Welcome to the website for the Department of Computer Science at the University of Bristol.

This page will provide links to the unit pages for all units in the department who have chosen to create a website, as well as the unit catalogue page that contains the official information on topics like credit points and assessments.

Some units have chosen to host their information on the university's Blackboard content management system. These are marked with (*) and, depending on the set-up, might only work if you are already logged in to Blackboard and only if you are registered on the unit. You can log in to blackboard at ole.bris.ac.uk.

For undergraduate students picking their optional units for future years, we have created an interactive prerequisite map. All information on this page is offered "without warranty" as the information is subject to change in future years.

Are you a current student with good grades, interested in a funded PhD scheme that lets you stay in Bristol and get teaching as well as reseach experience? Then have a look at our Doctoral Training Associate positions.

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	unit page	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	blackboard page (*)	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	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
COMS20007	Programming Languages and Computation	TB1	20	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
COMS20008	Computer Systems A	TB1	20	unit page	catalogue
COMS20009	Interaction and Society	TB2	20	use MS Teams	catalogue
COMS20010	Algorithms II	TB1	10	blackboard page (*)	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 five units, of which two are assessed in term (worth 15 CP each) and three are assessed in January (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 in-term and January assessments. 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 a January assessment.

Title	Teaching	In-term	January	Unit page	Catalogue Page
Advanced Algorithms	COMS30042	-	COMS30041	unit page	catalogue
Artificial Intelligence	COMS30014	COMS30062	COMS30013	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Computational Neuroscience	COMS30017	COMS30063	COMS30016	unit page	catalogue
Computer Graphics	COMS30020	COMS30064	COMS30018	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Cryptology	COMS30023	COMS30065	COMS30021	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Design Verification	COMS30026	COMS30066	COMS30024	unit page	catalogue
Human-Computer Interaction	COMS30029	COMS30067	COMS30027	on Teams (*)	catalogue
Image Processing and Computer Vision	COMS30030	COMS30068	COMS30032	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Machine Learning	COMS30035	COMS30069	COMS30033	unit page	catalogue
Security Behaviours	COMS30038	COMS30070	COMS30036	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Types and Lambda Calculus	COMS30040	-	COMS30039	blackboard page (*)	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 in-term at 15 CP each, three units assessed in January at 10 CP each. Some units only offer a January assessment option.

Title	Teaching	In-term	January	Unit page	Catalogue Page
Advanced Cryptology	COMSM0042	COMSM0097	COMSM0040	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Advanced Topics in Programming Languages	COMSM0067	-	COMSM0066	unit page	catalogue
Advanced Topics in Theoretical Computer Science	COMSM0068	-	COMSM0069	unit page	catalogue
Applied Deep Learning	COMSM0045	COMSM0098	COMSM0043	unit page	catalogue
Cloud Computing and Big Data	COMSM0072	COMSM0099	COMSM0071	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Human-Computer Interaction	COMS30029	COMSM0113	COMSM0114	on Teams (*)	catalogue
Information Processing and the Brain	COMSM0075	COMSM0100	COMSM0073	unit page	catalogue
Internet Economics and Financial Technology	COMSM0046	COMSM0101	COMSM0047	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Systems and Software Security	COMSM0049	COMSM0102	COMSM0050	unit page	catalogue

Year 3 and 4, Teaching Block 2 - project units

In this teaching block, students take one 40CP project:

Year	Code	Title	Unit page	Catalogue page
Year 3, BSc	COMS30045	Individual Project		catalogue
Year 3, MEng	COMS30043	Team Project		catalogue
Year 4, MEng	COMSM0052	Individual Project		catalogue

There is one exception - 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	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Applied Cryptology	COMS30048	COMS30049	COMSM0054	unit page	catalogue
Applied Data Science	COMS30050	COMS30051	COMSM0055	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
CGI	COMS30058	COMS30059	COMSM0076	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
High Performance Computing	COMS30053	COMS30052	COMSM0057	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
Interaction Design	COMS30060	COMS30061	COMSM0083	use Microsoft Teams	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	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
COMSM1201	Programming in C	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
COMSM1302	Overview of Computer Architecture	blackboard page (*)	catalogue
COMSM0085	Overview of Software Tools	unit page	catalogue
COMSM0086	Object-Oriented Programming with Java	Github page	catalogue
COMSM0110	Overview of Software Engineering	Github page	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.