Introductory description

Programming is a key dimension of digital literacy, a core skill in today’s digital economy. Besides hiring programmers with software engineering and computer science backgrounds, employers across industries increasingly desire a pool of business graduates that have fundamental knowledge of programming for business application. This particularly stems from an ever-growing interest in business data analytics (given the volume of data organisations must process for better and timely managerial decision making) and business service digitalisation (given the extent to which new services are being offered online, via apps and web portals), and consequently the increasing extent to which future managers will need to work with software developers if not assuming both roles concurrently. This module aims to provide business students with such knowledge.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Introduction to programming in a business landscape.

Exploring types of programming solutions/languages/tools available - limitations, strengths and example application areas.

Fundamental programming concepts - data types, control structures, functions, introduction to object oriented programming (OOP), data import-export etc.

Understand and use state-of-the-art libraries for data analysis and visualization.

Building basic programming solution (scripts/code) to solve a small business tasks/problem.

Software development project issues and project management solutions (e.g., Agile/Scrum, DevOps).

Use of AI for developing code snippets.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Understanding the role programming plays in a business landscape
• Develop know how about various types of programming solutions/Language/tools available - limitation, strength and example application areas
• Demonstrate an overview of software engineering principles
• Demonstrate and apply basic programming concepts - data wrangling, data manipulation, control structures, import-export data, data types and structures, functions, introduction to Programming libraries
• Capability to understand a business problem/task
• Design a programming logic and create/refine an automated code driven solutions to the problem
• Evaluating and critiquing different programming approaches in problem solving

Indicative reading list

Python For Everyone, 3rd Edition, Horstmann, C. and Necaise, R.
The Essence of Software Engineering, by Volker Gruhn, Rüdiger Striemer
SpringerLink E-book Collection (2018).
Essentials of software engineering, New mathematics books 2014/2015
Tsui, Frank F.
T. Dyba and T. Dingsoyr, "What Do We Know about Agile Software Development?," in IEEE Software, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 6-9,
Sept.-Oct. 2009, doi: 10.1109/MS.2009.145.
Ruparelia, N.B., 2010. Software development lifecycle models. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes, 35(3), pp.8-13.

Subject specific skills

Develop Python scripts to solve a business problem/task using data.
Employ state-of-the-art technical tools used for programming/coding (including AI tools).
Apply logical problem solving skills.

Transferable skills

Develop knowhow about various types of programming applications available for business solutions.
Individually design and implement code in Python to automate/ solve small business tasks using programming.