about Enumeration which lets you set up new data types with built-in limits on their values Finally, Java's switch structure which lets you replace a series of nested if statements with a single value-based structure.

Week 8:

Discuss how Java generates exceptions and how we can prevent them from crashing our programs. You'll learn about class methods and how to call them without creating any objects. Last, you'll find out about a debugger, which lets us look at what's going on inside our program as it runs.

Week 9:

So far in this course, everything has been text-based. During your final week you'll be introduced to the world of Java windows, and we'll begin to look at GUI (graphical user interface) programming in Java. You will look at the basic components of a Java window and then add some simple graphics to it.

Assessment 

To be awarded the Diploma in Computer Programming participants will be required to successfully complete three pieces of course work (10% + 10% + 80%). 

Career Opportunities

Current forecasts about the future of the computing industry in Ireland are excellent. During the past decade, Ireland has gained increasing recognition as Europe’s premier location for software development. Since the 1980s, most leading US software vendors, including Microsoft, Oracle, Google, Facebook and Symantec, have based their European operations centres in Ireland. The country has also become the number one site for software development in Europe. All the big players such as Microsoft, Google, EBay, Symantec and Amazon are now based in Ireland.

This course will serve as an excellent and comprehensive introductory foundation in programming and will help to secure entry-level positions across the ICT sector for roles including but not limited to software testing and junior developer.

This course will also prepare students for the Java SE 7 Fundamentals Certification exam by Oracle, which is the required first step towards Java Professional Certification.

Computer Programming is often the first port of call for anyone looking to move into a full-time role in software development. An understanding of a computer language will also offer many opportunities for promotion as it provides insight and knowledge on how systems are actually built and implemented within organisations.

Academic Progression Opportunities

Learners who graduate with an IBAT College Diploma in Computer Programming and are interested in furthering their study in the area of web development are eligible to progress onto the College's Advanced Diploma in Web Design Course or Diploma in PHP and MySQL.