First Year Engineers have three introductory computing courses available to them, however the courses are not equivalent and students should read the following carefully before making a decision.

Computing for Engineers (ENGG1811)
This course is designed as a stand-alone course for students who want some background in computing, but who do not intend to study further computing courses. Many Engineering degrees specify this as the standard first year computing course. After studying ENGG1811, if you decide to take more computing, you will need to progress via COMP1911 or COMP1917.

Computing 1 (COMP1911)
This course is designed for non-computing majors who want a solid introduction to programming, with the aim of using computers as part of some other discipline. Students with an interest in computing or who wish to be extended might want to consider COMP1917 as an alternative, especially if they plan to study a more computing as part of their future study. Students from all degrees are permitted to take 1917 instead of 1911, and 1927 instead of 1921.

Electrical Engineering, Telecommunications, Mechanical Engineering, and Mechatronic Engineering specify this as the standard first year computing course. COMP1911 and the following course COMP1921 are gentle courses and when combined they are roughly equivalent to the single course COMP1917.

Higher Computing 1 (COMP1917)
This course should be taken by all CSE majors, and any other students who have an interest in computing or who which to be extended. It does not require any prior computing knowledge or experience. COMP1917 leads directly to COMP1927 and COMP2911, which are the pre-requisites for the full range of further computing courses.

The above is based on information given in the UNSW Online Handbook [http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/]