CSCI A348 and 548

Mastering the World Wide Web

Spring 1999
A348: Lecture Section 1254 (T,R); Lab Sections 1255 (R), 1256 (F)
A548: Lecture Section 1264 (T,R); Lab Sections 1265 (R), 1266 (F)

Instructor: Rick McMullen, Ph.D. (mcmullen@cs.indiana.edu)

Associate Instructors:
Geoffrey Ang (gang@indiana.edu)
Zhenzhong Linden Lu (zlu@indiana.edu)
Amanda Vaughn (amavaugh@indiana.edu)

Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday, 5:45-7:00PM. Lindley Hall 102

Labs/Study Hall Sections:
A348/1255 - 4:40P-5:30P Thursday, Lindley 115, G. Ang
A548/1265 - 4:40P-5:30P Thursday, Lindley 115, G. Ang

A348/8794 - 4:40-5:30PM Thursday, Speech and Hearing (SG) 164, R. McMullen

A548/1266 - 10:10-11:00AM Friday, Lindley 025, Z. Lu
A348/1256 - 10:10-11:00AM Friday, Lindley 025, Z. Lu

A348/8713 - 11:15A-12:05P Friday, Lindley 025, A. Vaughn
A548/8714 - 11:15A-12:05P Friday, Lindley 025, A. Vaughn

An advanced course on World-Wide Web technology offered by the Computer Science department at Indiana University.

Course information:

• General information about course mechanics
• Course topics
• Syllabus
• Resources
• A348/548 Web site change log
• Assignments
• ac.csci.a348 newsgroup
• On-line course evaluation page
• Initial Skills Survey - Please fill this form out

Other useful information

The Term Project Writeup Format

Lecture notes

Term project description

Student term projects

Term project suggestions

Midterm information and review questions *NEW* MIDTERM KEY HERE...

Gradebook

Course Overview

This course is intended to provide technical, programming and administrative background and experience for a career with the World-Wide Web. Students should have at least two semesters programming experience, or its equivalent, and be comfortable working with an operating system such as Unix or DOS. They should also have familiarity with the Internet and the World-Wide Web, such as could be gained in CSCI A148 Working the World-Wide Web.

Topics to be covered include:

• web server administration
• web site security
• advanced web design and authoring (good design for the web, XML)
• web protocols (HTTP, gopher, FTP, WAIS, news, mail)
• interfacing services into the web (HTML forms, CGI)
• searching and indexing technologies and strategies
• programming for the web (perl, Java, JavaScript)
• Web site management tools
• Database connections to the web
• cutting-edge technologies (VRML, secure executables, encryption)
• Copyright, First Amendment rights and other social and legal issues

As needed for understanding the Web, background will be provided on Internet network protocols and programming, standards relating to the Web (eg, URI, SGML, MIME, MPEG, JPEG), and the historical context of the technologies. Also, throughout the course, consideration will be given to the economical, sociological, ethical and legal ramifications of the Web and the Internet in general.

The course will be very hands-on and project oriented. Students should gain direct knowledge and experience of how to run a web site with full functionality and how to keep current with these fast-moving technologies. Lectures and discussions will utilize a projected computer display for the instructor.

Primary Texts:

• How to Set Up and Maintain a Web Site by Lincoln D. Stein, Addison-Wesley, 1997.
• Learning Perl, by Randal L Schwartz, O'Reilly & Associates
• Other materials as indicated in class