DESCRIPTIONS OF COURSES
Last update 24/08/2011 (.pdf -161K)

Theory [THE] | Technology [TEC] | Audio [AUD] | Visual [VIS] | Audiovisual [AVA]

TEC110 Introduction to Computer Science I
Introduction to the fundamental concepts of Computer Science. Historic retrospective from the Antikythira mechanism to date. Social, ethical and law issues in relation to Informatics. The Turing and Von Neumann models. Numeric systems. Figure storage and representation. Numerical and logical operations. Description of inner computer architecture. Integrated circuits. Central processing unit, main memory, input / output systems. Running programs. Computer networks and the TCP/IP protocol. Software. Operational systems. Introduction to programming, the meaning of algorithm. Basic algorithmic structures (sequence, decision, repetition) - basic algorithms. Introduction to programming languages. Mechanic language, assembly language, high level languages. Tutorials are held along the course.

TEC210 Introduction to Computer Science II
Software technology. Software life cycle, development process models, modularity. Data structures. The meaning of table. Records, linked lists. Abstract data types. Trees - binary trees. Graphs. Files structures. Databases and database models. Relations, entities, fields. Base operations. Structured Query Language (SQL). Data compression (image, sound, video). Data security, public and private encryption key. Authentication, key management, digital signature. Calculation theory. Introduction to artificial intelligence (knowledge representation, expert systems, visual processing, pattern recognition). The course is combined with tutorials and workshops on such topics as networks, algorithm development, databases, audio and visual processing, programming in assembly language and high level language.

TEC211 Introduction to Computer Programming I
Computer architecture basics, hardware, software, operating systems. Programming languages: classification, examples, history, components. Compilers, interpreters, assemblers and their characteristics. Design of computer programmes, algorithm development, flowcharts. Introduction to the C programming language: history, features. Variables, basic data types. Operators: numerical, bitwise, relational, logical and their priorities. Data input-output and formatting. Functions enabling character input-output. Programme flow control, the if-else commands. Logical expressions, statements and operators. The switch command. The while command. The do-while command. The for command. Nested execution. Functions: user-defined, library, declaration and call. Pointers, string management. Arrays, character arraysm declaration. Passing arrays to functions. Multi-dimensional arrays. Structures: definition, fields, variable declaration. Arrays of structures. Passing structure elements to functions. Pointers to structures. Nested structures.

TEC311 Introduction to Computer Programming II
Matlab:
The programming environment, types of windows and their usage. Seeking help: the commands help and lookfor. Variables, accuracy, the command format. List of variables in use, the commands who and whos. Reserved variable names. Array handling tools, initialization, basic operations, inversion. Functional, complex and statistical operators. Handling of character strings. Programme flow control, relational and logical operators, priorities. The commands if, switch, for. M-files. 2-D graphics, the plot command. Menu-driven presentation control. Multiple-trace graphics. The commands: sublot, bar, barh, stem, stairs, pie. Conventional and polar histograms. Error superposition with the command errorbar. Polar-coordinate and complex number graphs. Scatter plots. Elevation maps. The commands meshgrid and quiver. 3-D graphics. 3-D presentation of 2-D graphics using the commands ribbon, bar3, pie3, contour3 and stem3. The commands mesh, waterfall, trimesh, surf and trisurf. Viewing angle manipulations. Color management and the use of colormaps. Built-in colormaps. Colormap brightness control. The command shading. Light incidence control using the command surfl. Light colour control using the command light. Special light effects using the command lighting. Light reflection/diffusion control using the command material. Light incidence control using the command lightangle. Multimedia. Handling images: reading image files and saving image data to array structures. Image data output to a file. Image data display. Image size manipulation by interpolation. Rotation, brightness control. Color to monochrome image conversion. Image negative. Contour extraction. Noise models and noise addition. The indexed image structure. Colour-palette reduction. Moving image sequences. Artificial sequence creation by subimage manipulation. Artificial sequence creation by viewing angle manipulation.
Processing:
The programming environment, types of windows and their usage. Drawing simple geometric shapes. Point, straight line, rectangular, ellipse. Display window parameter control. Background color control using the command background. Stroke color control using the command stroke. Stroke weight control using the command strokeweight. Fill color control using the command fill. Drawing other 2-D shapes. 8-parameter parallelogram. 6-parameter triangle. 6-parameter ellipse arc. Contour smoothing control using the command smooth. Arbitrary-shape curves using the command Bezier. Arbitrary-shape curves using the command curve. 2-D shape transformation, shift, rotation. Scale change. Drawing simple 3-D shapes. Cube, rectilinear, sphere. Continuous evaluation code. The function draw(). Tools for interaction. Keyboard and mouse input detection. Elements of object-oriented programming. Classes and objects. Constructors. Arrays and their incorporation to classes.

TEC410 Human-Computer Interaction
Introduction to human-centered designing, the evaluation and realization of interactive systems, while examining the phenomena that arise during the implementation of the aforementioned processes. At the design and programming levels, topics addressed include content visualization, usability measurement, rules and principles concerning the design for user interfaces and interaction, interactive devices and usability examples. Finally, case-studies enable students to relate theory to current practices, revealing various aspects and problems that arise in the area of Human-Computer Interaction.

TEC510 Website Development
The main objective of this course is to present the basic technologies used for the construction of web sites and applications on the World Wide Web, whereas at a practical level, emphasis is put on learning the extensible hypertext markup language (XHTML) and its accompanying technologies, such as style sheets and client-side scripting languages. Special attention is paid to usability and accessibility issues, through the Design-for-All approach, as well as to Web standards. Designing, structural organisation and static web sites realisation are analysed. Moreover, other topics addressed include user needs analysis, designing and development of web sites infrastructure, with simultaneous reference to dynamic programming technologies.

TEC 610 Dynamic Web Applications
The Internet expansion and especially the extensive post content on the Web have stimulated the development of technologies for creating dynamic applications that enable the implementation of complex interactive environments and easy content management. Advanced applications, such as content management platforms, distance education digital systems, and social networking sites are included, among others, in the wide range of dynamic Internet applications that have a direct impact on the ways of content publication and distribution. In the course, PHP language for creating applications is taught, and insights into the MySQL database management system for storing and retrieving content are provided, the main educational objective being the capacity for developing, managing and evaluating dynamic applications that run in the Web environment.

TEC611 Technologies for Interfaces of Audiovisual Installations
Introduction to sensor and transducer technologies, different types, categories and operational – functional principles. Wired and wireless sensor communication interfaces and protocols. Acquiring, analysing and processing sensor signal outputs. Sensor networks and development / integration platforms: using the appropriate software and hardware. Actuators usage techniques and examples. Introduction to adaptive - intelligent and interactive robotic systems. Physical environment simulation using artificial intelligence libraries under physical laws restrictions. Integrated robotic systems development using dedicated software tools. Advanced interaction techniques (e.g. spatial and gestural interaction) with emphasis on lighting, moving image and advanced sound synthesis applications.

TEC810 Audiovisual Systems Design
In today's communication environment audiovisual systems constitute the final materialized product, created through a wider process of design, organization and management of the total project entailing the use of a specific audiovisual system. As a discipline, Ausiovisual Systems Design encompasses all necessary stages involved in the 'on-paper' design of the whole project, regardless of its specific technological features. These stages, which constitute the basic parts of a complete proposal in competitive market conditions, involve the initial idea,  formation of the working group, market survey, identification of potential users, financial plan (funding, viability), analysis of technological media, prototypes creation and  promotion methods.

TEC811 Artificial Intelligence
This course can be regarded as an extended overview of Artificial Intelligence. It introduces basic concepts and methods focusing on the area of audiovisual creation, covering directly-related areas including the knowledge and thinking representation, mechanical learning and natural language processing. The course aims at enabling students to appreciate the range of uses of Artificial Intelligence in interactive and audiovisual Arts, providing the necessary knowledge which will enable them to use the aforementioned techniques in their creative future.

PRO750 Individual Project
The cultivation and practical implementation of the necessary mix of scientific methodology, of scientific knowledge and of skills, which are acquired in previous semesters study, are achieved through the development of individual work. Learning goal is the development and documentation of an integrated scientific and / or artistic work (according to the guidelines for academic essays, existing in the website of the Department of Audiovisual Arts). The Individual Work is also the introductory study and work on a specific subject of the curriculum of the Department which later may become the subject area of the Thesis.