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The syllabus will be updated throughout the semester. Dates, topics, assigned reading, and problem set due dates will be added or might change. All changes in assigned reading and due dates will be announced in class (and occasionally by e-mail). While I will do my best to update the web site accordingly, it is a student's responsibility to keep track of the problem set due dates and reading assignments. If you are not sure about due dates, please don't hesitate to ask.
Reading assignments are listed for the day when the material is first explained in class. You may read ahead the material ahead of the lecture or after, either way is fine.
Problem sets and labs are individual work, unless otherwise stated. While it's perfectly OK (and is encouraged) to discuss the problem sets in general terms with others in the class, your solution must be your own work. Copying any part of another person's solution (even if you modify the code) is considered academic dishonesty and will be dealt with according to the university's policy.
It is OK to use code found in a textbook or online, but such use must be credited (i.e. you have to state the exact source of the code and clearly explain how this code was used). Failure to credit the source constitutes academic dishonesty.
Using code samples from the book or from lecture notes as a starting point of your code is perfectly reasonable. However, using large chunks of code "as is" (with a proper credit) may significantly reduce your grade if your own contribution was small. If in doubt about what materials are appropriate to use and how, please ask the instructor.
Project work is done in groups. Members of the same group have free access to each other's code (and are encouraged to pair-program). Make sure to document contributions of each team member (in comments in the code or in a separate file). This will help me to properly grade your work in case the contributions of the team members where uneven. Communications with anyone outside of your group are limited to general discussion only, no code should be shared between groups.
Reading assignments are posted for the day when the topic starts in class. The textbooks should also be used as a reference for problem sets and for project work.
There will be two in-class exams in this course. The exam dates are set. If you have an unavoidable time conflict with the exam time, please let me know right away.
Exams are open book, open notes. You may use the text books, your own notes, and code samples that you find helpful. If you would like to use a different text book on the test, please let me know ahead of time (please bring a copy) and I'll let you know if it it's OK.
Reading abbreviations in the syllabus:
HTML | HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, Fifth Edition by Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy |
PHP | Web Database Applications with PHP & MySQL, 2nd Edition by Hugh E. Williams, David Lane |
Tuesday | Thursday |
---|---|
Week 1: January 16 - 19 | |
Course overview. Basics of client/server model. Reading: HTML Ch. 1, PHP Ch. 1 |
Basics of HTML: page layout, headers, paragraphs, links,
lists. Introduction to CSS. Reading: HTML Ch. 2.1 - 2.10, 3.1 - 3.8, 4.1 - 4.10, 5.1 - 5.3, 6.1 - 6.4, 7.1 - 7.4, 10.1 - 10. 2. |
Week 2: January 22 - 26 | |
Lab: Formatting HTML with CSS. Reading: HTML Ch. 8 Problem set 1 posted: HTML, CSS. Due Thursday, February 1 |
HTML & CSS (continue). |
Week 3: January 29 - February 2 | |
Introduction to PHP, server-side processing, interleaving HTML and
PHP. Reading: PHP Ch. 2 pp. 16 - 28. |
PHP variables. Numbers and strings. Problem set 1 due Problem set 2 posted: basics of PHP. Due Tuesday, February 13 |
Week 4: February 5 - 9 | |
Lab on PHP. |
PHP conditionals. Booleans. Reading: PHP Ch. 2 pp. 28-33. |
Week 5: February 12 - 16 | |
Loops and arrays. Reading: PHP Ch. 2 pp. 33 - 36, Ch. 3 pp. 57 - 76. Problem set 2 due Problem set 3 posted: PHP conditionals and loops. Due Thursday, February 22. |
Lab on conditionals, loops and arrays. Project assignment 1 posted: CSS and XHTML for the project pages. Due Thursday, March 1 |
Week 6: February 19 - 23 | |
Functions, global variables, static variables. Reading: PHP Ch. 2 (till the end) Code style and code refactoring. |
More operations with PHP strings; dates and times. Reading: PHP Ch. 3 76 - 87, 97 - 103. Problem set 3 due Problem set 4 posted: PHP functions and arrays. Due Thursday, March 8. |
Week 7: February 26 - March 2 | |
Databases and SQL. PHP database functions. Reading: PHP Ch. 5, Ch. 6 172- 188, 208 - 219 Project assignment 1 due Project assignment 2 posted: displaying blog entries using arrays. Due Thursday, March 8. |
Pair-programming, documenting code. Review for the midterm. |
Week 8: March 5 - March 9 | |
Midterm I |
Project work in the lab. Project assignment 2 due Problem set 4 due Project assignment 3 posted: displaying blog entries using a database. Due March 27 |
March 12 - March 16: SPRING BREAK, NO CLASSES | |
Week 9: March 19 - 23 | |
HTML forms. Server-side form processing. Reading: HTML Ch. 9, PHP Ch. 6 188- 208 |
Validating form data (server side). Writing PHP code in multiple files. Reading: PHP Ch. 9 287 - 307, Ch. 2 51 - 53 |
Week 10: March 26 - 30 | |
Storing data in a database. Handling errors. Reading: PHP Ch. 8 Project assignment 3 due Project assignment 4 posted: handling user requests, posting a message, commenting. Due Tuesday, April 10. |
Sessions and mechanisms for implementing them. PHP support for
sessions. Reading: PHP Ch. 10 |
Week 11: April 2 - 6 | |
Session variables. |
Security and encryption. PHP authentication. Reading: PHP Ch. 11. |
Week 12: April 9 - 13 | |
Project work in the lab. Project assignment 4 due Project assignment 5 posted: user login, sessions. Due Tuesday, April 24. |
Object-oriented programming. Introduction to object-oriented PHP features. Reading: PHP Ch. 4 |
Week 13: April 16 - 20 | |
Review for the midterm II. |
Midterm II. |
Week 14: April 23 - 27 | |
Case study: WordPress. Project assignment 5 due Project assignment 6 posted: code refactoring, testing another group's blog, additional features. Due Tuesday, May 1 |
Project work in the lab. |
Week 15: April 30 - May 4 | |
Case study: WordPress. Project assignment 6 due |
Group presentations Wrap-up. |
Finished projects due on Tuesday, May 8th at midnight. |