MCA papers
Every paper in the Master of Computer Applications at USIC&T, as approved by the Board of Studies on 28 July 2025 and effective from the 2025‑2026 session. 50 of them have a full write‑up so far — units, contact hours, textbooks and notes on what to revise.
The programme runs four semesters and 100 credits, of which 90 are needed for the degree. Electives need at least 20 students to be taught in person; below that the course is completed through SWAYAM with prior approval.
Semester 1
Five theory papers, four labs, a minor project and professional proficiency — 24 credits.
Core
- MCA-101Discrete StructuresThe mathematics the rest of the degree is built on — sets and relations, logic and proof, number theory, groups and graphs.Read the syllabus
- MCA-103Computer NetworksHow machines talk to each other, layer by layer — from signals on a wire up to DNS, email and the web.Read the syllabus
- MCA-105Operating Systems with LinuxWhat an operating system does with a processor, memory and a disk — with every idea followed by the Linux commands and system calls that expose it.Read the syllabus
- MCA-107Database Management SystemsModelling data and then querying it — ER diagrams, the relational model, SQL and PL/SQL, normalisation, and how transactions stay correct.Read the syllabus
- MCA-109Object Oriented Programming and JAVAObject orientation taught through Java — classes and inheritance, exceptions, threads, collections, GUIs, JDBC and the Java 8 constructs.Read the syllabus
Labs & Projects
- MCA-161Computer Networks Lab
- MCA-163Operating Systems with Linux Lab
- MCA-165Database Management Systems Lab
- MCA-167Object Oriented Programming and JAVA Lab
- MCA-169Minor Project – I
Other
- MCA-171Professional Proficiency – I
Semester 2
Three core papers plus a core elective and an open elective, four labs and a minor project — 27 credits.
Core
- MCA-102Data and File StructuresThe structures everything else is stored in — arrays, lists, stacks, queues, trees, heaps and graphs — plus hashing and file organisation.Read the syllabus
- MCA-104Object Oriented Software EngineeringBuilding software the object-oriented way — the Unified Process, use cases, UML across analysis and design, design patterns, and agile methods.Read the syllabus
- MCA-106Python ProgrammingPython from the syntax up to NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Tkinter and database connectivity.Read the syllabus
Core Elective - I
- MCA-108Advanced Database Management SystemsWhere the relational model runs out — query optimisation, NoSQL and MongoDB, object-oriented and XML storage, and distributed databases.Read the syllabus
- MCA-110Data Warehousing and Data MiningTurning stored data into findings — warehouse architecture and OLAP, then pre-processing, classification, association rules and clustering.Read the syllabus
- MCA-112Mobile Applications Design and DevelopmentBuilding for phones on both platforms — Android activities, intents, UI and storage, then the iOS stack, Swift and Core Data.Read the syllabus
- MCA-114Full Stack DevelopmentThe MERN-and-Angular stack end to end — React and Redux on the front, Node and Express in the middle, MongoDB at the back.Read the syllabus
- MCA-116Web TechnologiesThe web from HTML up through the Microsoft stack — CSS and JavaScript, then C#, ASP.NET Web Forms, ADO.NET, AJAX, jQuery and MVC.Read the syllabus
- MCA-118Theory of ComputationsWhat a machine can compute and at what cost — finite automata and regular languages, grammars and pushdown automata, Turing machines, and complexity classes.Read the syllabus
- MCA-120Software TestingFinding defects on purpose — test levels and types, functional and structural techniques, test management, and testing in an agile team.Read the syllabus
- MCA-122MicroprocessorsThe 8086 in detail — architecture, addressing modes and assembly — then memory and peripheral interfacing, later Intel processors, and the 8051 and AVR microcontrollers.Read the syllabus
- MCA-124Embedded SystemComputers built into something else — the design process, memory and I/O architecture, firmware and interfacing, and real-time operating systems.Read the syllabus
- MCA-126Information SecuritySecurity as a management problem as much as a technical one — threats and ethics, risk management and policy, access control and intrusion detection, then implementation and forensics.Read the syllabus
Open Elective - I
- MCA-128Digital MarketingMarketing on the channels people actually use — email and display, search advertising and SEO, the social platforms one by one, and analytics.Read the syllabus
- MCA-130Management Information SystemInformation systems seen from the management floor — how they change a business, how they are planned and built, and what they are used for.Read the syllabus
- MCA-132Management Principles and Organizational BehaviorHow organisations are run and how people behave inside them — the management functions, leadership, personality and motivation, groups, culture and change.Read the syllabus
- MCA-134Finance and AccountingReading and producing the numbers — the accounting equation and the books, financial statements, inventory and ratio analysis, and the Indian financial system.Read the syllabus
Labs & Projects
- MCA-162Data and File Structures Lab
- MCA-164Object Oriented Software Engineering Lab
- MCA-166Python Programming Lab
- MCA-168Lab based on Core Elective - I
- MCA-170Minor Project – II
Other
- MCA-172Environment Science
- MCA-174Professional Proficiency – II
Semester 3
Two core papers, two core electives and an open elective, four labs and a minor project — 27 credits.
Core
- MCA-201Design and Analysis of AlgorithmsHow to judge an algorithm and how to build one — asymptotic analysis, recurrences, the four design paradigms, and NP-completeness.Read the syllabus
- MCA-203Artificial Intelligence and Machine LearningClassical AI and modern machine learning in one paper — search and knowledge representation, then regression, classification, clustering and neural networks.Read the syllabus
Core Elective - II
- MCA-205Statistics and Data AnalyticsDescriptive and inferential statistics with Python — central tendency and dispersion, probability distributions, hypothesis testing, ANOVA and regression.Read the syllabus
- MCA-207Enterprise Computing with JAVAJava on the server — servlets and sessions, JSP and Struts, Hibernate and object-relational mapping, and the Spring framework.Read the syllabus
- MCA-209Natural Language ProcessingGetting a machine to handle human language — language models and n-grams, part-of-speech tagging, parsing and word senses, then translation, summarisation and chatbots.Read the syllabus
- MCA-211Computer GraphicsDrawing with mathematics — scan conversion and transformations, clipping and projection, curves and animation, then hidden surfaces and shading.Read the syllabus
- MCA-213Wireless Sensor NetworksNetworks of small battery-powered sensors — node architecture and operating systems, MAC and routing under an energy budget, and the applications they serve.Read the syllabus
- MCA-215Software Project ManagementRunning a software project rather than writing it — planning and scheduling, cost estimation, quality and people, risk and procurement.Read the syllabus
- MCA-217Advanced Computer ArchitectureWhere performance actually comes from — Flynn's classification and parallel models, instruction-level parallelism and pipelining, memory hierarchy, and multiprocessor coherence.Read the syllabus
- MCA-219Distributed SystemsMany machines behaving as one — architectures and RPC, clocks and mutual exclusion, cloud, fog and edge computing, and distributed databases.Read the syllabus
- MCA-221Applied CryptographyCryptography as it is actually deployed — classical ciphers, DES and AES, RSA and hashing, PKI and signatures, then TLS, Kerberos and OAuth.Read the syllabus
- MCA-223Cloud ComputingComputing rented rather than owned — service and deployment models, virtualisation and its security, data centre architecture, and building on a real platform.Read the syllabus
- MCA-225e-Business SystemsBusiness conducted over the internet — commerce models and web tools, the security and cryptography that make it possible, payment systems, and online strategy.Read the syllabus
Core Elective - III
- MCA-227Web Intelligence and Big DataFinding things on the web and coping with its scale — information retrieval and search engine architecture, then NoSQL, Hadoop and MapReduce.Read the syllabus
- MCA-229Flutter and DartCross-platform mobile apps from one codebase — the Dart language, the widget tree, animation and navigation, layouts, streams and local storage.Read the syllabus
- MCA-231Service Oriented ArchitectureSystems assembled from services — SOA and its patterns, XML, service design and governance, then microservices with Spring Boot and Docker.Read the syllabus
- MCA-233Multimedia TechnologiesText, image, audio, video and animation as one subject — building multimedia projects, compressing the result, and delivering it over a network.Read the syllabus
- MCA-235Internet of ThingsConnecting physical things to the internet — IoT architecture and protocols, Arduino and Raspberry Pi, sensor interfacing, and Python for devices.Read the syllabus
- MCA-237Soft ComputingComputing that tolerates imprecision — fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and the hybrids built from them.Read the syllabus
- MCA-239Software Quality ManagementQuality as a managed system — quality factors and assurance components, the SQA architecture and who runs it, CASE tools and metrics, standards and costs.Read the syllabus
- MCA-241Digital Image ProcessingProcessing pictures as numbers — intensity transforms and spatial filtering, frequency-domain enhancement and restoration, compression, and segmentation.Read the syllabus
- MCA-243Compiler DesignHow a program becomes machine code — lexical analysis with Lex, parsing with YACC, syntax-directed translation, optimisation and code generation.Read the syllabus
- MCA-245Parallel ComputingMaking many processors work on one problem — parallel models and Amdahl's law, memory hierarchy and pipelining, parallel algorithms, and programming platforms.Read the syllabus
- MCA-247Numerical and Scientific ComputingGetting usable answers out of intractable mathematics — root finding, linear systems and interpolation, numerical integration and differential equations, then curve fitting and inference.Read the syllabus
Open Elective - II
- MCA-249Research MethodologyHow research is actually done — defining a problem and a hypothesis, collecting and measuring data, sampling and analysis, then writing it up in LaTeX.Read the syllabus
- MCA-251Operational ResearchOptimising decisions with mathematics — linear programming and duality, transportation and assignment, queuing and project networks, game theory and simulation.Read the syllabus
- MCA-253Cyber Security and Cyber LawsCybercrime and the law around it — classifying offences, vulnerabilities and safeguards, securing applications and detecting intrusions, then the IT Act, forensics and IPR.Read the syllabus
- MCA-255e-Content DevelopmentBuilding courses rather than software — instructional design, content development standards, CMS and LMS platforms, multimedia authoring, and MOOCs.Read the syllabus
Labs & Projects
- MCA-261Design and Analysis of Algorithms Lab
- MCA-263Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Lab
- MCA-265Lab based on Core Elective - II
- MCA-267Lab based on Core Elective - III
- MCA-269Minor Project – III
Other
- MCA-271Entrepreneurship Mindset
- MCA-273Professional Proficiency – III
Semester 4
The dissertation, a MOOC and professional proficiency — 22 credits, and no taught papers.
Labs & Projects
- MCA-202Dissertation (Major Project)
Other
- MCA-272One MOOC Course (from SWAYAM Platform)
- MCA-274Professional Proficiency – IV
Paper codes and names are from the approved scheme of examination. The unit summaries on each paper's page follow that scheme; the introductions and revision notes are written for this site and are not part of the university document. Where the two ever disagree, the university's own syllabus is the one that counts.
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