DUT en Informatique option Génie Informatique

Introducing the degree

I was awarded the Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie by the IUT du Havre with an overall result of 74,8%.

The DUT in Computer Science is a two years intensive degree, which has a double purpose:
 to train vocational analyst-programmers
 to prepare for progression in higher education

It is “intensive” in the sense than instead of the university usual ten/fifteen hours a week lectures, DUT students read about forty hours of lectures a week, hence 2,000 hours for the degree length. This is required to conform to the expected level of knowledge and practice, and to cover the compactness program.

According to a survey conducted by the IFOP institute and involving 502 companies, the DUT is the french best formation to prepare to the entreprise world (56%), far away after specialized schools (33%) and universities (4%). Besides, the survey highlights that IUTs are perceived by 96% of professionals as giving a very good training.

Contrariwise to the UK education system, the DUT is a french national diploma, meaning it is equally recognised whichever university awarded it. This is possible because course contents are decided nationally, with very little variations in application between institutions. These lasts aren’t in competition, however they are highly selective with approximately the only 10% best candidates enrolled.

Finally courses are all imposed and compulsory, with only three variations in final year which are management, industrial systems or imagery (rare). I chose the management option, which led me to the courses I’m exposing below.

Final year

Final year overall mark: 74,8%

Third of 102

 Group 1 - Computer Science

 Group 2 - General culture

 Group 3 - Placement / Project

 Option

First year

First year overall mark: 70,6%

Fourth of 128

 Group 1 - Computer Science

 Group 2 - General Culture

 Group 3 - Project

 Option

Final year project

Final years projects in DUT are team-based projects. My team was composed of six developpers (including me), where I also assured the project leader role.

Supervision was ensured by a university lecturer, as well as an external industry professional.

Development of a Drums Score Editor

Because of the wide request from drums players for specialised scores writing software programs, and the lack of such tools on the market, the purpose of our project will be to design an easy and efficiant application for drums score edition.

Our application will provide a WYSIWYG user interface, allowing users to work directly on a visual score. It will include basic editing functions such as measures manipulation, ability to add and remove notes, to change velocity information, wide copy&paste support, etc. We will exert on working on standard Midi support, which should conduct to two major functions: the possibility to listen to the played score, and the ability to generate a score from a live drums session. Finally our program will be able to import as well as export Midi files, and allow printing.

The application is to be written using the Java platform, thus offering multi-platform support.

More information about this project, including screenshots and technical documentation can be found in the jDrums section of this website.