Welcome to the website for the School of Computer Science of the University of Bristol.
Here are some useful links:
- School of Computer Science Taught Student Handbook (on Blackboard)
- Blackboard
- View your results (on eVision)
- Health and wellbeing
The rest of this page contains links to unit pages.
- Some units have chosen to host their information on Blackboard, which is the official university course management system. To find these, please log in to Blackboard.
- Other units have chosen to make a page on GitHub.
- Finally, all units have an official unit catalogue page.
For undergraduate students picking their optional units for future years, we have created an interactive prerequisite map.
Year 1
All these units are worth 20CP (credit points) each. The unit code numbering is not meant to make any sense, apart from the first digit being the year of study.
| Code | Title | Teaching Block | Unit page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMS10014 | Mathematics for Computer Science A | TB1 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS10015 | Computer Architecture | TB1 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| COMS10016 | Imperative and Functional Programming | TB1 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS10012 | Software Tools | TB2 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS10013 | Mathematics for Computer Science B | TB2 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS10017 | Object-Oriented Programming and Algorithms I | TB2 | OOP (Alg coming soon) | catalogue |
Year 2
TB4 means that a unit runs across the entire academic year.
| Code | Title | Teaching Block | Credits | Unit page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMS20006 | Software Engineering Project | TB4 | 20 | Github org | catalogue |
| COMS20007 | Programming Languages and Computation | TB1 | 20 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| COMS20008 | Computer Systems A | TB1 | 20 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS20010 | Algorithms II | TB1 | 10 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS20009 | Interaction and Society | TB2 | 20 | use Teams | catalogue |
| COMS20011 | Data-Driven Computer Science | TB2 | 10 | unit page | catalogue |
| COMS20012 | Computer Systems B | TB2 | 20 | unit page | catalogue |
Year 3, Teaching Block 1
Single honours computer science students pick four units, of which two are assessed by both exam and coursework (worth 20 CP per unit) and two are assessed by exam only (worth 10 CP each). As a result, each unit has three codes, one for the teaching unit (where the unit material will be) and one each for the exam-only and exam-and-coursework assessment. Some units only exist in one of the two assessment forms, these have only two codes.
Students who are not single honours CS should check with their programme director for details, but typically they can only take the 10 credit versions of units, with an exam only.
| Title | Teaching | Both | Exam only | Unit page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Algorithms | COMS30042 | - | COMS30041 | unit page | catalogue |
| Artificial Intelligence | COMS30014 | COMS30072 | COMS30013 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Computational Neuroscience | COMS30017 | COMS30080 | COMS30016 | unit page | catalogue |
| Computer Graphics | COMS30020 | COMS30073 | COMS30018 | unit page | catalogue |
| Cryptology | COMS30023 | COMS30074 | COMS30021 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Design Verification | COMS30026 | COMS30079 | COMS30024 | unit page | catalogue |
| Human-Computer Interaction | COMS30029 | COMS30075 | COMS30027 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Image Processing and Computer Vision | COMS30030 | COMS30076 | COMS30032 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Machine Learning | COMS30035 | COMS30077 | COMS30033 | blackboard, unit page | catalogue |
| Security Behaviours | COMS30038 | COMS30078 | COMS30036 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Types and Lambda Calculus | COMS30040 | - | COMS30039 | use blackboard | catalogue |
Year 4, Teaching Block 1
MEng and MSci CS students take five of the following units in year 4. The rules are the same as for year 3: two units assessed at 20CP each with both exam and coursework, two units assessed exam-only at 10 CP each.
Some units only offer an exam assessment option.
| Title | Teaching | Both | Exam only | Unit page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Cryptology | COMSM0042 | COMSM0137 | COMSM0040 | catalogue | |
| Advanced Topics in Programming Languages | COMSM0067 | - | COMSM0066 | unit page | catalogue |
| Advanced Topics in Theoretical Computer Science | COMSM0068 | - | COMSM0069 | catalogue | |
| Applied Deep Learning | COMSM0045 | COMSM0138 | COMSM0043 | catalogue | |
| Information Processing and the Brain | COMSM0075 | COMSM0139 | COMSM0073 | catalogue | |
| Internet Economics and Financial Technology | COMSM0046 | COMSM0140 | COMSM0047 | catalogue | |
| Systems and Software Security | COMSM0049 | COMSM0141 | COMSM0050 | catalogue | |
| Sustainable Computing | COMSM0134 | COMSM0136 | COMSM0135 | catalogue |
Year 3 and 4, Teaching Block 2 - project units
In this teaching block, CS project units take place. Single-honours BSc students take the 40CP “Individual Project” (COMS30045) in year 3. Single-honours MEng students take the 40CP “Team Project” (COMS30043) in year 3 and the 40CP “Individual project with Innovation Case” (COMSM0052) in year 4. All maths and computer science students choose between the CS-focused “Short Individual Project” (COMS30044) and the maths-focused “Project 1” (MATH32200) in year 3; both are 20CP, but the maths option is TB4. In year 4, MEng students who took MATH32200 then go on to take the single-honours year 4 CS project COMSM0052, while students who took COMS30044 go on to take the normal single-honours year 4 maths project MATHM2204; both are 40CP, but again the maths option is TB4. All other joint honours students have their own project units, which aren’t administered by CS.
Here are the web pages for all the CS-run project units; note that for maths/CS students, we run the CS options COMS30044 and COMSM0052 but not the maths options MATH32200 and MATHM2204.
| Year | Code | Title | Unit page | Catalogue page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 3, BSc | COMS30045 | Individual Project | projects website | catalogue |
| Year 3, BSc/MEng Maths+CS | COMS30044 | Short Individual Project | projects website | catalogue |
| Year 3, MEng | COMS30043 | Team Project | catalogue | |
| Year 4, MEng | COMSM0052 | Individual Project with Innovation Case | projects website | catalogue |
There is one exception to the above - students on the MEng can switch to the MSci at the end of second year to take three 20CP mini-project units instead of one mini-project and the team project in year 3. However you are advised to talk to a tutor before making this decision as it has implications, for example you may not be able to leave with a BSc after three years as you do not have a 40CP project “for honours”.
Year 3 and 4, Teaching Block 2
These units are all 20CP and assessed by coursework, also known as mini-project units. Each student takes one of these in year 3 and MEng students take another unit in year 4. The exception are MSci students who take three units in Year 3 and one more in Year 4.
Students must enrol on the teaching unit and on the correct assessment unit for their year, as the Year 3 assessment is not the same as the Year 4 one. You also cannot take the Year 4 assessment of a unit that you’ve already done in Year 3.
| Unit title | Teaching | Year 3 | Year 4 | Unit page | Catalogue page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Computer Architecture | COMS30046 | COMS30047 | COMSM0053 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Applied Cryptology | COMS30048 | COMS30049 | COMSM0054 | unit page | catalogue |
| Applied Data Science | COMS30050 | COMS30051 | COMSM0055 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| CGI | COMS30058 | COMS30059 | COMSM0076 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| High Performance Computing | COMS30053 | COMS30052 | COMSM0057 | use blackboard | catalogue |
| Interactive Devices | COMS30054 | COMS30055 | COMSM0058 | use blackboard | catalogue |
Exception: Year 4 MEng students may also take EMATM0053 “Robotics Systems (Undergraduate)”, offered by Engineering Mathematics.
Conversion course (PGT)
On the conversion course, you will take the following units:
| Code | Title | Page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMSM0084 | Introduction to Computer Science | catalogue | |
| COMSM1201 | Programming in C | catalogue | |
| COMSM1302 | Overview of Computer Architecture | catalogue | |
| COMSM0085 | Overview of Software Tools | unit page | catalogue |
| COMSM0086 | Object-Oriented Programming with Java | github page | catalogue |
| COMSM0110 | Overview of Software Engineering | use blackboard | catalogue |
If you pass all your units, you will then work on one of the following two units over the summer, both of which are worth 60 credits:
| Code | Title | Page | Catalogue Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMSM3201 | Team Project | catalogue | |
| COMSM3201 | Individual Project | catalogue |
Please see the Conversion Course / PGT page for more information for students on this programme.