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Course Description
This course focuses on the construction of active web sites. Such web sites change contents depending on what the user does with them. Many times, such sites involve users filling in a form, which is then processed. For an example, think of a query in a web-based library catalog. But active sites may also be as simple as saying "Merry Xmas" before 25 December, and leave it out afterwards. Students will learn how build simple active web sites. There are two aspects to this process. The first is the information itself. It is usually held in relational databases. The course therefore studies relational databases. It introduces the mySQL database software. The secord aspect is the interface between the data in the database and the web. This is achieved with a procedural computing language. The course studies PHP, a purpose-built language for active web sites. Finally the course also examines PHP as a general purposes language for the transformation of data from one format into another. This is a very common task in digital librarianship. Therefore, the final web site done in the class does not necessarily have to features active user interaction. It could also be any other site that has been built from a set of data that is kept in a separate format in a separate set of files.
Course objectives
After taking this course the students
Prerequisites
Student normally must have passed LIS650 before taking this course. Students must be comfortable with the LIS650 material. The course contains a lot less material than LIS650. But it trains analytical thinking ability further. Students who wish to qualify for an exeption should contact the instructor prior to registering.
Instructor
Thomas Krichel
Palmer School of Library
and Information Science
C.W.
Post Campus of
Long Island University
720 Northern Boulevard
Brookville, NY 11548–1300
krichel@openlib.org
work phone: +1–(516)299–2843
Private contact details may be obtained from the online CV.
Class structure
Classes will be held on Sundays between 13:00 and 18:15 in the PC1 lab of Bobst Library.
Each class will have a lengthy presentation by the instructor. For some small part of class time the students will work directly with their computers under the supervision of the instructor. However, give the hefty weight of the class material, students are expected to do much of the work on the web site at home. The instructor will closely work with students on their sites on a one-to-one basis, if required.
These slides are drafts from the previous edition of the course.
Class details:
| 2009–03–08 | 13:15 to 18:15 | introduction to PHP with primitive data type |
| 2009–03–22 | 13:15 to 18:15 | more on PHP with composite data types |
| 2009–03–29 | 13:15 to 18:15 | databases, mySQL and PHP mySQL functions |
| 2009–04–05 | 13:15 to 18:15 | taming PHP with custom functions, sessions, and includes |
| 2009–04–19 | 13:15 to 18:15 | POSIX regular expressions |
| 2009–04–26 | 13:15 to 18:15 | history and use of GNU/Linux |
To print the slides in Microsoft powerpoint, press control-p to print, then under "Print what" choose "Handouts", and under "Color/grayscale" choose "Pure Black and White". You can also use openoffice to print the slides.
Readings
PHP is documented on its web site at http://www.php.net. Students will probably find all gobbledigook when they first look at it. But by the end of the course students should be able to use the site to get help from it.
Students may find Ullman (2004) as reasonably priced introductory books on the topics of the course. The instructor found that Sklar (2004) did bring much good material. Lea et al. (2001) as an intoduction that is probably suitably paced for the beginner. Meloni (2000) receives favorable reviews as a beginners' book.
Most books on PHP also cover some relational database theory and practice. But Welling and Thompson (2005) do more than most.
Students may wish to investigate the intergrated development environments sold for PHP, such aptana PHP or PHPdesigner.
Finally there a bunch of home-grown resources.
Assessment
Before each class except the first, there will be a quiz on the issued covered in the previous class. The quiz in the first class covers the material on forms from the last lecture of LIS650. The average of all the quiz results will count for 30% of the assessment. The weakest quiz grade is discounted. For the third class meeting, the students will prepare a one-page web site that will state web site that they want to build. This statement should cover both the purpose of the web site and the interactive components that it will contain, including all user interactions. The assessment of this statement will as 5% of the total. In the last class, the students and-in a two-page description of the architecture of the site. This covers a brief description the files, and overview on how information is flowing through the pages. If database tables are used, it covers a list of all tables with all columns, and the relationship that the columns have to user input or to an external source of data. This paper counts for 10% of the course. The remaining 55% will be assessed through the final web site. This site has to be handed one week after the date of the last class meeting.
Mailing list
There is a mailing list for the course at https://lists.liu.edu/mailman/listinfo/cwp-lis651-krichel. All students are encouraged to subscribe. As a rule, answers to email sent to the instructor will be copied to the list. There are exceptions to this rule