Saturday 24 May 2014

BSc IT Subjects - Semester 5 and Semester 6

This post will discuss BSc IT last year subjects in detail so that you can prepare ahead of time. You can download complete T Y BSc IT syllabus at the end of this post where you can also find university prescribed reference books and grade distribution for each subject.

Subjects in Semester V

Network Security

As name suggests this subject introduces to the concept of security in the context of computers and networks. This subject requires you to have good mathematical foundation in order to understand concepts. It starts with Cryptography and different methods used for encryption and decryption of message over network. It covers both symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, further it introduces to the notion of public key cryptosystem, digital certificates etc. This subject also explains how networks can be secured using firewalls and VPN's and which are the different protocols used in communication over network and how to make that communication more secure using different security mechanisms. Overall this subject is interesting and one can gain precious knowledge which is helpful in entire career if one is interested in security aspects of information technology. Network Security Course of NPTEL covers all concepts in syllabus given that you have good mathematical background to understand concepts explained, I would recommend you take that course and you are good to go. This subject has practical sessions where you can code different cryptosystems.

ASP.NET with C#

In 2nd semester of first year you became familiarized with web designing and development, this subject will enhance your knowledge further so if you are interested in web development then you must pay careful attention to this subject. In order to learn this subject in proper way follow the below path.

  1. Understand Basics of .NET Framework
  2. Learn Core C# Programming.
  3. Learn MS-SQL database programming
  4. Learn Windows Programming in C#
  5. Learn Web Programming with ASP.NET and C#

Since this subject requires you to cover many different concepts at once, I would suggest that start learning as early as possible. There is fat probability that you will end up using knowledge gained in this subject in your final year project. This subject also includes practical sessions.

Software Testing

No software is defect free. Yes you read that right. Every software requires rigorous testing before using it in production. This subject will introduce you to the software testing principles. Every product has quality constraints associated with it so does software and in order to create quality software one must ask what does quality actually mean ? First unit of this subject will give you brief introduction to the notion of quality. There are various way by which you can test your software, some of the main testing principles are functional testing and structural testing so in second and third unit you will learn these principles. In order to understand material covered in this subject you must have good mathematical background in set theory and graph theory. This subject also includes practicals where you will use different tools to automate testing process.

Advanced Java

In 4th semester of second year you learned data structure using Java programming language. This subject is extension of Java programming where you will learn how to create GUI to build software which can run on any machine with user interaction. You will also learn how Java use JDBC to achieve database connectivity. You can also do web programming in Java using Servlet, JSP, and JSF. This subject will also introduce you to the concept of web services where yo will learn how web servers communicate with each other using web services. Almost all modern web applications use or provide web services of some kind. At the end you will learn how java provides mail service with Javamail. Knowledge gained in this subject is useful from last years project perspective.

Linux Administration

Did you know 60-70 % of servers on Internet use linux operating system. If you surprised welcome to open source. Knowledge gained in this subject is crucial in your entire IT career. This subject will introduce you the UNIX operating system from then you will learn different flavors of Linux also known as Linux distributions. Reference book prescribed by university follows Red Hat Linux. However concepts covered in this subject are applicable for all Linux systems. As name suggests this subject is about administrating Linux operating system so if you have previous tryst with Linux then you will find it like piece of cake. More precisely you will learn Linux file system, system configuration, networking in Linux, administration of different Linux servers such as apache for web, squid for proxy and so on. At the you will learn Linux way of implementing web services. If you are form windows or other background I would strongly urge you to install Linux either completely or at least in virtual box and start exploring gems. This subject also includes practical sessions to demonstrate your linux administration skills. If you acquire skills presented in this subject you will increase your employability chances.

Subjects in Semester 6

Internet Technology

This is very interesting subject because it exposes how such complex Internet works without exhibiting underlying complexities. I feel this subject should have been introduced in first year of BSc IT but it is better too late than never. This subject first explains how networking is divided into different hierarchical layers then it introduces you to the different protocols which are followed for routing data packages on internet and it concludes with different application layer protocols such as HTTP and FTP. I would suggest you grab copy of TCP/IP Protocol Suite by Forouzan, this book covers all aspects in great detail but again it is too much to remember at once so I recommend you to just read things and understand it and don't try to remember things because as you become familiar with concepts things will become more easily palatable. Also video lecture course on Internet Technology by IIT Kharagpur covers everything in given syllabus and is as helpful as abovementioned reference book. This subject also has practical sessions where you will emulate different protocols using Java programming. If you have enjoyed DCN in second semester then you will enjoy this subject too.

Project Management

To be honest I never enjoyed this subject and let me explain you why. First of all content covered in this subject is utterly theoretical and that is fine because it is the nature of this subject even content is really good and will help you shape your vision in the field of software project management but when university expect you to remember such vast theory in few months that is really obnoxious. Let me put my two cents in on how to prepare for this subject so be ready for hard work. First read chapters from reference book and understand it. Second prepare your own short notes on each topic such that you can at least remember bullet points and third take weekly test. In test you are suppose to write things you understood with aid of remembered bullet points. Repeat this chore for entire semester and you are done because i don't think there is any better alternative than this. Also at the end of semester you will have to create some case study on given topics and have to present it to your instructor.

Data Warehousing

We are living in the digital age where in every second we are generating lot of data but problem is how to organize and store this data efficiently so that we can retrieve it and use it. This subject precisely deal with this problem of big data. This is less about how to analyze big data to get insights and more about how to store big data under given constraints. I personally found book DW2.0 The architecture for Next Generation of Data Warehousing by Inmon very helpful but it is no longer main reference book so I will suggest you to go through main reference book and get feel of content.

Elective Subjects

Below are three elective subjects for Bsc it and you have to select any one. So read content of subjects carefully and select one you find interesting. You have to fill form for examination and during that you have to select elective subject for final exam.

IPR and CYBER LAWS

In every country there are laws that govern cyber space. In India first provision of IT Act made in 2000 and in 2005 amendments were made to the same. This subject covers different cyber laws in India and some general International laws in the context of information technology. It includes intellectual property, patents and contracts in cyber world. There is no question that you will find knowledge gained in this subject very helpful in your daily life.

Geographic Information Systems

I have not reviewed this subject so will not comment on it but according to Wikipedia.

A geographic information system (GIS) is a computer system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographical data.

Possible applications of this subject includes creating geographical maps, analyzing geographical behavior using historical data etc.

Digital Signals and Systems Systems

As name implies this subject deal with different kind of digital signals and digital systems. Opt this subject only if you have good mathematical background in calculus. There are two very good online courses on this subject.